Michael Moyles is a former

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er who played for

Crossmolina Crossmolina is a town in the Barony of Tyrawley in County Mayo, Ireland, as well as the name of the parish in which Crossmolina is situated. The town sits on the River Deel near the northern shore of Lough Conn. Crossmolina is about west of ...

and the Mayo county team. He also managed the Mayo ladies' football team from 2021 to 2023 where they won their first silverware since 2016.

Background

Moyles is from the St Mary's Park area of

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

where he was educated at Crossmolina St Tiernan's Boys' National School and Gortnor Abbey Secondary School. He was introduced to

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

by his primary school teacher John Cosgrove. Moyles played alongside

Ciarán McDonald Ciarán McDonald (born 11 January 1975) is a Gaelic footballer and coach who formerly played at senior level for the Mayo county team, and still plays his club football for Crossmolina Deel Rovers. Coaching McDonald served as coach–selecto ...

for

and Mayo. He represented Mayo at all levels.

Personal life

Moyles is currently a teacher in St Tiernan's College, Crossmolina.

Player

Moyles came through the

Crossmolina Deel Rovers Crossmolina Deel Rovers is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Crossmolina, County Mayo, Ireland. The club fields Gaelic football teams in competitions organized by the Mayo GAA county board. History Crossmolina Dr Crokes GAA was aff ...

system alongside

, Peadár Gardiner and

Stephen Rochford Stephen Rochford (born 10 October 1978) is an Irish Gaelic football coach and former manager and player. He was manager of the senior Mayo county team from 2015 to 2018. Raised in Crossmolina, County Mayo, Rochford was educated at Crossmolina ...

. He was part of the talented

team that won six Moclair Cups between 1995 and 2006. Moyles won the

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. ...

with Sligo IT in 2004, but his career was cut short due to a spinal injury. Moyles has

Connacht Championship The Connacht Senior Hurling Championship, known simply as the Connacht Championship, was an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Connacht Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It was the highest inter-county hurl ...

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

and All-Ireland club Championship medals.

Coaching career

Moyles coached at various levels including the Sligo Minor team. He has coached in various roles throughout Connacht and has developed a good reputation on his knowledge of the game. His

townsman A municipal council is the legislature, legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, ...

and former teammate

is the current

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

Manager. Moyles was a coach for

Knockmore Knockmore () is an upland area and townland situated in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland outside the village of Derrygonnelly, in the historical barony of Magheraboy. This area, together with the adjacent Barrs of Boho and most of the uplands i ...

, helping them to the semi-finals of the 2015 Mayo Championship and the final in the following year. In January 2021 Moyles was announced as the new Mayo LGFA manager, and coached the side to semi-final appearances in both the league and championship campaigns. In 2023 Moyles stepped down as manager after three semi-final championship appearances and winning the Connacht championship once, the first silverware the Mayo ladies team had acquired since 2016.

Quotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moyles, Michael 1977 births Living people Crossmolina Gaelic footballers Irish schoolteachers Ladies' Gaelic football managers Leitrim county football team Mayo inter-county Gaelic footballers Sportspeople from Castlebar