MAYO’S ANDY MORAN goes into today’s Connacht SFC semi-final looking for the kind of consistency that will help them compete with the country’s top teams.
James Horan’s side go into today’s meeting with Leitrim in Castlebar as overwhelming 1/80 favourites to win as Mayo aim to retain the provincial title.
They may not have played a competitive match since losing the league final to Cork eight weeks ago but Moran is well aware of the expectation levels.
“Everyone is realistic about the football championship. People can see that Cork, Kerry and Dublin are the three big teams and we are all trying to catch them. Do I think we have a good chance, of course I do, but we still have a bit of ground to make up.
I honestly think that back-to-back good seasons and getting that kind of consistency is the way to go. I suppose we are following the Dublin and Cork model. Cork came for a long time before they won anything and Dublin won something like seven out of eight Leinster titles.
“We haven’t put together back-to-back Connacht titles together since 1996/97, so it just shows the difference of what we have been at. We might come for a year and then fade away again but that is not the way that football works anymore. You have to be there, gain the experience and some day when it is right, you will get over the line.”
