No better Mayo pairing than Andy and Colm

The right man for the job at the right time. After an annus horribilis, Mayo GAA needed a lift. Who better to inject life and energy into the setup than Andy Moran?

I can’t think of two more popular figures to lead Mayo’s revival—and to engender goodwill and excitement in the county again—than Andy and Colm Boyle. The pair are among Mayo’s most decorated players, admired by supporters and teammates alike. They were also two of the most mentally tough and courageous men I ever played alongside—traits that will be needed in abundance as they take on one of the toughest jobs in Gaelic games.

No matter how difficult things got on the pitch, Andy and Boyler always wanted the ball. They were there to bail their team out. Whether it was Boyler getting his nose to the ground to win a crucial break or Andy making himself available for a pass inside with the game on the line, the pair never hid when their county needed them most.

If they can instil that same guts and desire in their Mayo players over the coming seasons, we may be on to a winner.

Sure, we were all giddy back in August 2022 when Kevin McStay unveiled a stacked management team that even the creators of the Avengers at Marvel would have been proud of. The buzz carried through as we romped the NFL in 2023 before things fell flat. But this time feels different.

Mayo GAA might have been at a low ebb in recent years, but there’s a sense it could take off again. The club game looks more exciting. Underage teams have had success. A crop of mid-20s lads such as Jack Coyne, David McBrien and Ryan O’Donoghue have stepped up and made themselves top intercounty players. With the right spark, the whole thing could reignite.

Then there are the new rules. Last year, we never got to grips with them. Gaelic football’s brave new world left us behind. It was as if a 20-foot wall had been built on the two-point arc, such was our lack of interest—or ability—in shooting from range.

Lucky for us, we have secured the services of the forwards coach of Monaghan, a team that kicked two pointers for fun. You can be sure that’s one area Andy will target for improvement with his Mayo side.

The fact that Andy and Boyler are still in and around the club game in Mayo is, like the Swiss flag, a big plus. They’ll get a close look at emerging talent like Kuba, Kobe and Kane — and maybe even unearth a few more with exotic-sounding names like a Kanye or a Kevin. You can be sure Colm Boyle will be lining up some cocky young Turks for big hits in Ballindine in the coming rounds, testing who really has the mettle for senior intercounty football. Survive a Boyler reducer and you’re probably ready for the next step.

My favourite part of Andy’s press conference last week was his revelation that he returned to playing with Ballagh’ this year to get a better feel for the new rules and the new game he’ll be coaching. That’s a coach who is living it. A players’ coach. A man doing what it takes to succeed.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve met a man who is so obsessed with improving and marginal gains. Going away to Leitrim and Monaghan to take on different roles shows that he was willing to put in the hard yards to hone his craft. That’ll stand to him if and when the waters in Mayo get choppy.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Moran is a Gaelic football fanatic. During his playing days, everything he did was geared towards maximising his chances of being the best player he could be.

He was using a Wavin pipe to iron out muscular knots before foam rollers even existed. He was strutting around in recovery tights like a prima ballerina long before Under Armour or Skins had even marketed their own lines of compression gear. He was drinking protein shakes before I’d even heard of them — and made sure to down one within seconds of returning to the dressing room after training or matches. A water bottle was practically an extension of his arm.

That was Andy in a nutshell: constantly chasing a competitive edge, forever trialling some new contraption that might aid performance. Before matches, he would often slip into the shower room with a sliotar, a handball or whatever small, bouncy object he could find, firing it against the wall to fine-tune his hand-eye coordination and sharpen his touch.

He will expect the same meticulous preparation from his charges. No stone left unturned, no detail too small, all in the pursuit of those extra percentages.

Managing an intercounty team is a full-on, all-encompassing job, so you need deep energy reserves. Luckily, Andy had — and clearly still has — a childlike enthusiasm for the game. He was like a wind-up toy: always on the move, bursting with vim, brimming with ideas, the life and soul of the group. Harnessing whatever fuels Moran could be our best chance of phasing out fossil fuels and finally turning the tide on climate change.

His positivity and effervescence set the tempo for the whole squad. With Andy at the heart of the team’s endeavours, the mood in camp was never flat. I remember he could never sit still in team meetings — always up the back of the room, stretching or foam rolling, as we analysed our own play or studied opponents’ strengths and weaknesses.

No second was ever wasted in the pursuit of improvement.

As well as the energy needed to manage teams, strong communication skills are arguably the most important trait in successful leaders. Moran’s communication skills are legendary. He is such a good talker that you might wonder if he was vaccinated with a gramophone needle! His charisma is such that you immediately feel better about yourself after spending time in his company. I think that is why he is such a popular choice to lead Mayo now. Beyond his obvious virtuosity as a player, the fact that he always has time for everyone, everywhere, has made him an extremely affable figure in Gaelic games.

As a teammate, his constant stream of communication was a huge support and the hallmark of a great leader. He was the first “senior” player to speak to me when I entered the squad as a callow, nervous youngster in 2007. That meant a great deal to me and I’m sure countless other Mayo footballers from the last 15 years could recount similar tales of Moran’s kindness and geniality in their early days on the panel.

Don’t be mistaken—it wasn’t always warm, happy-clappy platitudes that Andy shared with comrades. Ever the standard-bearer, he could also communicate his displeasure or dissatisfaction if poor preparation or performance was compromising the team’s chances of success. When I returned to the squad after a three- or four-year absence, he once scolded me for not wearing Mayo kit on my first night back at training: “C’mon, Ronnie, you’ve gotten enough Mayo gear over the years to wear something with a Mayo crest tonight. Standards, man.” The guys still playing who soldiered with him in the past shouldn’t expect an easy ride.

Of course, we can’t expect miracles either. It’s unrealistic to think a team can leap from around number ten in the country to number one in less than a year. But improvements are certainly on the cards. In the short term, playing good, progressive football, winning tight matches and claiming a Connacht title should be key, achievable objectives for the new management team.

In Boyler, Andy has one of the sharpest football minds around. Anyone who listened to Colm’s analysis on Off the Ball on Newstalk could hear how deeply he thinks about the game. So much so that his close friends christened him “Off the Boyle.” He’s also an avid Manchester United fan, which is always a good sign of character.

I was surprised to see Paddy Tally named as the coach in the new management team. It’s a left-field choice, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. He is extremely experienced at intercounty coaching and management, which should be a huge asset to the relatively green Moran and Boyle. He has also done excellent work competing at the highest level with the likes of Tyrone, Kerry, Galway and St. Mary’s College, Belfast. You’d have to say he was beginning to get things right in Derry too, before his shock departure a few months back. Maybe he sighted bigger things on the horizon.

Let’s presume, based on his playing career and time in Monaghan, that Andy will do a lot of the forwards coaching. Tally has an extremely impressive résumé as a defence coach in Kerry and Galway. With Boyler’s knowledge of the breakdown in the middle of the park, it looks like all bases are covered. The management team seems a bit light with only three individuals named so far, but I’m sure that will be addressed in time. Or maybe Andy wants a tight crew. The perception with the previous regime was that there were too many cooks and it didn’t always flow smoothly.

I’m only speculating but don’t be surprised to see David Clarke appointed as the team’s Goalkeeper Coach. Along with Andy and Boyler, Clarkey was one of the greatest trainers I’ve ever seen and will share many of the same values as the two of them. It will also be interesting to see what Andy comes up with on the S&C front. Through his business and playing career, he has a serious appreciation of top-quality training methods and coaches—and he’ll have an impressive contacts list to tap into here too.

A new era dawns: a football-obsessed manager in a football-obsessed county. A marriage made in heaven.