McManamon provides ‘another dimension’

The Brogan brothers tend to garner most of the headlines for their exploits in the Sky Blue jersey, and rightly so.

Nonetheless, the emergence of Kevin McManamon has been a crucial factor in Dublin’s success in the past 12 months. The St Jude’s powerhouse has taken his game to a different level again this year. With the Brogans both having an off-day, and Diarmuid Connolly getting himself sent off for another petulant display of indiscipline, it was McManamon who came up with the goods up front once more.

He finished with a goal and three points from four shots before being withdrawn in the 69th minute, exhausted. He earned a massive ovation as he departed the fray and Dublin captain, Bryan Cullen agreed that the full-forward deserved plenty of plaudits.

“Kev’s very lively and he offers us a little something different” said Cullen.

“He’s very comfortable on the ball and is very good at drawing men in and taking them on. He just gives us another dimension to our play and he was invaluable to us there in the second half.”

He admitted that it was a stuttering effort by the Dubs but explained it was an energy-sapping affair for the players, particularly after Connolly received his marching orders. With Wexford losing their composure when presented with such a golden opportunity however, Dublin stepped up the tempo.

“We kind of clicked into gear after we lost Diarmuid. We were really staring a defeat in the face. As so often happens, the team that goes down to 14 men find another gear and thankfully we found it.

“We were stumbling along to be honest. Good thing followed by a bad thing. We struggled to get a consistent flow to our game.”