Andy Moran salutes 'sacrifice' players made to aid Mayo victory

Moran said several players have "packed up their lives" and moved home from Dublin to aid Mayo's cause

Andy Moran: “David McBrien moves from Dublin – if anyone knows a construction job coming up can we get him one? He's had no job for six months, moved home to try to do this." Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Mayo, you officially have permission to lose yourselves.

Andy Moran certainly expects it. He certainly sounds like he’s going to reap this for all it’s worth.

“Myself and (Moran’s wife) Jenny and the kids since they came along, have put our whole lives into this and outside them people, this is… Jesus, I don't want to get emotional, but there's not much that's going to top this.” 

At the final whistle, it was his family he sought. “I just found it really strange, I just wanted to go back into the dressing room and just chill for five minutes. But it was just, ‘Where's the wife, where's Jenny, where's the kids, just spend a moment with them’.

“Was it everything I thought? It's better, like. That going around the pitch and seeing the Mayo people. Like, we must have been 70-30 there today, in favour of Mayo people, The Hill was still full an hour after the game, it was amazing.” 

Moran knows too how much the group have invested. How much has been sacrificed for the greater good. “I always thought, in Mayo, that we were a bit down on ourselves. We got to an All-Ireland final against the greatest team of all time in 2017 (Dublin) and it was like the world ended.

“I was like, ‘These are the greatest players that ever played, they're probably better than us and we maximised ourselves and nearly got over the line.’ To me, that's achievement, that's not failure.

“I seen that gang of young players that we had are great, but the 25s, 26s, 27s, the Enda Hessions, Ryan O'Donoghue’s age, Jack Coyne to Ryan O'Donoghue’s age, Jordan Flynn… I had them in 2020 in the U20s and I seen a talent that was far beyond the talent I had, and they weren't achieving what they achieved, so it was great just getting them a win.

“David McBrien moves from Dublin – if anyone knows a construction job coming up can we get him one? He's had no job for six months, moved home to try to do this today, Enda Hession moved home, Tommy Conroy, Donnacha McHugh. They've all moved home from Dublin, packed up their lives, their girlfriends involved and that's the sacrifice they made to be here today.

“Had I something to do with getting them home? It's probably bullying more than positive attitude, but it made a massive difference to us out there today when the going got tough.” 

As Kerry whittled down Mayo’s lead in the closing stages, Moran cast his eyes to the heavens and prayed. 

“Once we make that call (around subs) our decisions are done then. So, you're just praying that it goes up and I won't lie to you lads, 69 minutes, I look up to the skies, you're on about psychology and tactics and geniuses and all this sort of stuff - there's two people, John O'Mahony and a good cousin of Jenny's, a good friend of ours, Aidan Drake, who passed last year.

“And I said, 'Lads, if you're going to do it first, now is the time, let's go!' And they answered our prayers and we got the ball out and I think Jack Carney pinged one up to David McBrien and away we went.” 

Mayo and the Chicago Cubs would have a shared history as bridesmaids. The Cubs ended their 107-year wait for a third Major League Baseball in 2016. The likes of Billy Joe Padden would be a fan too and Moran, in a different context, mentioned his connection with them.

“Like, I wear a Chicago Cubs cap in. That's not for style, I wouldn't have any style. But we went to Chicago, New York, London back in October, November to try and get our diaspora back involved.

“One of the most generous men I've ever seen insisted on buying me a Chicago Cubs hat. So, I wear that just to remind myself of the Mayo people, successful Mayo people who went around the world and made millions of euro, hired heaps of people, hired all the Irish boys when they were going over. If they can do it, why can't we do it on the football field?

“Today we got a few breaks, we had a bit of luck. But is that going to mean the world to Mayo people? You better believe it. It's definitely going to do a lot for sales of alcohol over the next couple of weeks.” 

At the same time, Moran wants his greenhorns to fully appreciate what they have just accomplished. “I've been waiting for this since 2003, probably even before that as a minor. Always dreamt of being part of it and now I'm kind of afraid of it.

“So, we'll wait. We'll go to Castlebar tomorrow night. I'm sure we'll have a great night tonight. But I'd be encouraging the young fellas to go easy and just enjoy this.”