WHEN YOU TRACK the kind of calendar year Paul Mannion had, you have to bring yourself right back to 2021 and a knee ligament rupture he suffered in the Leinster semi-final win over Portarlington.
At the time, he was enjoying the freedom of a year spent with the club. In 2020, he was used mainly as an impact sub by Dessie Farrell as Dublin stretched their All-Ireland winning sequence into the season of stands emptied by the threat of Covid.
Perhaps underwhelmed, he stepped away from county football. It kick-started three consecutive Dublin championships for Kilmacud and he was reborn.
So much so that, after beating St Jude’s in the 2021 decider, Crokes manager Robbie Brennan was asked about the possibility of Mannion returning to county duty and he said emphatically; “My own opinion? No.
“I think that’s it, I think that’s the last you’ll see of Paul (for Dublin).
“I’d say he’ll answer that question but I would think that’s it. What he has done in the game has been absolutely phenomenal for Dublin and now for Kilmacud.
“I would say he’ll just enjoy his football, that’s my view. But Paul might have something different on it.”
Kilmacud marched on in their provincial campaign, through Meath champions Wolfe Tones, before that fateful day against Portarlington.
Mannion could just watch on as they beat Naas of Kildare in the Leinster final, 0-14 to 0-7. When they beat Roscommon’s Padraig Pearses in the semi-final by six points, they didn’t seem to be missing him, and that remained the case in February 2022 as they approached the home stretch of the All-Ireland final with a 0-9 to 0-4 lead against Kilcoo.
A freak goal from a ‘45’, an extra-time period and Jerome Johnston’s late, late goal changed everything and Kilcoo took the Andy Merrigan Cup home.
When Crokes started out on the long road again, it was clear that Mannion was needed on the very biggest of days. Getting back for the Dublin championship was important, but an ankle injury against Thomas Davis during the 2022 county semi-final just felt unfair.
That was in October. He had to have surgery that was expected to keep him out of running for at least three months.
And yet, by January 2023, he started the All Ireland final against Glen. He might not have lasted to the very end – and his substitution was part of the controversy that saw the result so hotly disputed – but he played his role in an All-Ireland win.
Again, the quotable Brennan was asked about Mannion’s decision to play: “We weren’t sure at all. The lads will back this up – he has done nothing, and I mean nothing. He has had, maybe, 30 minutes of a training session last Saturday. So it was a massive, massive gamble.”
In 2023, Mannion played every card perfectly. Winning All-Ireland titles at club and county level represents a perfect calendar year. Being top-scorer in the All Ireland final win over Kerry shows his ability on the biggest days (he and Sean O’Shea scored 0-5 apiece, but O’Shea shot 0-4 from placed balls while Mannion hit 0-4 from open play).
He also found time to give the Kilmacud Crokes Féile (U15) team a little guidance as they won the entire tournament. When Karl Manning asked if he might give a little time to help out, he was pushing on an open door.
Two decades ago, Ray Cosgrove was the marquee forward in Kilmacud Crokes and Dublin.
He has spent time coaching his club when the current Monaghan coach Gabriel Bannigan was the manager. He knows the Mannion family well, says fondly how ‘well-reared’ Paul is, and appreciates his colourful quirks.
One previous Christmas, he had to go up to the Mannion homestead to get a few jerseys signed for presents. As he stood there talking to Mannion’s mother Yvonne, he asked how she was getting on with preparing the turkey, gammon and beef for the big day.
“Ah, don’t ask Cossie,” said Yvonne, “He’s gone vegan!”
Then, there’s the Chinese connection. Having studied International Commerce and Chinese, he delivered a remarkable talk at the 2018 Zeminar.
Long before, he spent a year in China as part of his course. He immersed himself in the culture there and learned to speak to the natives in their tongue and tone. He also used to time to work on his frame and he came back with muscle packed on.
As the years ticked on, he became a different player, keeping pace with the changes of the game.
No longer the wispy inside man, more a deep-lying playmaker with a bit of bulk to protect himself in heavy traffic.
If it suits for Dublin with Con O’Callaghan and Colm Basquel inside, it also works for Kilmacud with Shane Walsh there.
“He can now be the quarterback, the man further out the field, who can link it between midfield and inside,” says Cosgrove.
“But that’s the way the game has evolved where he is no longer the inside corner-forward. Kilmacud set up structured. Their build-up is a lot more defined. They are slower, but maybe more sure in getting the ball to the shooting position.
“And that’s maybe why Paul has been playing centre-forward than he would have been years ago. He was recognised as a 13, an inside forward. Now, he has taken on a different role with the club: out, winning ball, creating more so than converting.
“Maybe that’s maturity, taking more leadership, coming out the field to field the Shanes and so on.”
As the year turns, the big pin in everyone’s sporting calendar is 7 January when Kilmacud play Derry and Ulster champions Glen. Against the backdrop of their All-Ireland final last January, when Crokes defended the final play of the game with 16 on the pitch, followed by the GAA’s inexplicable failure to take a position and Kilmacud’s refusal to offer a replay, this is one of the most anticipated club games in many years.
Away from the enmity though, Kilmacud are gelling together perhaps the best forward partnership in the club game – possibly even county too – in Mannion and Walsh.
“I don’t think the two boys have really clicked, just yet,” Cosgrove says, but Mannion has been provider to Walsh for his goals in the county final and against Ardee.
Still though, Glen manager Malachy O’Rourke will have a plan for that.
Mannion simply couldn’t have as good a 2024 as he had a 2023. Could he?
