Lessons learned for Dub Mannion

Dublin’s victorious All-Ireland U21 campaign meant Paul Mannion had to miss the back end of the senior side’s recent league triumph but he may miss next spring’s campaign in its entirety due to studies abroad.

The Kilmacud Crokes forward is studying international commerce at UCD and will be required to spend a semester away from Ireland in the next academic year. Rory O’Carroll completed a similar stint in France in 2011.

Mannion was a complete unknown back then, a youngster who had just made his first appearance on a county panel as a minor and his education at senior level that year came mostly from sitting on the bench with Crokes.