Four weeks on from the All-Ireland football final, Paul Mannion will kick a ball in anger again this Sunday.
Kilmacud Crokes will play Castleknock in round two of the Dublin SFC at Parnell Park and the holder of a freshly minted All-Ireland winners’ medal looks set to feature.
Mannion missed Crokes’ opening round win over St Sylvesters and only returned to training on Tuesday night, a lung-expanding session that was badly needed after a heavy few weeks.
Where to begin with the highlights of his All-Ireland celebrations. From the official homecoming to a music festival in Waterford – “there was a storm on the Friday night and our tent nearly blew away” – to sun seeking in Valencia, he’s tried a bit of everything.
“We’d a night to remember in a pub in town, a bit of a singsong with Damien Dempsey and Mundy and Roisin O,” smiled Mannion, remembering the best bits. “A bunch of musicians got together and it was a really, really special night.”
Mannion knows his way around a guitar himself. He mightn’t glide across the fretboard quite as gracefully as he does the Croke Park surface but he knocks out a mean Hey Jude. Between himself and Eoin Murchan, who jumped on the piano, they put U2 to shame with their version of All I Want Is You
“I think people are sick of listening to us both, though, cracking out the same tunes!” grimaced Mannion.
Good times. And he has been named PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month too.
[ Paul Mannion points to sense of duty as he savours ‘sweetest’ successOpens in new window ]
Nobody saw this coming for the 30-year-old who initially quit inter-county activity after the 2020 All-Ireland final and took two seasons out. It wasn’t until last March, when he came on as a sub in the Round 7 league win over Louth, that he pulled on the blue again.
He’d been keeping his eye in in the meantime, driving Crokes to a series of county, provincial and All-Ireland wins, but in his own mind, his Dublin days were over.
“There were definitely times over the last couple of years where I felt a million miles away from this,” he said of returning to the summit of football with Dublin. “Just because of the head space I was in. I’d taken, how do we say it, a lot more of a relaxed attitude to diet and all that kind of stuff.
“I was still training with Crokes and playing with them but that is only kind of half the season. And going from playing year round to that, it’s a bit of a drop down.”
A couple of serious injuries – Mannion underwent knee surgery in early 2022 and ankle surgery last winter – only added to the distance he had to travel when he eventually resumed with Dublin.
“Earlier this year and over Christmas, I was still with Crokes at the time, recovering from injury, but I was in the (Dublin) WhatsApps and everything and I’d seen the amount of work they were doing and I knew then,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘Oh s**t, I have a lot of catching up to do’.”
But he got there, eventually. In the run up to the All-Ireland quarter-final demolition of Mayo, he felt he was finally back.
He scored two points against Mayo, two more against Monaghan in the semi-final and five in the final. It’s hardly a stretch to suggest that, without him, they may not be All-Ireland champions.
The good news for Dublin supporters is that Mannion is likely to stick around for 2024.
“At the moment, nothing has changed,” he said with regard to his status as a Dublin player. “Nothing has changed in that respect at the moment. My plan is just to try to stay fit and injury free and have a long and good club championship again.”
The hope is that if Mannion stays then Jack McCaffrey will go again too. Stephen Cluxton was the third player to return from retirement this year. Dean Rock has already indicated that he will retire while captain James McCarthy hinted at it too.
“It’s kind of something you’d feel almost rude asking the lads about,” said Mannion. “It’s a very personal decision and I wouldn’t be one to be going asking any of those people what are they doing.”
If McCarthy goes, he could go as the reigning Footballer of the Year. Not a bad way to bow out.
“James is probably my favourite Dublin footballer of all time,” said Mannion. “I’d love to see him get it, to be honest.”
Mannion himself could be forgiven for fancying an easy winter. Between the extended club runs of the last two winters, and his operations, followed by the Dublin return, it’s been an intense 24 months or so. So does the prospect of another winter on the road energise him or fill him with fear?
“Oh definitely energise,” he said. “The last couple of years, the run we went on with Crokes has been genuinely some of the most enjoyable times of my life, club or county. It was just so much fun. I’m actually really looking forward to getting back into it.”
