‘It’s a religion up there’ – Andy Moran on the GAA in Ulster

By Shaun Casey

ANDY Moran can’t quite put his finger on it. Is it grit? Determination? Steel? Ulster coaches bring something different to the table when they travel down south and get involved with teams, but Moran isn’t sure what that something different actually is.

A quick scan of the sides competing at the latter stages of the All-Ireland series and the Tailteann Cup is all that’s needed to note the sheer volume of northern coaches that are included in various different management teams this season.

Obviously, Armagh and Donegal have homegrown managers. Derry didn’t need to go too far for theirs. Kerry have Paddy Tally in their management setup while Down legend James McCartan offered a helping hand in Louth this year.

Of the four Tailteann Cup semi-finalists, Antrim were the only one with a non-Ulster manager in Andy McEntee. Conor Laverty (Down), Tony McEntee (Sligo) and Justin McNulty (Laois) all hail from Ulster.

Oisín McConville and Mark Doran were in charge of Wicklow and Doran enjoyed a previous stint coaching Clare. Mark McHugh was involved with Roscommon last season while James Loughrey was a member of the Cork management team in 2024.

Former Leitrim manager Moran, who stepped down last week, even searched up north at the start of the season and welcomed former Cavan boss Mickey Graham into his backroom team, hoping to find that spark that other Ulster coaches have provided elsewhere.

“It’s not physicality, is grit the right word? I don’t know what the word is”, explained the Mayo legend. “I was lucky enough to up and play with Jordanstown and I spent a lot of time with Peter Donnelly and a couple of the lads up there, Mark Lynch too.

“They just had a different way of looking at it in terms of what makes a really good defender and what level of intensity you bring to the game. If you can match the northern intensity when you’re going for a ball, I think it brings your team on.

“It helped Mayo a lot – we were at a certain intensity, but we knew we could go to another level and when Mickey (Moran) came in, he said there was another notch to go, and you can pick out so many examples of that.

“I was lucky enough, or maybe unlucky enough, to play against the likes of ‘Ricey’ (Ryan) McMenamin and (Conor) Gormley and they left no stone unturned.

“They knew exactly what you’d had for dinner, they’d tell you on the pitch,” laughed Moran. “That’s all part of the game and I think that’s why people like having coaches from the north down to help them.”

The 2017 Footballer of the Year has three Sigerson Cup medals to his name from his playing days and his third came in 2008 when he studied at Ulster University. In 2007, Moran actually captained the IT Sligo side that lost to UU in the semi-final.

That stint allowed Moran to get a glimpse into the Ulster mindset and culture. He came up against plenty of teams from the northern province while lining out from Mayo and always enjoyed the challenge.

“There’s a couple of us obsessed with football, and I would definitely put myself in the obsessed category,” he added. “I relished going up to the likes of Tyrone – I always loved playing in Healy Park, and Tyrone people are absolutely obsessed with football.

“I love that. I remember going out to Coalisland with Peter Donnelly one day and having an argument with the guy that was laying out the flags about the GPA. They just love discussing it, loved talking about it.

“For me, it was just a complete learning curve to go up there. It was a different way of life in terms of how they conducted their football, how they treated the McKenna Cup even. Everything was just treated with such respect, and I loved every moment of it.”

On playing against Ulster teams, Moran added, “When I first came into the squad in 2003, Tyrone and Armagh were the litmus test. What people forget about those Armagh and Tyrone teams is how many good footballers they had.

“If you name the Tyrone forwards, they had (Sean) Cavanagh, (Brian) Dooher, Enda McGinley, (Owen) Mulligan, (Peter) Canavan. Sure they were the best players in the country, and they’re nearly remembered as a team of defenders.

“They were such a brilliant team to watch and to play against. It was all a learning curve for me. Did you enjoy when you were six points down in Healy Park? Absolutely not, because ‘Ricey’ and these boys would be telling you all about it.

“You didn’t enjoy that but the atmosphere going into Healy Park, right behind the back of the stand there, was brilliant. I loved playing against Armagh, playing against Down in the later stages of my career, they were the places you wanted to go and play.

“It wasn’t just the six counties, it was the same against Donegal in Ballybofey, the atmosphere was just different. It’s a religion up there and people just love it, so they’re the places you always wanted to go and play. I’d put Healy Park up there as one of my favourite venues throughout the country.”

Moran was one of the finest forwards of his time and finished his career with two All-Star awards, a Player of the Year gong and featured in five All-Ireland finals in the green and red but lost all five.

He also came up against some of the greatest players of this generation and one the best was Conor McManus, who he hails as “real top-quality”. Plenty of speculation has surrounded McManus of late, with reports suggesting he could retire from inter-county duty.

“I’d have always put fellas nearly on a percentile where you have your 95-100 per cent forwards,” explained Moran. “You’d have your (David) Cliffords in there and Conor McManus, Bernard Brogan, the real top-quality forwards.

“Then the rest of us are all below that. To me, if you’re a young kid and you want to play football, you would want to play like Conor. Look at some of the points he took on, some of the plays he took on, some of the important scores he kicked – his kicking ability was insane.

“You could only dream of being able to play like that. He’s been such a joy to watch throughout the years and we’re quite similar ages, I have a couple of years on him and he’s still doing his stuff, even last year when he came on and kicked that free (against Armagh).

“It was nearly a laughing matter at that stage, it was that good. He’s just been such a great player and he’s going to go down as one of the greatest forwards of all time.

“When you’re talking about fellas that haven’t won All-Ireland’s, he’s right up there with the best never to have done that.

“I’d always rate players on who are in the top five per cent of what I’ve seen, and he is up there very near the top of that list.

“I just have such admiration for him, and I was lucky to meet him once on a tour and he was such a gent as well. He’s such a good guy off the field, and great with kids.

“He’s a great player and we were honoured to have him during our time, I suppose.”

Pull quote

“They just had a different way of looking at it in terms of what makes a really good defender and what level of intensity you bring to the game.”