‘I missed Johnno after the Roscommon game’
The late John O'Mahony was often the person Andy Moran would turn to for advice after big games. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
Mayo senior football manager, Andy Moran, has admitted that he missed the advice of the late John O’Mahony in the aftermath of Mayo’s defeat against Roscommon in the Connacht semi-final.
To Moran’s credit, the Ballaghaderreen man has turned things around spectacularly, leading Mayo into Sunday’s All-Ireland final against Kerry.
Speaking ahead of the big match, Moran said that he could have done with O’Mahony’s reasoned thinking during the soul-searching that followed in the immediate aftermath of the 2-25 to 1-18 reversal against the Rossies in Castlebar last April.
“I have to say, I missed Johnno after the Roscommon game. He would have been always the guy I went to for a bit of support and a bit of help.
“But I had other guys there, I’d James Horan there that I could reach out to and a few other guys that really helped me through that phase,” said Moran.
In 2000, O’Mahony was manager when Moran starred on a St. Nathy’s College senior football team that claimed All-Ireland honours, and ahead of Sunday’s final, Moran believes that his former manager’s advice would be fairly straightforward in a match where his side are outsiders to win their first All-Ireland crown in 75 years.
“Johnno would be just saying, ‘Listen, it's a game, and finals are there to go and try to win.’”
