Moran on Monaghan thriller, a rough month and O’Shea’s remarkable feat

The Connacht side hung on in Clones on Sunday. 

Mayo’s manager Andy Moran consoles Dylan Byrne of Monaghan. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

They bounced back from a disappointing defeat in the Connacht semi-final to triumph by one point after an epic contest with Monaghan. Their game management and defence were far from perfect, but they got it done.

“Never going to be flowers from our neck of the woods, when you lose like that in a Connacht Championship, it doesn't go down easy,” said Moran post-match.

“I can tell you something, there is no one more proud of representing Mayo than the lads that are playing. A bit of nervous energy kicks in there and you just need to dig in and they did.

“If you gave me a one-point win this morning - if I gave you a one-point win coming up from Castlebar this morning, you'd have ripped my hand off. Do you know what I'm saying?

“But that's the most important thing, we got out of here with a win and we move on for two weeks.

“Is there a lot of work to do? Oh my God there's a lot of work to do, but I'd rather be from this position than any other.” 

The fallout from that ten-point loss in Castlebar was brutal.

“I suppose as a player I probably got as much grief than anybody really as a player so I'm really good at staying away from stuff.

“I'd be really good at getting up in the morning, going to work on the Monday morning, you are as well to face into it and go after it. There were a few hard conversations around the gym on Monday morning but I just think the Mayo people they're just class in terms of the way, like you see the crowd there today you see the reception the boys got coming in off the pitch. There was nobody feeling sorry for themselves, it was just let's bang on let's support the team and let's go.

“When I saw the flags behind the goal there today, it was just amazing. But did I sleep for four nights five nights? No, I didn't. Was I up every hour of the night? I was. Listen, it is just you get back to work and you just you have to dig in and you have to try.” Aidan O’Shea made history as Gaelic football's first-ever outfield championship centurion. The 35-year-old made his 100th championship appearance as a second-half substitute, “It is amazing,” said Moran.

“Aidan gets a lot of no grief, but he gets no grief from us, all the respect in our dressing room - he comes to training, never misses a session, never gets out just comes in and trains and away he goes. Some people can have their opinions on him, that is fine, but for us in Mayo 100 caps from an outfield player is huge.”