Moran and Boyle reflect on All-Ireland success

Just a few weeks after guiding Mayo to their first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title in 75 years, manager Andy Moran and selector Colm Boyle met up with the local media in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park to discuss the famous victory, writes Aiden Henry.

They gave an insight into the preparations leading up to the final and also took the opportunity to look forward to the next chapter in their senior management journey.

It speaks volumes about Moran and Boyle that although the celebrations after winning the All-Ireland were still going on, they were back plotting and planning for the 2027 season.

Indeed, they were back within two weeks of their historic victory in Croke Park attending the club championship games in all grades scouting for more talent. They are certainly not resting on their laurels.

While the championship year didn't go exactly according to plan, Moran said they felt they were in with a chance of winning the All-Ireland from the get-go.

“We did think we had the talent in the room to go and challenge. But then Roscommon happens, and you kind of have to re-evaluate, and you have to say, 'Okay, where are we really, where can we get to?'

“After losing to Roscommon, I did say that day that we had a three-year plan. But the players were quick to tell me that they thought they could do it in year one. They said that to us. They said: 'Andy, you mentioned three years there, don't forget about this year'.

"I said that we're not (forgetting about this year), it was just a statement, and we chased it down, and, yeah, we thought we had a chance. But then,you go to Tyrone and you lose, and you have a sticky time against Meath – like, it was kind of step-by-step.

“However, once we got to Croke Park, and we'd seen the way the boys played against Cork and how they handled Croke Park, we thought then we had a chance, and it kind of took off from there really.”

Some of the older cohort who didn't get much game time this year – the likes of Aidan O'Shea, Cillian O'Connor and Robbie Hennelly – still had a great influence in shaping the All-Ireland win.

Moran said: “It was magnificent to have the likes of Aidan, Robbie and Cillian in the set-up. They were a huge influence. You had just to look at them during the training sessions. They were driving the boys on at every opportunity.

“For instance, we had four sessions between the semi-final and final. At every session we always play a game, so there is always a match. I can tell you that in three of these four sessions, the so-called non-starters, the B-team or whatever you want to call them, beat their A team. You know you're in a really good spot because no-one from outside the first 15 were giving up the fight to win a starting place. They were all were fighting."

For Mayo selector Colm Boyle, the county will now view itself differently with the All-Ireland victory secured.

He said: “I think what it does in the short term, it cuts out a lot of the nonsense talk around Mayo in terms of how the outside world would view us, but even internally as well."

Boyle added: “The plan for us now is to try and build over the next couple of years and be competitive, but to be competitive you have to earn the right to be competitive and come through hard work.

“If you compete you give yourself a chance, that's the big thing for us.”

*See this week's print edition of The Connaught Telegraph for more from Andy Moran and Colm Boyle on the run to the All-Ireland title. It will be on the shelves tomorrow (Tuesday).