Under-fire McManus to let his football do the talking

EVERY GAA player in the country must know what it’s like to be castigated for performances but, most of the time, it comes from their own managers, the terraces or, at worst, passers-by on the street.

For Ciaran McManus, it went far beyond that when one TV analyst slated him prior to one of Offaly’s Leinster Championship fixtures earlier this summer.

It wasn’t so much the fact that the pundit didn’t rate him that caught the attention of those watching, but the savage manner in which it was done.

If it bothers him, the likeable Offaly midfielder doesn’t show it. He knows that helping Offaly win a first Leinster Championship title in nine years this Sunday would be the best way to quieten the critics.

“When I heard about (the comments) I made a point of not even looking at the TV. I felt it was harsh, to be honest, but what’s the point in getting involved?

“If the manager is happy with what I’m doing and the people of Offaly are happy with what I’m doing, and I’m happy enough myself and my family, why should I care what everyone else thinks?

“If they want to castigate me or any other players, so be it. I can’t stop them. To be honest, I don’t know where he’s coming from. He did it in the Cavan game as well. What can I do? I can’t put a media ban on him.”

Considering they have come through three games to reach a provincial final, Offaly have had to take a surprising amount of criticism. Former Dublin player and Footballer of the Year Paul Curran went as far as to say they wouldn’t keep the ball kicked out to Dublin.

For a team like Offaly, such comments are surely grist to the mill, and both McManus and manager Kevin Kilmurray made a point of paraphrasing Curran’s comments in press conferences this week.

“It’s a bit of banter really,” said McManus. “That’s what the GAA is about, the local spirit, the local craic. When you hear things like that, you can use them.

“I was watching the Dublin documentary on television (on Wednesday night) and they seem to go through every local paper trying to get a line on players or whatever. It’s a bit of fun.”

No doubt Pillar Caffrey will have replayed the last league meeting between the sides for his troops at some stage this week, after which McManus claimed he would love to “have a crack” at Dublin in a Leinster final.

That was the night Dublin kept Offaly scoreless for 52 minutes, when Offaly’s pride was salvaged only by a hat-trick of goals from McManus that nearly earned them the two points.

“I think that was just Ciaran McManus’ pride more than anything else,” McManus said yesterday. “Pride for Offaly more than anything after going 50-something minutes without scoring. Every player felt it and I just expressed the same feelings.

“It was a spur of the moment thing. That’s what I felt at the time and the camera was on me at the right time. That was how I was feeling at the time and, thankfully, it’s come to fruition now.”

Few players wear their heart on their sleeve like McManus, who never excused himself from duty, even when study or work took him to Dublin, Germany and Finland.

Having joined the senior panel in 1996, he won his first Leinster medal a year later and a National League gong just 12 months after that. Since then, their seam has run dry, with just one Division Two title to their name.

The years since were filled with sob stories and even McManus admits to harbouring doubts whether his beloved Offaly would ever again grace the bigger stages again.

“I’ve been waiting nine years for another Leinster final. Back in ‘97 I thought we would be back in every second or third one with the team we had, but time caught up on some of the players. We started losing tight matches by one point and that psyche set in a small bit.”