JP McManus to again put his money on Limerick GAA
It is expected his new sponsorship of hurling and football will involve a €500,000 contribution over three years.
All but the Limerick minor footballers who have a long-standing sponsorship with Leonards Renault main dealers, will carry the JP logo. The sponsorship deal will be announced at a function in the Strand Hotel.
Although he has put millions of euro into sport, health and education in Limerick over the past ten years, JP is no soft touch when it comes to supporting various causes.
As a gambler, JP McManus has clung to very rigid criteria. When giving huge donations from the JP McManus Foundation, he also applies fastidious demands to ensure that the money is well spent.
Nobody, but JP, knows how much he’s worth or how much he gives to worthy causes.
But it’s a lot. And nearly all the money is channelled to help three hugely important pillars of life in Limerick: health, education and sport.
More than 30 charities benefited from the JP McManus Invitation Pro Ams since the inaugural one in 1990.
The biggest beneficiaries include the Mid West Hospital Trust which received €2 million for the €8 million radiology unit in Dooradoyle; Milford Hospice.
On the sporting front, he handed over a €5 millon cheque to the Limerick GAA board last July to go towards the development costs at the Gaelic Ground, reducing the debt from €7.5 million to €2.5 million.
UL has received a sizeable sum.
His old alma mater, Sexton Street has the JP McManus Scholarship Award by which the top eight Leaving Cert students get €4,500 euro for each year at third level.
Last night he threw his financial weight again behind the Limerick GAA by announcing his sponsorship of the county teams.
McManus strongly believes in team work. One close friend said that JP would be a strong believer in the old saying that there is no ‘I’ in the word team.
Although generous with his time when dealing with the media, JP is keener to listen than to be heard.
His friends are staunchly loyal: he refers to them as the A-team.
While he can walk the fairways of the world with the likes of Tiger Woods, Mark O’Meara and others, he still enjoys the holds dear such touches as walking down O’Connell Street always acknowledging a salute.
His closes allies in business are John Magnier and Dermot Desmond.
Like JP, these two are at the top of their chose professions.
Like JP, they are discrete and super wealthy.
Unlike JP, they prefer to stay clear of media and rarely give interviews.
His first golf class in 1990 raised more than 1 million which was dispersed to various charities and Milford Hospice.
JP, who is 52, struck his first bet on a horse when he attended Sexton Street CBS. He recalled: “I would always try and get a bet on the big races.”
But his first gambling ventures presented difficulties.
“I was too young to go into a betting office and I wasn’t too big for may age either, which didn’t help,” he said.
Of his formal education he said: “I slipped through unnoticed.”
At 19 he turned to bookmaking after the betting tax was raised to a whopping 15%.
“I stopped punting in betting offices as I decided, due to the tax, I could not make it pay under those terms. I didn’t want to quit altogether, so I tried the other side, bookmaking.”
As they say, the rest is history.
No matter how high the success graph ascends, JP is always keen to listen and learn.
He once remarked: “As far as I am concerned I am still learning as there is always some angle which you haven’t seen something from before. At the end of the day I do most things by instinct. I have made plenty of mistakes, but I have made decisions, right or wrong. But once something happens, forget about it. Once it happens today or yesterday, it’s history. You have to keep looking ahead; you can’t live in the past.”
Limerick GAA fans, will hope that JP McManus’s Midas touch will rub off on the Green and White and bring new fortunes on the field of play.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
