Paul Mannion moving on as door remains shut on Dublin return

Paul Mannion of Dublin celebrates after the 2017b All-Ireland SFC fianl win over Mayo. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Six-time All-Ireland winner Paul Mannion has confirmed he won’t be returning to Dublin duty in 2022, potentially spelling the end of his inter-county career.

The AIB Leinster club finalist stopped short of pulling down the shutters on his Dublin days but said he will be focusing exclusively on playing for Kilmacud Crokes again this year, like he did in 2021.

It’s a considerable blow to the Dubs who could do with an injection of inspiration on the back of their first All-Ireland-less season since 2014, coming up shy of Mayo in last August’s semi-finals.

Three-time All-Star Mannion has been in terrific form for his club since, winning a series of man-of-the-match awards and will be a marked man again when the Stillorgan side play Naas tomorrow at Croke Park, a couple of hours after Dessie Farrell’s Dublin begin their 2022 campaign with an O’Byrne Cup game in Offaly.

“I’ve told them that my attention is focusing on the club now, that I’m enjoying that,” said Mannion of his Dublin situation. “Dessie made clear to me last year when I was stepping away that the door will still be open. My teammates said similar to me as well which I did really appreciate because I often don’t know what I want to do from one week to the next, never mind one year to the next. For the time being I’m happy out with the decision. The plan is just to stick with that for the year.”

Kilmacud Crokes footballer Paul Mannion in attendance at the AIB Leinster GAA Football Senior Club final media day at MW Hire O'Moore Park in Portlaoise. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Mannion’s Crokes manager, Robbie Brennan, suggested in November that the scorepoacher is finished with Dublin for good, stating: “I think that’s it, I think that’s the last you’ll see of Paul.”

Mannion himself offered a potential insight into his mentality when he joked about his failed attempt to organise a reunion of "recently retired" Dublin players last summer. Along with fellow 28-year-old Jack McCaffrey, who quit Dublin in mid-2020, they set about gathering a group together for a night out.

“We tried to get some social event going with lads who’d recently retired and they were all like, ‘Lads, we have kids now, we can’t be doing this kind of thing’,” smiled Mannion. “We were like, ‘Aw, shit, okay’. So I think it was just me and Jack that went out and had a pint on our own.”

Mannion and ex-Dublin wing-back McCaffrey did eventually meet up with their former colleagues, at Paddy Andrews’ wedding in December.

It was just like old times that day though Mannion knows the reality is that once you step outside the inter-county bubble, things are immediately different.

“A lot of the guys in the dressing-room I count as some of my best friends but when you’re not on the team and they are, you can’t really maintain that same kind of friendship,” he said. “There has to be that boundary there which I totally understand and respect.”

That was the big thing Mannion missed in 2021, that sense of solidarity and togetherness in blue.

“At the same time, last year was entirely new to me and I was able to do lots of different things and just enjoy that time off,” he said. “I just felt a lot less pressure in general. I wouldn’t say I missed a whole lot more than, as I say, just the social aspect, yeah.”

Living his best life? Mannion can’t be far off it with Croke Park still his field of dreams. His 53rd and 54th minute points there for Crokes against Portarlington in the provincial semi-final before Christmas helped secure a comeback win and they’ll return to GAA headquarters tomorrow for the decider against Naas.

Accolades and awards continue to fall at the forward’s feet like confetti. Fuelling all of this excellence is an intriguing plant-based diet, one he’s been on for several years now. His Christmas dinner, for example, was a nut roast. Clearly, a meat-less existence agrees with him.

“It can be a bit tougher to maintain weight and muscle mass but I don’t feel that it’s impacted me much on the pitch which is most important from a football point of view, and obviously from a general health point of view. I’ve had blood tests done, early last year or late 2020, just to check in on iron levels, calcium levels, all that sort of stuff, and I think bar a slight dip in zinc or something like that everything else was perfect.”

Mannion nursed his knee over Christmas after a knock in the Portarlington game but reckons he’ll be fit to line out again tomorrow. “I got through the game ok and it just kind of flared up a bit then in the following days so I took a week or 10 days off and was able to train last weekend,” he said. “I should be good to go again.”