Andy Moran has revealed that Mike Solan will remain part of his Leitrim management team after failing to land the Mayo job.
Solan was one of four candidates to succeed James Horan in his native county only to lose out to Kevin McStay, but Moran insisted that he had no qualms with his right-hand man putting his name forward for the role and is happy to welcome him back into the Leitrim fold in 2023.
Indeed, Moran’s name was mentioned in connection with the Mayo post after Horan’s departure but he moved swiftly to quash any speculation by agreeing an extension with Leitrim which takes him up to the end of 2024.
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He explained: “I’d been telling these guys in Leitrim, the players, that this could be an 18-month, two-year, three-year project and we need to dig in, lift our weights, do our athletic training, get our skills right over the period and 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.
“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,” he told the FinalWhistle.ie Leitrim GAA Podcast.
Solan, who led Mayo to an All-Ireland under-21 title in 2016 and also worked alongside Moran with Ballaghaderreen, was keen to go after the Mayo senior job, however, a possibility which Moran says they had allowed for when they took charge of Leitrim last October.
“It was absolutely open at the start when we went in to do this, that if something came up and he wanted to go for it, that avenue was open.
“I think you see it happening in every sport around the world. If you look at the soccer scene at a high level and you look at the basketball scene, the number two goes for the head coach job somewhere else. I think this is a real common thing that happens.
“In football, maybe not so much but I was very keen to get Mike back in.
“Myself and Barry [McWeeney, selector] were very keen to get him back in and we’re delighted to know that he’s coming back to us and willing to go again with Leitrim. I think that’s very important.”
The former Mayo star has suffered a defection from his management team, however, as James Glancy has joined new Longford boss Paddy Christie’s coaching ticket, with Moran saying that he leaves with his best wishes.
He explained: “I am the coach on the field with Barry and James kind of helping, being the second and third coach on the field so he just wants to be the head coach on the football field and to me, going away to Longford, learning his trade, 100% definitely going to bring it back to Leitrim in the future. 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 love to have kept him but in the long-term, I think it’s win-win for Leitrim.”
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