Pointed Andy Moran Comments Hint At Big Change Under New Mayo Regime

Andy Moran has been officially unveiled as Mayo manager, marking a new era for the county.

After the acrimonious ousting of Kevin McStay earlier this summer, the Westerners were linked with moves for men both from inside and outside the county to try and arrest the slide they have been on in recent years.

Ultimately, Moran's impressive work with the county's underage footballers, Leitrim, and Monaghan earned him the job.

A fan favourite from his playing days, Moran will have his work cut out to turn the fortunes of his native county around, after they failed to make the All-Ireland knockouts for the first time in seven years in 2025.

Judging by his first interview as Mayo manager, Moran will not be afraid to make ruthless calls.

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Andy Moran spoke to Marty Morrissey after he was unveiled as Mayo manager on Thursday.

The legendary ex-forward had a pointed message, saying that his mission would be to get the "best players" lining out for the county, something he contended may not have been the case in recent years.

Speaking to RTÉ, Moran said:

The key thing is to get the best players in Mayo playing for Mayo which, quite unusually over the last couple of years, mightn't have always been the case. We need to get the best players playing.

In terms of young talent, there's a crop of Under-20s there that just missed out narrowly against Louth this year (in the All-Ireland semi-final). There's a crop of minors coming through that are really talented, who lost to Armagh in last year's All-Ireland semi-final.

There's been a few Connacht titles (at underage) and a few green shoots over the last couple of years, which is great to see. It's about how we keep being competitive with the strong players we have and embedding these young players in amongst it.

That's going to be the major role for the management team over the next couple of years.

It does seem as though a reset is needed in Mayo, with the county going from the All-Ireland final in 2021 to failing to get out of their round robin group last season.

Furthermore, it seems as though Andy Moran will not be afraid to make the big calls necessary to bring that change, even if it means upsetting some more established players in the squad.

Moran will of course be familiar with some of the playing squad, having only retired in 2019.

Whether the introduction of fresh young talent comes at the expense of those former teammates remains to be seen.

"We're back to the basics," Moran continued on what needed to change in the Mayo camp.

As we know, Galway have won four Connacht titles in a row. Before we even get to talking about All-Irelands and '51 and all this stuff, the big thing is we need to get back to work. Get back to basics.

We need to build on some of the good work that Kevin (McStay) and Stephen (Rochford) have done last year. And we need to get better at every aspect we're chasing.

Moran also admitted that managing his native county was a "dream" and that he had been hoping this day would come throughout his management career to date.

If he enjoys as many good days as Mayo manager as he did as a player, there may be some brighter times ahead for the county.