That’s it now.
The 2017 Championship is gone, the All-Star awards were handed out and that’s it.
It’s fast approaching two months since Dublin beat Mayo and, with the cold weather hitting, summer seems like a distant memory.
But what a summer of football it was. The Mayo revival, Roscommon’s shock win and a load of other great moments.
But it was like Groundhog Day again as Mayo narrowly lost, how many more times can they keep coming back?
We’re sure Andy Moran would trade his Footballer of the Year award in a heartbeat if it meant having an All-Ireland medal but it’s not the worst consolation prize.
In the build-up to the awards ceremony PwC, the new sponsors of the All-Stars interviewed Moran about all things from growing up, his club and his family.
You can’t help but like the guy when his wife, Jennifer, speaks about him:
“He’s a great father, he’s a great husband,” she said.
“He’s obsessed with Charlotte (Moran’s daughter) and she knows that and she has him wrapped around her little finger.
“He’s just a really good guy and we love him a lot.”
Whenever the team sheet is read out in MacHale Park, Croke Park or any stadium that Mayo are playing the one name that is cheered loudest is Andy Moran, that’s a fact.
The people of Mayo love him for coming back time and time again and having a career year in 2017 is only going to cement his legacy.
At 34-years-old nobody would begrudge Moran for hanging up the boots but he’s not going to, he’s not done yet.
In the video Moran speaks about retirement and he doesn’t have any big plans for his:
“Do I have an age in mind to retire? The answer to that would be no,” he said.
“If Stephen Rochford or somebody else wants me to go back playing for Mayo and it’s the right thing for me to do with my family, I think I’ll keep going until the body tells me to stop.”
Speaking at the award ceremony after receiving his award Moran spoke about retirement and how he didn’t consider it after spending the 2016 loss with his daughter on the Croke Park pitch:
“Last year, no. I always felt if I found my form back a bit I’d always come back.
“I was close, a tiny bit, in 2014 because the body wasn’t reacting but that picture stayed with me, it was in my mind going around in the parade this year.”
https://twitter.com/PwCIreland/status/928268976127401985
