A TIME OF REBIRTH
It’s been child’s play for Mayo veteran as he gathers up his reserves of will for another crack at Sam Maguire
ANDY MORAN reckons he’s only still striving for Mayo’s holy grail because he became a family man.
The 2017 Footballer of the Year celebrated his 34th birthday last November but still has Croke Park in September on his mind, and the ending of that famous famine.
Asked to visualise what a first All-ireland title success in 67 years would look like, Moran contemplated that moment Mayo have long hoped for.
“I’d say it would be quite similar to the likes of Armagh,” he said, “to Clare in the 1990s, in the hurling.
“Don’t get me wrong, if we won an All-ireland in September, Mayo people would be giving out about something in October.
“It’s football, it’s an addiction, it’s what they love. We’re a bit mad. It’s a nice way to be. But it would be a great couple of weeks.”
Even if Mayo had succeeded in finally beating Dublin to the ultimate prize last year, Moran pledges he would still have come back for more in 2018.
“One hundred per cent, yeah,” said Moran. “I’ll play for as long as I can.”
That’s not because he’s obsessed by football. He used to be, and he still loves the game. But life has got in the way.
He changed jobs three years ago – he owns his own gym now – and that has helped him stretch out his intercounty career into a fruitful Indian summer.
So much time on the road beforehand only served to aggravate injuries when they started to accumulate. The change has helped.
Becoming a father to Charlotte, who is three, and baby Ollie has also altered his outlook radically.
Moran feels he now has a more healthy perspective on football, on Mayo. On everything.
“We had a second child there 13 weeks ago and I’m telling you, that’s testing it,” he smiled.
“But it’s nothing to do with the football side of it. Home-side now at the minute is crazily busy, the difference between going from one child of three, to two, and still trying to play is... having a wife that’s patient enough to let you is massive. But it’s something I love.
“More importantly, it’s something my wife loves. She’s been involved in football as long as I have, so it’s great.
“If you’ve the support at home, why not?”
Moran added: “There’s perspective on life, too.
“My little girl gave me an awful lot of perspective on just everything, really.
“Football was way too important to me.
“When I was a young buck, football was everything to me.
“Then my little girl came along and it just kind of softened me a tiny bit.
“At home I could actually switch off because you had someone pulling and dragging out of you, and you had to play with them.
“It’s just really helped me.
“That gave me a perspective.
“It just kind of calmed m e down.”