The Footballer of the Year in waiting, if there’s any justice in the world.
3-24 from play. Countless defenders terrorised. Countless spectators mesmerised.
Andy Moran was the best footballer in Ireland in 2017, and the lack of an All-Ireland title for his efforts this year alone is a huge injustice in itself.
Moran may be 33 now, but he has adapted his game to suit him, to play to his own strenghts, and he was Stephen Rochford’s most potent attacking threat in his role closer than usual to the goals in corner forward this year.
What was most noticeable about Moran’s year was his lethal shooting. It was always snappy, on the turn, it was down to a tee.
The Ballaghaderreen man was speaking to GAA Hour Show host Colm Parkinson at the recent announcement of the GAA/GPA Player of the Month awards with PWC, and he revealed the work he puts in on the training ground and in warm-ups in order to ensure his shooting game is on the money.
“So if I go out on to the pitch, now, I’d do say twenty shots before training but I’d hold it to twenty shots, I won’t do any more, so I’m concentrating on every single shot, religiously,” he began.
This wasn’t something he always did. He used to spend hours and hours, but now he has learned, and it’s a lesson to all players, that quality trumps quantity.
“Before when I was a young fella, I’d go to the pitch for four or five hours just kicking, kicking, kicking. This is different now, I just go out and do my 20 shots and that’s it really,” he added.
Nothing goes to waste, it’s constant focus.
“It’s more quality than quantity now.
“I think what helped me in terms of my shooting is that I don’t shoot as much. So every time I shoot, I have to think about it.
“You know yourself, when the body gets old, the hardest thing to do is to shoot,” claimed the forward.
Another key secret to Moran’s longevity is the influence of former Arsenal S and C coach Barry Solan on him, a man who monitors every field session, and every weight that Moran lifts.
“You know Barry, don’t you? He asked Wooly.
He’s a laid back character, he’d be one of my best mates from home. He became involved with us on the pre-season between 2014 and 2015.
“On that time, we met with Eanna Falvey, my body was in bits at the time. The three of us sat down together and the boys went down through a programme and made it between the two of them,” he said.
“From then Barry’s been working on me, trying to get me right, wrapping me in cotton wool at times.
“I do most of the field sessions, where he might pull me back a little bit is the big weight sessions, or the kicking sessions. I might have a weight session, he’d tell me ‘listen, do nothing on your legs tonight.'”
You can listen to a brilliant Moran interview with Colm Parkinson from Thursday’s GAA Hour right here from 23″50′.
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