Eager for a fresh challenge

GAELIC GAMES/Interview/Mickey Moran: "That's the first question I was asked in the interview," Mickey Moran laughs when considering what attracted him to the most perilous GAA job in the country.

In succeeding John Maughan as Mayo football manager, the mild-spoken Derry man has guaranteed himself a year of intense scrutiny and pressure. But then, managing his native county was no picnic either. It might be a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire.

"Things didn't go as planned in Derry," he admits. "So John (Morrison) and myself felt that Mayo was one of the few counties that had the potential to match Armagh and Tyrone and Kerry. The vibes we got from the county board from that first interview were very encouraging. John Maughan had done exceptionally well with the team and it was the clear the county board was committed to success. In addition, the county has a good sponsor behind it, which is a vital part of the equation now. Mayo's support base is massive. So there were a lot of appealing aspects to it."

Many were surprised Moran should be scouting around for a new county in the first place. After a torrid return to Derry, Moran showed signs that he was in the process of building a formidable young team with the help of John Morrison, the maverick football coach who has become a guru to players across Ulster. All-Ireland semi-finalists in 2004 and in the last 16 this year, Moran also restored the Oak Leaf county to Division One football in the league.

But all through last summer, Moran's plans were in constant conflict with the domestic championship and he bemoaned the decimation of his panel by constant club games. Against Laois, that caught up with the panel and they crashed out in Croke Park after a terrible second-half display.

Although Moran was originally pencilled in for three years, his ticket was subject to a challenge from other club nominations and, he was not all that surprised to find himself forced out. With Mayo, he has the relative luxury of a two-year spell in charge, even if the demand for success will be even more heightened.

"That is true, but that is also part of the appeal," he insists. "Mayo is a football county. There are a lot of good players there. It's a blank canvas now as far as we are concerned with the panel and our first job is to see as many players as possible and to identify people in the county familiar with the scene to make sure we are seeing every player we should see.

"John and myself feel we have a good coaching programme. We still take courses regularly and hope we offer something that teams respond to. And that is the intention with Mayo. But, I mean, if we felt it wasn't working out, we would do the honourable thing and step down."

Moran, though, has a reputation for seeing things through and his arrival in Mayo broadens a travelogue that has taken him all over the north west in recent years.

He recalls his time in Sligo as "the happiest of his football life". It is a surprise because it coincided with his most modest yield in terms of on-field success.

"We were working towards turning Markievicz Park into a nice wee ground and the supporters and players were incredibly supportive and enthusiastic about what we were trying to do."

His time in Donegal might have been glorious: in 2002, Moran's team had Dublin on the rack in the All-Ireland quarter-final but after an infamous bout of collective thirst-quenching, the players spoiled the hope of a competitive replay.

But Moran praises that set of players in being "exceptional" in both their acceptance and aptitude for the drills and innovative training techniques. He added: "A closeness developed that still exists to this day. We still have regular contact with some of those boys."

In many ways, Moran seems like the antithesis of the manager as mercenary. He tries to apply a deeply-held football philosophy to a county rather than trying to engage its players through more primal motivational tools or through the power of personality. He treats players like adults and has remained, through good days and bad, an impeccably mannered and dignified man.

When he applied for the Mayo job, it was on the precondition that Morrison would be part of the ticket.

"Absolutely. I think John's record and standing in the game speaks for itself. Mayo is a good open football county and I think the players will enjoy what we have to offer."

First, though, he has to find those players. Moran took early retirement from teaching last summer "after 31 happy years".

"I miss the people but not the system," he adds.

He will have the luxury of actually resting the morning after training sessions and those long drives to Castlebar won't seem quite as daunting.

"I am looking forward to it. I know from my time with Sligo, the whole attitude in Connacht is very different, it is very civil. There is rivalry there, but I also think there is a lot of goodwill between the counties. And our aim now is to put Mayo out in front again."

Moran and Morrison in the most highly-strung football county of them all: it whets the appetite. Mayo expects.