Oisín Mullin Reflects on Andy Moran's Call Before All-Ireland Final

Oisín Mullin has confirmed what many in Mayo had already suspected: Andy Moran did pick up the phone before the All-Ireland final to see if a prodigal son might just come home for one more tilt.

The former Young Footballer of the Year, now deep into life as an AFL player with Geelong, admitted on Australian television that the conversation did take place, even if the fairytale never made it past the planning stage.

“I did have a chat with the coach back home and obviously Chris (Scott) here,” Mullin told Channel 7 ahead of Geelong’s clash with Collingwood, drawing a clear line between the tug of home and the demands of a professional career in Australia.

Mayo’s interest was no secret by the time he spoke. Geelong coach Chris Scott had already revealed on Fox Sports that Moran rang Mullin last week, asking whether a lightning raid back to Ireland for the decider might somehow be squeezed into an already frantic AFL schedule.

“Oisín Mullin had taken a phone call from the Mayo coach,” Scott said, describing how Moran was “just planting a seed” about the possibility of Mullin flying out after Geelong’s game against Melbourne, lining out in an All-Ireland final, then returning to Australia.

It was audacious. It was also, in the end, impossible.

Mullin explained that the groundwork for such a bold idea came from an extended spell at home granted by Geelong in the off-season, when he was allowed to train with Mayo and reconnect with the set-up he had left behind in late 2022.

“In the off-season, Geelong gave me an extended period at home and I was fortunate that Mayo let me join them to train in the off-season as well, so there was that connection there,” he said.

That link opened the door. The calendar slammed it shut.

“The coach just touched base with me from home and had a chat with Scotty, but the circumstances around where we are in the ladder here and the time of season, it just didn't work out,” Mullin said.

So instead of jogging out at Croke Park, he watched from the other side of the world as Mayo finally ended a 75-year wait for Sam Maguire. No boots, no jersey, no tunnel roar. Just a television, and a county’s history being rewritten.

“I was just excited watching on from here and see the boys get the result and get it done,” he said.

The significance of that breakthrough was not lost on him. Mullin, after all, lived through the heartbreak himself. He was one of the brightest lights in Mayo’s runs to the 2020 and 2021 All-Ireland finals, earning an All-Star and the Young Footballer of the Year award in 2020 as he emerged as one of the most dynamic defenders in the country.

This time, he could only describe the scenes.

“It was massive. It's been 75 years since they've won it. There's been so many finals that Mayo have played in and not managed to get over the line,” he said.

“To finally get it done, the whole county has gone into lockdown. The celebrations are off the charts, it looks unbelievable.”

While Mayo partied, Mullin’s reality remained the AFL grind. Now 26 and in his fourth season with Geelong, he featured in last year’s Grand Final, where the Cats were beaten by back-to-back champions Brisbane Lions. That experience, and Geelong’s current position in the AFL ladder, underpinned the decision to stay put.

The romance of a one-off return was tempting. The professional commitments, and the timing, were ruthless.

Mayo moved on without him and made history. Mullin stayed in Geelong colours and watched it unfold from afar, a county hero in exile as the curse finally broke.

The question now is not whether he could have come back for one game. It’s whether that phone call was the last whisper of his Gaelic football story, or the first hint that Mayo and Mullin might yet cross paths again.