THERE has always been a bit of Ulster fascination in the boy from Ballaghaderreen.
Throughout a 15-year career in the green and red of Mayo, Andy Moran locked horns with all the north’s heavy-hitters; the devastating 2012 All-Ireland final loss to Donegal and some ding-dong battles with Tyrone the highlights as he spools back over time.
But it runs a little deeper still.
That’s why the surprise move to Monaghan, which sees him link up with new Farney boss Gabriel Bannigan, makes a little more sense the longer he talks.
After all, Moran helped Ulster University to the 2008 Sigerson Cup – part of a panel that included, among several star names, Darren Hughes, a Monaghan stalwart in the years since and one of a handful of veterans, alongside Conor McManus and Karl O’Connell, that the new management hope will give county football another go.
During that time, he remembers spending weekends travelling to far-flung places he hadn’t heard of to watch games – watching the Ulster club meeting of Dromore and Mayobridge with Peter Donnelly stands out. He saw first hand what the GAA meant, and it resonated.
For that reason, despite other offers since ending a three-year spell in Leitrim at the start of July, he was immediately intrigued by Bannigan’s approach.
“It was the maddest off-season in terms of the amount of managers who left positions, the amount of coaches who left positions, and I was probably caught in the middle of it.
“A lot of bits and pieces were coming our way but when Gabriel rang about Monaghan, it was the one that really spiked my interest, for multiple reasons.
“Obviously it’s not the best commute, it’s two-and-a-half hours from my door, but I was in Jordanstown, I’d have a small bit of a fascination with the whole thing anyway… because Ulster, innovation-wise, it feels like they are always a step ahead of the rest of us.
“We were in Division One for most of my time and my favourite places to play were Tralee, Killarney or Healy Park – I loved the atmosphere going up north. Mayo is absolutely fascinated with Gaelic football, it’s the number one sport here by a distance, and I feel the only the only other place that’s replicated is in the nine counties or down in Kerry.”
The decision to move out of the front line of management was also slightly out of leftfield.
Unprepared to commit to another two or three year block with Leitrim, Moran already had plans in place to further his footballing knowledge – albeit via another code.
Despite a summer sprinkled with calls and sounding out sessions, the 2017 Footballer of the Year wanted to start doing his Uefa badges; not for any kind of Jim McGuinness reimagining, but to try and enhance his own Gaelic football offering.
“I was thinking about going back to education, then all of a sudden this opportunity arrives,” said the 41-year-old, who runs gyms in Castlebar and Claremorris.
“As a number two, it just gives you a tiny bit more freedom – who knows, I could be in Monaghan in five years’ time, or Gabriel might say ‘okay Andy, we got to where we got to in 12 months’. You don’t know.
“Gabriel and I have built a good rapport, I think he’s getting to know a bit more about me the last few days… I mightn’t be the simplest character at times. When it comes to football, it’s a very intense part of my life - he’s getting text messages at all hours of the day so he’s probably wondering what he’s signed himself up for!
“But the soccer side of things, I played a bit in my younger days… I wasn’t that good like, I was at a decent level. I probably didn’t think I was going to get picked for Mayo at that time, then John Maughan rang and pulled me out of the obscurity of Longford Town.
“I love soccer, I love watching soccer now in terms of the systems of play, and I think we can learn an awful lot from it. If you look at the best soccer teams now, the first pass is always forward, they’re progressing, trying to break teams something, whereas we have probably gone a bit too lateral in Gaelic football.
“You saw Armagh at the end of the All-Ireland final, they went very Aussies Rules almost, kicking it out over the top of fellas, so I do think people are looking for different ways to make it a more entertaining game.
“That would be the link, but it would be all to bring it into Gaelic - I would love to do it in future. I have a little girl now who’s nine, loves soccer, so I’ll probably end up doing a lot of coaching with her anyway.”
For now, though, getting the best out of Monaghan is all that matters.
Immersed in the inter-county arena for most of the last two decades, Moran knows plenty about the players of his generation who remain. He spoke briefly to McManus, and will catch up with the likes of Hughes and O’Connell in the coming weeks.
First of all he wants to get up to speed on everybody else, and has spent several hours on Hudl working his way back through this year’s Championship and League games.
There is one thing that he has no doubt about, however – despite the end of the Farneymen’s long stint in Division One, and an underwhelming Championship, talk of Monaghan’s demise has been greatly exaggerated.
“I don’t buy that at all.
“Monaghan were in an All-Ireland semi-final 15 months ago… there’s huge talent there. Vinny [Corey] did a really good job and he’s left them in a very strong position.
“Even with the likes of Darren, ‘Mansy’ and Karl not playing as much as they’d probably like to play, I do feel it allowed other fellas to come in and play, to become leaders in the team.
“If anything it has expanded the Monaghan panel, and I’m not sure Monaghan have done this much damage in minors and U20s over the past 20, 30 years but all of a sudden this development profile is coming.
“They’re producing really good teams, really good players at a rate - I would imagine - that they haven’t produced before. So it gives them a real opportunity going forward.
“Hopefully Conor, Darren and Karl stay on, but I just feel that in the longer run, in the lifetime of Gabriel’s management, that he has a really good chance of pushing this team on and making them better.”
