Noel Moran: ‘Business is competitive, sport is competitive, you have to go that extra mile’

The sumptuous surroundings - the ancient oaks, the lavish grounds, the big house - that are found at the Bective Stud, Tea Rooms and Apartments located on site a few miles outside Navan off the Trim road tells a story.

They tell the story of a local lad who did good. Big time. They tell the story of how Noel Moran ventured into the shark-infested world of business and survived. Not only that he thrived.

His own story is well documented. How he left St Patrick's Classical School in Navan at 17, worked in the family furniture business before moving on to become a young filing clerk in a Dublin bank. He moved to London and was employed by banks and financial companies but, when the financial crisis hit, he lost his job.

He wasn't bowed down by new circumstances. He showed real resilience by creating his own narrative when in 2009, from the kitchen table in his flat in Paddington, he started running his own financial services company, Prepaid Financial Solutions (PFS), helped greatly by his business partner and later wife, Valerie Willis from Zimbabwe.

In 2019 the Morans sold the company for €327m, €266m of that reportedly going to the couple. Those are the bare details.

The success of the PFS enterprise suggests the Morans got most of the big decisions right, helped along the way by that dollop of good fortune. They hit paydust and opened up a new chapter in their lives in Bective. Of course there were many twists and turns along the way. Decisions that had to be made, big decisions that required composure, the 'right' temperament. Risks too. Plenty of risk. With luck and loads of hard graft they made it through.

Noel grew up on the Commons Road outside Navan but his family have been closely associated with Bective with his father, John Moran, a driving force behind the local football club for years. Football is something that runs deep in the Moran family history.

Noel and Valerie, along with little daughter Orlaith, were at the Tea Rooms on Friday afternoon as the announcement was made that they would be continuing their sponsorship of Meath football for another three years (their first deal started in 2022).

While he may have ventured far and wide Noel Moran clearly remains closely attached to his native land; his native county - and now he's putting his allegiance where his mouth is, literally, by backing the county footballers for a second stint.

It takes in and around a million euro to run county teams - last year the cost was €1,296, 975 - and it is believed that the Moran sponsorship meets a sizeable chunk of the very considerable costs involved - at least on the football side of things. As they indicated on Friday they are "delighted" to play their part; to make a contribution.

In a brief chat with the Meath Chronicle Noel spoke about the how he remembers the great days, the 1980s and '90s, when Meath were among the contenders. He would clearly and passionately love to see them back again and (this is where his innate optimism is obvious) he believes they might not be as far away as many think.

Sure Dublin and Kerry are at another dimension right now, he accepts that, but he also points to the success of the Meath minor football team in winning an All-Ireland in 2021 and the u-20s claiming a Leinster title this year.

"There's definitely something there to work with," he said referring to the crop of young players coming through.

Success, as he knows, is never achieved without some hiccups and turbulence. Meath football experienced plenty of setbacks in 2024 with a modest league campaign followed by a very flat run in the All-Ireland series. There was a review and the upshot was that Colm O'Rourke stepped down after just two years at the helm. The Bective clubman answered a question on that issue with a straight bat.

"There was always a review at the end of two years, Colm knew that, everyone knew that it was always going to be up for grabs. Colm did fantastic work with the lads he had. I'm not sure between the jigs and the reels how it all panned out but there's new management coming in now so we just move on and support the new management. Colm and everyone involved with Meath will still want to see the football move forward."

Moran added he was "a little bit disappointed" when it came to Meath's run in the championship this year. "We had decent enough form in the league and maybe should have done a little bit better. Our game against Louth put a fair dent in our hopes and we just seemed to go backwards after that."

The similarities between business and sport are obvious to him and it's not complicated what's needed to make it all work. "You get out of it what you put into it," he says. "You have to work hard at anything to make it work. Business is competitive, sport is competitive, you have to go that extra mile."

He draws a comparison between All-Ireland champions Armagh, and Meath. How the Ulster side "came from Div 3" to reach the pinnacle over the course of 10 years under manager Kieran McGeeney. Few managers, he knows, gets such leverage. Most are expected to get results immediately; to show signs of progress. Yet the reality is that it takes time to build a team; to create a culture of success.

"It's about patience, commitment in one respect but again there's a risk if you are not winning, you're not going to get five or 10 years," he added.

"Everyone is looking for results and everyone wants to win but it does take time for a manager to build a bond with the players. Conor Gillespie is part of the new Meath set-up and that's brilliant because I'd say Conor knows every footballer in Meath inside out, so he'll be a great addition. Hopefully the new management can get a little bit more out of the players that are there."

Moran isn't about to give advice to new manager Robbie Brennan about what should be done, or not done, to make Meath a more successful force on the inter-county stage but he does have a message for the players.

"There is no point in me telling Robbie what to do, he has been there, done that, he knows exactly what is required at the top level. The only thing I'd say to the players is that you have to give it 110 per cent these days, even 100 per cent is not good enough. There's a new management team coming in and I'd ask them (the players) to give that 110 per cent commitment.

"You can't be missing training sessions, you have to there all the time, you have to be even prepared to do work outside of training which a lot of them are. I would ask them to just give it a go for the next 12 months with the new management team and let's just see where it gets us."

One of the features of the Bective Stud grounds is the presence of horses, an indication of how much the Morans enjoy the sport of kings. They has invested heavily in that as well and they have savoured considerable success in that arena as owners but, you suspect, winning a big grade one race would fade fast compared to Meath landing the Sam Maguire again or even defeating Dublin in a Leinster final.

Such achievements might seem fanciful right now but the Morans are willing to invest big to try and ensure the targets can be achieved - and sooner rather than later.