“IT’S ALWAYS A good time to be a Dublin footballer,” Paul Mannion says when asked if this latest run of success is particularly sweet.
On Saturday he was instrumental, kicking eight points as the Dubs put Roscommon to the sword and ruthlessly made sure of a third All-Ireland U21 title in five seasons.
Add that to an U21 winners’ medal from 2012 and last year’s unforgettable senior triumph and it’s easy to see why Mannion, still a few weeks short of his 21st birthday, is smiling.
“I could never imagine the speed of it,” he says now, looking back.
“You are not even thinking about Dublin. All you are thinking about is winning a championship with [Kilmacud] Crokes and going on but it did not work out that way. The next thing you know you are thrown in with the Dublin squad.
Obviously it was an honour but it was also a bit of a shock at the same time.”
It hasn’t all been plain sailing for one of the capital’s brightest lights. His senior league debut against Cork last year was cut short following a collision with team-mate Paul Flynn. Mannion was taken to hospital and treated for a concussion.
Then what should have been the crowning moment of any career — a start in last year’s All-Ireland final against Mayo — was ended by a hamstring injury just 14 minutes after throw-in.
“Going into the game I was 100%, I was ready, I was confident.
“It was just an unlucky jolt the way I turned I think, that hyper-extended the hamstring a bit. It was one of those things that can happen to anyone at any time. You don’t see it coming.”
What goes through a player’s head at a time like that? Mannion is pointedly pragmatic.
“Obviously you’re worried that you’re using up a sub that could be valuable towards the end of the game,” he reflects.
“Sitting in the stands you’re just willing the lads to get over the line. It was a nervy wait for the last few minutes but thankfully, I was just delighted we got over the line.”
If Mannion ever had second thoughts about his decision to give up a promising soccer career, a first Celtic Cross surely put a lid on them.
He was capped at U18 Schools level by Ireland in 2011 and although there was a “small interest” from clubs on both sides of the water, he says the prospect of professional football never truly excited him.
“I suppose for a lot of kids growing up that is their end goal — they always want to play in England.
“I don’t think I had the same obsession because the GAA and football was there so it wasn’t an obsession for me.
“Certainly, my parents were not obsessed with the idea either. They always said to me that they would love me to go to college here and play football at home so I never put too much thought into it.
To be honest, there was small interest there but… the bottom line is that I was not good enough at soccer to be in with a shout there.
“There were a couple of clubs interested but I was happy then. I had committed myself to the Dublin minors and once that happened I was happy to play Gaelic football and I am glad at the end of the day that I did.”
Now the challenge is to break back into a Dublin panel brimming with talent. While he has been on U21 duty Eoghan O’Gara and Kevin McManamon — fringe players last year –have wasted no time in imposing themselves on Jim Gavin’s plans while Cormac Costello has seized his breakthrough.
Mannion is ready for the fight though — and anxious to keep on learning.
“There’s so many lads in the dressing-room with such a wealth of experience, and just spending time with these lads, every second, every day, you pick up so many little things. You learn so much.
“It drives you on in other areas, I suppose – in college, work. I suppose it gives you an edge.”
