HE’S UNLIKELY TO play again in 2017 after damaging his hamstring in the All-Ireland final but Mayo’s talismanic forward Andy Moran is planning again on committing to the county cause in 2018.
Moran, who will turn 34 in November, missed out again on an All-Ireland senior football medal in agonising fashion but is not thinking about hanging up his boots.
“At my age, if you can keep your body healthy and not be getting injured, you’ve got a huge chance,” stated Moran after picking up his PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month Award for August today.
“If you get injured, on the other side, it could all be over very quickly. You have to be looking after yourself all the time.
“My wife is due her second baby now in January and if everything goes well then, there’s no question (about coming back). If you stay injury free, no doubt.
“I’ve said it previously. I don’t expect anyone from the management or the team to be hanging up their boots anytime soon.”
The Footballer of the Year nominee finished the All-Ireland final on the bench after being substituted in the 63rd minute and confirmed he had to be withdrawn after suffering a hamstring injury.
“(For) Jason Doherty’s goal chance, I hurt my hamstring. I played on for about 15 minutes but it was probably time to get me off.
“The truth of it, I’ve never actually hurt my hamstring before. So I literally did not know what it was. If I knew what it was, I’d probably have come off. It was probably a blessing that I didn’t know what it was.
“I thought it was an impact from Michael Fitzsimons but I got a Grade 1 tear in the back of my hamstring. It just felt like it was a slap against it. I never really had it before.
“I kept playing on and didn’t feel too bad. I knew I could go 40 yards down the pitch so needed to just be a small bit smarter in how I was moving.”
The upshot of that knock is that Moran is likely to watch on for the rest of the season as his club Ballaghaderreen are in Mayo senior football championship action.
“I don’t think I’ll play again for the rest of the year. I missed a club game last week and I’ll miss championship this week.
“We’re playing Breaffy at the weekend, we’d be massive underdogs. You’d like to get a crack at the O’Shea’s. I think I was supposed to play midfield against Aido – that would have been a tidy battle, you know. It’s a pity but it is what it is.”
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