Mayo’s Barry Moran believes the win over Dublin will stand to his team, but is keenly aware that they cannot be over-confident going into the All-Ireland Final against Donegal.
Moran, who has starred at midfield this season, told RTÉ's Brian Carthy that although they respect Donegal they also have great faith in their own abilities.
"Having the experience of beating Dublin is beneficial, but we know the flip-side of that coin is that if we go into the final being over-confident this Donegal side will take us down a peg.
“We know that they are an absolutely brilliant team and we respect them so much but, at the same time, we will keep the heads down, work hard and have belief in our own ability.
"This team won’t lack confidence. We know ourselves that we have great footballers, but the most important thing is that we know if we work hard, train hard, keep our heads down and really work for each other we have a great chance of beating anyone. That’s the way we are going to look at it for the All-Ireland Final."
"This team won’t lack confidence. We know ourselves that we have great footballers" - Barry Moran
Moran explained that he was disappointed with how 2011 went for him personally, and he put in a lot of work over the winter to get himself in peak condition for this season.
“Last year did not go that well for me and I had to look at a few aspects of my game, and my own general wellbeing. James (Horan) took me aside last October and we started from there," he said.
"I had to do an awful lot of prehab to make sure I did not pick up any nastier injuries than I had previously. We have taken it one step at a time and thankfully I’m still here in September.
The Castlebar Mitchels man also admitted that, although it can be distracting, he is enjoying the build-up to the final.
"Obviously the supporters are really looking forward to it and there is great hype from their point of view. From the panel’s point of view we are just trying to avoid that, keep the heads down, work hard and look forward.
"It (the build-up) has been grand. I suppose when you are busy with work and training you don’t have much time to be talking to people and getting involved in the hype. But I’m sure there are plenty of people around Mayo itching to go, and that’s the way it should be.
"It can be distracting if you allow it to be, but I don’t look at it that way. Anyone that comes up and says hello to you and wishes you well are sincere about it and taking time to wish you the best of luck. It can be distracting but, for me personally, I actually like it."
