Andy Moran a strong contender as four apply for vacant Mayo GAA role

by Aiden Henry

THERE is still no white smoke regarding the appointment of a new manager to replace Kevin McStay as the Mayo senior football team supremo.

Indeed, it is more than likely that it will be well into next week before a full Mayo GAA County Board meeting is called to ratify the selection committee's nomination for the position.

While the board are not disclosing the names of the people who have applied for the role, they have revealed there are four applicants.

However, despite trying to keep a lid on who has applied or not applied for the job, they must have known it is next to impossible to prevent word getting out. As a result, it would seem it is a two-horse race.

The next Mayo senior manager will likely be either Tony McEntee or Andy Moran.

It was no great secret that McEntee was the number one target to be the next Mayo manager.

When the former Armagh All-Ireland winner's qualifications and experience were assessed, he was the man ticked all the boxes – including inspiration, motivation and connection with his backroom staff and panel of players.

McEntee has already proved he is a winner by guiding Crossmaglen to two All-Ireland titles, and during his five-year stint with Sligo he brought them up a couple of levels.

However, over the past week the news from behind closed doors is that former Mayo star Andy Moran has emerged as a serious contender. The word doing the rounds is that some on the interview panel favour the former Leitrim manager.

Moran, who only hung up his inter-county boots a few years ago, was a great favourite among the Mayo supporters for his great exploits on the field of play.

That favouritism hasn’t dwindled since and as a result it is easy to see why the Ballaghaderreen native would have backers within the selection committee for the job.

But the burning question is this: Will those entrusted with interviewing the candidates for the Mayo senior football job let their hearts rule their heads when it comes to decision time?

Of course, it would be great to have one of our own get the job as county senior manager.

However, I have said previously (and, let me add, it is the opinion of many more within the county) that the time is not right for Moran to be handed the reins.

The main reason for this is that there could be still six, seven or eight players with whom he played on the county senior team in his panel if he took over as manager of Mayo now. It could be very difficult for Moran to do this.

Those on the interview panel they have two choices. Firstly, they must ask themselves would it be right to put this extra burden on Moran. Secondly, should they let their hearts rule their heads and select Moran thinking it would be a popular decision.

I think Andy Moran will manage the Mayo senior team sometime in the near future, where he will go in and build his own side without having the unnecessary pressure of having to deal with players he played with. But that depends on what happens in the next week or so.

Meanwhile, with all the talk mainly about the county senior job, the Under 20 and Under 17 positions have taken a back seat.

However, the rumours doing the rounds say that two former Mayo senior Gaelic footballers have applied for the Under 20 position: David Brady and Barry Moran. Both have managed senior club sides already so should these two be in the race for the Under 20 job, it will be very interesting indeed.