Andy enjoys that peaceful easy feeling

Sometimes, it is hell getting to heaven and Mayo have had their fair share of experiences of the former.

Since 1989, Mayo have endured heartache time after time in the cruellest of ways in All-Ireland finals, from narrow defeats to comprehensive beatings. But all that pain disappeared as the county had its greatest day since 1951 to bring Sam back to Mayo. 

But when Andy Moran was asked in the Croke Park press room after their incredible win over Kerry, his response was filled with humility as he paid a touching tribute to his family and the ones who came before him.

“I think of the managers, the great people. John O’Mahony… just great, great people who sadly are no longer with us. And I just think of them guys, and I’m just deeply honoured to be representing the people of Mayo.

“Even last [Saturday] night, I was thinking, Donie Vaughan, Liam McHale, guys that have suffered, not only losing, real heartache in all of our finals, and blamed for a lot of it. I just hope that today it gives a bit of peace to those guys.

“I’m waiting for it to give me a bit of peace, but I’m sure on Wednesday and Thursday, I think I’ll settle.

“But I’m just so grateful for all the players that have played, all the managers that have managed us over the last 75 years. We’re just the lucky ones that have got over the line.” 

Moran added: “I just found it really, really strange. I just wanted to go back into the dressing room and just chill for five minutes, you know what I mean? But it was just, where's the wife, where’s Jenny, where's the kids, And just spend a moment with them. It wasn't everything I thought, it was better.

“The moment when the hooter goes, maybe not, but that going around the pitch and seeing the Mayo people, we must have been 70-30 there today in favour of the Mayo people. The Hill was still full an hour after the game, it was amazing.” 

Fifteen minutes into the game, it looked like another dark chapter was being written into Mayo’s history of All-Ireland heartache when David Clifford, who was giving Donnacha McHugh more than a rough time, rounded Jack Livingstone to put Kerry 1-5 to 0-1 up.

“I know the general narrative was that we had no chance. When we were looking at it, we were saying, hold on here now for a second, Louth beat Armagh, and Louth beat Dublin, but we beat Louth and we get no credit for it.

“And we thought this the whole way through, even the Monaghan game. We’re like, we win, and we still get no credit. Do you know what I’m saying? There was no credit given at any time, so we were like, OK, everyone is writing us off here.

“It wasn’t backs-to-the-wall stuff. But we had 100 training sessions done up to this point, and we were quite confident that we could give it a good rattle at least, and if we thought we were in it, down the stretch, we’d have the subs to come in and finish the job.” 

Donnacha McHugh regrouped brilliantly after Clifford scored his goal, but it was two other men who Moran felt turned the game for Mayo in the favour.

“Donnacha McHugh was probably struggling for the first 15, and then has the most outstanding game, from my point of view, that you could have.

“But I think there were two massive moments. David McBrien comes up, like you’re on about good leadership, gets his first point in championship history, not only today, he’s only scored two goals up to this point, he gets a hand pass over the bar.

“And then Jack Carney does what he’s done all year, and kicks a two. And then Ryan O’Donoghue kicks a two, and now we’re at five, and all of a sudden we’re only three points down.

“And now the game has turned, Ryan O’Donoghue starts pressuring, our press starts working.

“It’s funny. Like last year I remember having a great conversation with Stevie O’Hanlon in Monaghan. Stevie was a top-class basketballer, and I said, is the two more valuable in Gaelic than it is in basketball? And he said, absolutely.

“He said, you go from three to two in basketball, you go from one to two in Gaelic football.

“So the two-pointer was huge, and we knew we had the shooters to hit them, and they hit them today.” 

The manner of their victory marks an incredible turnaround for Mayo, given that it was only three months ago that Roscommon thumped them in the Connacht Championship semi-final in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, while Meath had them on the ropes at the same venue only last month. 

“The caution is what happened in Roscommon. If I’m being honest, I could never really talk freely about it, but Kevin [McStay] and Stephen [Rochford] had a way of playing, and absolutely not the wrong way of playing. It’s the way most teams play, and we were trying to change it.

"And when you try to change something and you feel on the pitch it's not working and you get caught between two stools, Roscommon happens. “And with good forwards like Roscommon, that’s what happens, and after that, we just made a commitment.

“We said, we’re just going after this, and it didn’t really work for the first 20 against Meath, and then, boom, it started. And from then on, it’s been really good.” 

But for all the tactical switches and change in style, even Moran needed some divine inspiration as the clock ticked away and all his substitutes were made.

“I won’t lie to ye lads. 69 minutes, I look up to the sky, tactics, geniuses, all that sort of stuff. Two people, John O'Mahony and Aidan Drake, a cousin of Jenny’s. I said, ‘lads, if you’re going to do it for us, now is the time.’ They answered our prayers and away we went.” 

What happens for Mayo from here could be anyone’s guess. Armagh had to wait over two decades after ending a long wait for Sam in 2002, while Tyrone, who won a maiden All-Ireland a year later, also won in 2005 and 2008. Kobe McDonald is set to depart but Moran is confident the next generation of stars can lead to an exciting future for Mayo.

“We've great young boys, I'm telling you here, Seamie Howard from Belmullet, John McMonagle there from Castlebar, Hugh O’Loughlin from Kilmaine. We've great young boys still coming.

“Obviously, Kobe’s going to be a loss, but listen, I think we've got a huge area of development now going forward in the next three to five years and I hope the boys can, when they settle, we get them back in about October, I hope they can see that.”