Moran: In-house games will have us ready

Mayo midfielder Barry Moran is convinced the intense nature of their in-house games will have them ready for Donegal on Sunday.

The Castlebar Mitchells clubman, who has missed most of the year through injury, is hopeful of making a return to action this weekend. Having not played a senior game for Mayo since they beat Donegal in the league, Moran has been recovering from an ankle injury picked up in a club game.

With Mayo steamrolling their way through Connacht, scoring 9-48 and conceding just 0-30 in three games, some believe they will be off the pace against the battle-hardened All-Ireland champions.

But for Moran, an All Star nominee last year, the work carried out on the training field will ensure they’re ready.

“Yeah, the A v B games are fairly intense, but they have to be like that, if you really want to push on,” he said.

“I suppose, from my point of view, it’s the best competition I can go for, in the sense it’s a great claim to go against the two O’Sheas in the middle of the field. I’m trying to push them to the max, and they’re doing the same with me.”

To make those sessions count they will need to avoid a repeat to the start of last year’s All-Ireland final when they found themselves 2-1 to 0-0 down after 11 minutes.

“Yeah, I suppose a lot of people looked at the start of that, and that’s one thing, obviously, going in next weekend that we’ll be hoping won’t be happening against us,” he said.

“But, no, I think we were slightly off for the All-Ireland final. Let’s call a spade a spade. Donegal were the better team. People can say we were good, we matched them for 60 minutes, but look it’s 70 minutes to win an All-Ireland. It’s gonna take 70 minutes effort to beat Donegal. So this weekend that’s the way we’re going to be looking at.

“It’s 70 minutes of intense effort, and from there, I think if we put in our performance and we play as well as we can, we can beat anyone.”