ANTHONY CUNNINGHAM HAILED the sharpshooting brilliance of Cathal Mannion in Tullamore yesterday.
20-year-old Mannion lit up O’Connor Park with a magnificent 3-3 haul as Galway hammered Dublin by 13 points in the Leinster SHC quarter-final replay.
With just ten minutes and five seconds on the watch, Mannion had already collected a hat-trick of clinically taken goals.
And Cunningham fielded inevitable questions about his 2011 All-Ireland minor medallist from reporters after the game.
“He has a great attitude, he’s a fine athlete.
“He’s a college student in Galway and hurling is his life. His club is very proud of him, and his family, so they should be.
“He’d be a very, very grounded guy, he has all the skills and I hope the grounded Galway supporters can look forward to seeing Cathal for many a day.”
Galway marched into the provincial semi-finals with emphatic ease, and will start as red-hot favourites to see off Laois or Offaly on 20 June.
And Cunningham revealed: “Our training is always competitive and our panel is stronger than it has ever been, we have good young lads coming through – Jason Flynn and Cathal are in their second season and they have kicked on from there.”
It was very much a family affair for Galway as Cathal’s brother Padraig did a superb man-marking job on Dublin dangerman Mark Schutte, who was held to just one consolation point from play in the second half.
“He (Padraig) did well when he went in there. Our full-back line did well in the second half when a bit of pressure came on,” said Cunningham.
