IF Kevin Moran brings a squash medal back for Scotland from the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast it would be nice to think councillors could be prevailed upon to grant him his own personal open top bus tour through Paisley. Of all the sacrifices Moran has made to pursue his chosen profession, not least is the risk he runs of being stationed on the other side of the world as his beloved St Mirren clinch the Ladbrokes Championship title at some point in the next few weeks.

“Supporting St Mirren runs pretty deep with my family,” said Moran. “Sometimes for our sins, but this season has been a lot better.

“Part of the link is that my dad’s company used to partially sponsor St Mirren because they were a Paisley-based company,” he added. “I was there when they won the first division the last time and they had a parade in Paisley. So at least I was there for that one. My dad [Fraser] will be out for the Games as well. Or maybe he will have to make a difficult decision.”

Fittingly, Moran likes to bring a buddy when he plays his squash too. Having upset the odds to take the Scottish men's doubles title with Douglas Kempsall a few months back, he is entered into the mixed doubles competition on Australia’s Queensland coast this fortnight alongside Lisa Aitken. Like Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis in tennis, doubles in squash has a life of its own, a discipline where putting your body in the right position can pay dividends, even if a little bit of on-court contact is a fact of life. Another alluring medal chance presents itself in the form of men’s doubles team Alan Clyne and Gregg Lobban, who are currently ranked second in the Commonwealth.

“For the rest of the year, and as soon as we finish the Commonwealth Games, we are straight into singles again and there really is a big difference going from singles to doubles. We might not have the world ranking that other guys have in the singles but in doubles we tend to compete with the very top guys in the world.

“Awareness is such a big part of it. The amount of times people can get hit [in singles] are few and far between, but it plays a part in it, how you manoeuvre your body and the position you take on the court. It is almost the most important part. That’s why we have to work on manoeuvring ourselves as a team.”

Potentially missing St Mirren’s shot at Championship glory isn’t the only sacrifice Moran has had to make. It turns out that he is also is a frustrated snowboarder, who has been unable to get his fix on the slopes since 2013 as he has been so wrapped up in cotton wool. “How do the two combine?” he said. “They don’t. The last time I went snowboarding was the year before the Commonwealth Games. I used to go every Christmas and New Year. I used to spend at a least a week or two weeks at Easter. I had absolutely loved it since I was six. But I had to stop because they were scared about me getting injured. I thought if I really want to try and medal at these Games, I should probably make sure I just keep them happy.So I will do it maybe next year. I miss it so much. Stop talking about it!

.“My family still go and that makes it worse. They send me loads of photos. I have to have a social media blackout when they’re away. But they’re incredibly happy for me. They would love to have me there but it’s just one of those things. As a sports person, you have to put your physical fitness first and make sure that you do everything possible

Four years on, Moran is happy to take more pressure on himself and the rest of the squash team. His day job is as a development officer for the sport.“I was at the 2014 Games and it was a very different selection process that I got through. I just scraped inside the selection window. I was just happy to be there. I had come up against softer teams and just managed to get past them. This time round, I have beaten world champions. I have beaten players that are world medallists. So coming into this event, there is no reason why we wouldn’t be looking to try to medal in the mixed doubles with myself. And especially with Alan and Greg going for the men’s doubles.

“In your first Games, it is more ‘happy to be there’. This time when I was selected, there was much more responsibility attached to it. You’re going there to compete and win a medal. It was more like the relief of ‘right, I’m in now, it’s time to win a medal’. Last time, I was just excited about the experience and getting immersed in the culture.

“We didn’t really expect it. We wanted to go there and make sure that we got to the final, but when we got there we had played enough good squash and we had beaten a lot of the English pairings.We knew we could have a proper run at it if we caught them off guard. We just thought ‘get out early’ and make them try to win it from us. We just continued to do that until we eventually won and we were looking at each other going ‘what happened there?’”