Andy Moran’s inter-county career is a study of perseverance, hard work, dedication and relentless positivity.
He’s suffered set-backs and serious injury, played on four losing senior All-Ireland final teams - he missed a fifth after rupturing his cruciate ligament in the quarter-finals - and still he comes back for more.
The 33-year-old is playing the football of his life, having reinvented himself yet again; this time as a scourge for defenders with his clever running out of the corners and into space, clipping a combined 2-06 in the recent drawn and replayed All-Ireland semi-finals with Kerry.
Moran won his first All-Ireland with St Nathy’s, a B Colleges medal, in 2000 as a midfielder. He shot Mayo into the 2006 All-Ireland final with a goal off the bench from wing-back. Then he began a tour of the forward line that has seen him settle close to goal.
In 2011, he broke his leg in International Rules training and less than a year later his cruciate went as Mayo hammered Down in the All-Ireland quarter-final on the way to defeat to Dublin in the final.
"He plays as if he loves the game and he does love Gaelic football," says former Mayo manager John O’Mahony, who, along with Brian Tansey, first started training Moran as a six-year-old with their club Ballaghaderreen.
"He will push his limits for as long as he can and that inspires others around him.
"He has maximised his talent to the Nth degree. He has done his cruciate and broken his leg and he would have lost a little bit of pace with each of those. But he has come back through sheer hard work.
"He had to adjust his game after the injuries, transformed his game. He now uses his experience and anticipation - winning a sprint in Gaelic football isn’t about running 100 metres faster than the other guy, it’s about knowing where to be and getting there first. He overcame his lessening of pace with experience.
"There are people who say that winning Sam would be the crowing glory for Andy’s career, but I fully expect to see him playing for Mayo next year, win, lose or draw on Sunday."
Team-mates will say what a joy he is to play with. He never stops running, never stops trying, never stops encouraging. If he sees one of the other forwards going well, giving his man a roasting, Moran will make space or feed the ball his way to do more damage. It’s all about the team.
As a 16-year-old in that 2000 B Colleges final for Nathy’s, with O’Mahony in charge, Moran missed a first-half penalty against St Augustine’s, Dungarvan, and in a tight second half he stepped up to rattle home from the spot at the second attempt in a 3-09 to 3-07 win.
He arrived at Sligo IT, with their team of All Stars, unheralded, but muscled his way into the side to earn two Sigerson Cup medals. Later on, he added another with Jordanstown.
In 2004 the gym-owner made his senior debut with Mayo and played in All-Ireland senior and Under-21 defeats, to Kerry and Armagh respectively, on back-to-back weekends. He played in losing finals in '06, '13 and '16, missing '12 through injury, and yet is back to try again.
For much of his 14 seasons with the county he hasn’t been a regular starter and even this summer he was taken off in every game until he really started to shoot the lights out against Kerry.
"Football would be a principal light in my life," he said in the past. "I love the game, dream about games.
"I've always loved playing football. I wouldn't be one of these fellas that dreads going training, I love going to it. In terms of positivity, that's just who I am. My group of friends would be like that as well."
He has now played more competitive games for Mayo than anyone else, passing the 150 mark in League and Championship back in June. And he firmly believes that he’s going to win an All-Ireland.
He doesn’t limit himself to one either: "I believe we’re going to win more than one. If we win one, we’ll keep going."
Moran used to work as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company and as a fund-raiser for a hospice, but now runs a gym in Castlebar, in order to fulfil his twin passions of maximising his own footballing days and helping others achieve their potential.
He inspires those around him on and off the pitch and one of those is Shairoze Akram, a club mate who won an All-Ireland Under-21 medal with Mayo last year.
Akram said: "Andy Moran, I put it all down to him. I was sort of made go by him and it has taken off from there. He’d be one of the players I look up to in the club. He is a great mentor.
"He’s the one who got me involved in football and he has helped me ever since. Anything I ever needed he has been there for me since the start. I’d like to thank him for that and for everything."
One of Moran’s oldest and closest friends is Barry Solan, who he won county titles alongside with Ballagh. Solan is now head strength and conditioning coach with Premier League outfit Arsenal and he has gone on record in the past with his admiration for his friend.
Solan reckons Moran’s conditioning and attitude are as good as anything he has seen at the very top end of professional sport and believes he will make an incredible coach some day.
But that’s for the future. Right now, all he’s concentrating on is winning his first All-Ireland medal with Mayo.
Live coverage of Dublin v Mayo in the All-Ireland SFC final (3.30pm) on The Sunday Game Live from 2.15pm on RTÉ2, with live radio commentary on Sunday Sport, RTÉ Radio 1 from 2pm.
Live blog from 1pm on RTE Sport Online and the News Now App.
Highlights of all the day's action on The Sunday Game on RTÉ2 from 9.30pm.
