Though his name was linked with the role, Andy Moran says he was never in the running to succeed James Horan as Mayo football manager.
In late June, two days after it was confirmed Horan would not be continuing with Mayo, it was announced that Moran would be extending his time with Leitrim. Moran had just finished his first season with Leitrim, one which saw them lose out to Sligo in the quarter-finals of the Tailteann Cup.
'The name was floating around the Mayo set up'
"I entered a race that I didn't mean to enter," Moran told the FinalWhistle.ie Letirim GAA podcast.
"I didn't want to have anything to do with [the Mayo job]. The name was floating around the Mayo set up.
"I've been telling these guys from Leitrim, the players, that this could be an 18-month, two-year, three-year project and that we need to dig in, lift our weights, do our athletic training, get our skills right over the period.
"If I left my name in for a race in Mayo... so I thought it was just very important that I took my name out of there very quickly.
"We had a quick discussion with the county board and it was done very, very quickly. As I said, I entered a race that I didn't want to be in so it was very important that I took myself out of that as quick as I could."
"Some people's goal is to go and manage their own county. Maybe that's mine in the future - maybe it is, maybe it's not.
"The way I look at it is, I've got a job that I really enjoy, really love doing. I have a great working relationship with the county board. I feel we have a really good relationship with the playing staff.
"It wasn't a difficult decision for me at all. I probably made the decision last February or March when I was getting that amount of enjoyment out of [the Leitrim job]."
5 June 2022; Leitrim manager Andy Moran talks to his players before the start of the Tailteann Cup Quarter-Final match between Leitrim and Sligo at Avant Money Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, Carrick-on-Shannon in Leitrim. Photo by Ray Ryan/Sportsfile
One of Moran's Leitrim selectors, fellow Mayo man Mike Solan, was very much in the running to take over from Horan. With Kevin McStay winning the race for the Mayo hotseat, Moran confirmed that Solan will be returning to a role with Leitrim.
"Mike didn't take his name out of the race," Moran explained.
"It's an agreement that we had. He's a very important person for me and the team, and the management team. He's a great organiser, liaison with the county board.
"It was open at the start, that if something came up, and he wanted to go for it, that avenue was open.
"Myself and Barry (McWeeney) were very keen to get Mike back in. We're delighted to know that he is coming back to us, and willing to go again with Leitrim."
One man Moran will be without next season is selector James Glancy. The former Leitrim footballer will be part of Paddy Christie's Longford backroom team.
"I'd heard that there was a good chance Paddy was going to get that job, as it was 12 months previous," said Moran.
"I know James's relationship with Paddy.
"James just wants to be the head coach on the football field and to me, going away to Longford, learning his trade, he's 100 per cent definitely going to bring it back to Leitrim in the future," said Moran. "That's only a win-win for Leitrim. In the short-term, listen, we'd have loved to have held onto him. We'd have loved to have kept him but in the long-term, I think it's a win-win for Leitrim."
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