Brian Reape
By John Harrington
Andy Moran’s inspirational three-point haul against Kerry in the Allianz League two weeks ago proved how important he still is to the Mayo cause.
But the 33-year-old isn’t selfishly safe-guarding his own place in the team, he’s doing his best to bring through the next generation of Mayo attackers.
U-21 star Brian Reape is one of the most promising young forwards in the county and says Moran has gone out of his way to pass on advice and make him feel part of the group.
“Andy is very vocal in the team, he'd be a massive leader in terms of the forwards,” says Reape.
“There are a lot of young lads coming into the forwards now at the moment.
“A lot of young forwards who are under the age of 23. So Andy is really like, I won't say a father-figure, but he's definitely a man who you can go to and chat to.
“He's always thinking football. So, yeah, Andy in particular who would have straight away come over talking to me. He tries to learn from you as opposed to you learning from him which is something that's great.
“He'll ask you questions, you'll ask him questions, you bounce ideas off each other. As you do with every forward. But, yeah, Andy in particular was one of the players who'd really bring you into the circle.”
Reape was pleasantly surprised just how inclusive all the older guard when he first joined up with the Mayo panel.
The family atmosphere and driven nature of the group is what has struck him most about them.
“They're an incredibly motivated bunch of men,” says Reape. “That was the main thing that struck me. The sacrifices they put in. I suppose being from Mayo, a lot of them are based in Dublin.
“They have to travel three hours to training and come home every weekend. A social life and all of that is set aside.
“The commitment they put in is crazy really. When you're in College it's hard, but i'd say if you were a working person it must be incredibly difficult. It takes an awful lot of organisation, I'd say.
“That was the main thing, how motivated they are. The other thing was that when I went in first I would have been number 32 or 33 in the squad, but straight away I was brought into the circle, to the team mentality.
“That allowed me just to express my football as opposed to going in and being worried and playing within myself. Straight away the lads brought me into the family or whatever. I was allowed to express myself from there.
“So the motivation that the lads have and the welcoming attitude I felt was what struck me the most.”
Andy Moran
Reape helped Mayo win an All-Ireland U-21 title last year but admits he was still surprised by the step-up in intensity he was faced with when he joined up with the senior team afterwards.
“Yeah, it’s very intense. I started training with them last year after the London game and I think we had a small-sided game at a camp. I can remember the first game thinking the intensity was just a lot different.
“You get the ball sometimes when you're playing with your club or in underage football and you might look up and have time to do something. But that time just wasn't there. You have to get the ball, move it quick.
“These would be 'A' versus 'B' games. People would sometimes say they wouldn't be that intense, but I can tell you these 'A' versus 'B' games are very intense. There's a lot of competition.
“You might be just in, but guys aren't there to make you happy. They're there for places, they're there to be playing on the big days, so they're going hell for leather at it every single training session from January onwards."
Whenever a promising young Mayo forward emerges the question is soon asked whether he can be the final piece of an All-Ireland winning jigsaw because the perception is they’ve had better defenders than attackers in recent years.
Despite that, Reape doesn’t think that he or other young forwards in the panel like Conor Loftus or Liam Irwin are under an extra burden of expectation.
“Not really, no,” he says. “I suppose when you go into training you realise how good these guys are. You'd be seeing the things they're doing in training, you'd be seeing the things they do on match-day.
“I've heard a few things like that before, but I find it hard to believe.
“You mentioned Andy Moran kicking three points at the weekend and obviously there's Cillian and loads of other players there. There's about 10 players fighting for three positions.
“As far as I can tell it's very close between them all. They're all very good footballers. So, look, I think throughout the team you're always looking to get better and better.
“Hopefully that's all I'm trying to do. Get better myself and push my way onto the bench and then into the team and then go from there.”
