Andy Moran has no plans to retire yet
Andy Moran will don the Mayo jersey for a 15th senior season in 2018 after confirming he has no intention of retiring from the inter-county game just yet.
The Ballaghderreen man turns 34 in November but after picking up a PwC footballer of the month award for August, nominated again for an All-Star as well as footballer of the year he is already looking forward to next year.
“This thing about quitting, I’ll go when the likes of Stephen Rochford and them boys run me. I suppose that’s kind of the way we were brought up, from the town we’re from. So I don’t think I’ve ever had in my head that I’d ever quit. If Jenny my wife backs me, and my life kind of goes with it, there’s no reason why I wouldn’t go back, to be honest.”
Moran admits opening up his own gym, located across the road from McHale Park, has been a major factor in his longetivity. “My problem is that I got injured at the wrong time, around 2011, 2012, broke my leg, did my cruciate, then had back issues, just because the body was out of line. If I’d kept driving the car, kept being a rep, there was no way I’d have been able to keep going, so yeah the gym has definitely helped, go me out of the car, got me moving a bit more freely.”
Nine days after another one-point All-Ireland final defeat to Dublin, Moran said he is keen to move on from the disappointment. “Is there a difference to last year? There probably isn’t, being honest. It’s the same net result as what we got last year, in terms of the result from an All-Ireland final.
But life goes on, as you say. I’d to go back to work on the Wednesday, have a little girl at home, and life goes on. It’s a game, we lost it, and we just have to go again and see what we learn from it.
“We’re in a very privileged position, from Mayo as you know, a bit nuts, as you say. Our first league game next year will probably have 15,000 people at it, at McHale Park, so that definitely makes it a bit easier, in where we want to go to, and get to.
“Is it as easy as saying just go again? It’s not, you have go away and reflect and see where you’re going to go yourself, in terms of family life, work life, stuff like that. But in terms of football this is what we do, what we love, so we just go again.”
