'We just have to do whatever we possibly can to win' - Ryan Manning ready for moment of a lifetime
Republic of Ireland international tells The 42 about Seamus Coleman’s influence, Troy Parrott’s class, and aiming to turn 30 at the World Cup this summer.
LIKE ALL GREAT pieces of art, each time you interact with it a new perspective can be found.
So back to Budapest we go, and the canvas upon which the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup reformation was inspired against Hungary.
By now, everyone can replay the trajectory in their minds. Caoimhín Kelleher launches the ball, Liam Scales rises to meet it, and Troy Parrott finishes with the most beautiful scrape of his studs.
The delirium that followed has helped to sustain a belief that takes Ireland into next week’s play-off in Czechia.
The biblical scenes of celebration in the Puskas Arena, and beyond, was a tapestry weaved by anguish, hope, and then unbelievable joy.
Watch again and, of course, you will naturally be drawn to the flight of the ball, straining the eyes with each replay to make sure it does in fact end up in the back of the net.
Yes, Darragh Maloney, THAT’S TROY PARREH .
Now stop and look at the edge of the box. Ryan Manning is there, just seconds after initially sprinting back in the direction of Kelleher near the halfway line.
The Ireland goalkeeper releases the ball on 95:07. Manning is in the D of the Hungarian box when Scales connects at 95:10. Just as Parrott stretches out at 95:11, the six Irish players in the penalty area – Scales, Festy Ebosele, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea, Adam Idah and Johnny Kenny – seem stuck in a kind of agonising stillness.
Not Manning. He dangles his left leg out and flicks the foot in anticipation of the finish to come. Then he sprints off with everyone else to savour a chaos that for so long has felt like it belongs for everyone else.
“It’s funny, but in my family group chat that was the first message they sent in after, me on the edge of the box trying to copy Troy’s finish,” Manning says, his days as a No.10 with Galway United long gone since evolving into a left sided defender throughout a professional career in England.
“Probably just a striker’s instinct, isn’t it? It’s still there, yeah, just not as good as Troy. The finish was unbelievable because I don’t think he could put it anywhere else besides just sort of dragging his foot down to get it under the keeper. It was class.”
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Ryan Manning (centre) helps pick up Troy Parrott after his hat-trick goal in Budapest. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Manning is speaking to The 42 from the Belfry Hotel. Due to bad weather he’s had to cut short a round of golf on the 11th hole at the venue that has staged four Ryder Cups, but this is not a casual retreat. The night before he was part of the Southampton side that pilfered a late draw away to Jayson Molumby’s West Bromwich Albion.
Southampton had another game in England’s midlands last Saturday – a 2-1 win away to Championship leaders Coventry City – and after two nights in the Belfry they spent last Friday at England’s training base, St George’s Park.
A win at home to Norwich City tonight will keep their play-off hopes very much alive.
We’re rattling through some build-up chat to Czechia when a message comes through about Parrott’s 31st goal of the season in AZ Alkmaar’s 2-1 win in the first leg of their Uefa Conference League round of 16 clash with Sparta Prague.
A good omen, surely.
“Troy is in the form of his life,” Manning says. “You will always feel like you’ve got a chance when he’s on the pitch. If we do our job at the other end and stay solid as a team, all we need is half a chance to make something happen for him and we can win this game.
“We will all know our jobs. The messages from the manager and from the staff, they are always so clear and consistent. We will know what to do.
“And you know, on the other side of it, when you have someone in the form that Troy is in, he is going to demand a lot of attention, and I’m sure they (Czechia) will spend a lot of time trying to negate his threat. That should bring opportunities for other players in positions to step up.”
Manning’s Southampton’s teammate Finn Azaz is a case in point. “He is ultra professional. We joke about it at the club and with Ireland that he’s the only player we know who will get a full body rub at half-time of games. He’s never off the physio bed.
“[Some players] are either totally mad or cool as a cucumber, and he is the latter. I hope he doesn’t mind me saying it, but he’s also got himself into the best condition. Physically he’s in a great place, and I don’t want to jinx it but he can have a really important role to play for us.”
Back we go to Budapest.
There are three photos involving Manning from the post-match celebrations that pique the interest. The first is him embracing Seamus Coleman at full-time, extending an arm across his chest in an almost protective manner while looking towards the away fans in the top tier.
Manning (left) with Seamus Coleman. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“I was just grateful that Seamus was on the pitch for us,” Manning says. “His performances in those two games (including the previous win over Portugal), that was him giving everything he could to the Irish shirt and giving everything of himself to us as his teammates. He was there for us, his leadership, his standards, I think he dragged us through and got us all to that moment that we were able to have together. He still sets the standards in Irish football.”
The second photo is of the whole Irish squad lining up together with Heimir Hallgrímsson, his staff, and the backroom team behind them. Some angry Hungary fans are right in front and, again, the travelling supporters are up in the Gods singing.
“I hope that moment will be amplified much more by qualifying for the World Cup this month,” Manning says.
“I think as a day in our football careers, it’s one we will look back on in years to come as the standout moment for most of us. I think we were all in a bit of shock standing there, to be honest with you. To win the last three games of the campaign like that, to win like that there [in Budapest]. It’s one of the famous days for Irish football and I hope we can bring more.”
The Ireland players and staff celebrate in Budapest. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Before we examine picture three, let’s go back to an interview with Manning from The 42 in February 2023.
“You come over as a kid or dream as a kid of playing in the Premier League, the Champions League, of course you’d give anything to play in a World Cup for Ireland. You think that is what a successful career is.
“But once you get into it and see the game within you realise that’s the minority of the minority who make it. Success is a lot more. Can you earn a living from the game? That is a success. Can you earn money to set your family up for the rest of their life? That would be a success because a successful career is a lot more than what you do on the pitch.”
Manning is a clever, honest, well rounded person. He mentioned in that interview three years ago about a property business that would help occupy his time once football comes to an end.
Ipswich Town offered him a contract when he was in 5th Year of secondary school back in Galway but when they wouldn’t facilitate him completing his Leaving Certificate the family agreed it was best to remain.
He got enough points in his exams to be accepted onto a physiotherapy degree in UCD, at a time when his older sister was in Trinity. Everton and Spurs tried to entice him before Harry Redknapp and Les Ferdinand got him to Queens Park Rangers.
“It’s about getting contracts for the next 10 years and to keep striving to get to those next levels, working as hard as I can and doing what I can to rise up the levels. But if that doesn’t happen it won’t determine whether I have been a success or not,” Manning said three years ago.
But what about those words now, when the World Cup is in sight and he is part of the team striving to achieve it?
And that takes us to picture three from Budapest.
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Ireland's Ryan Manning.
Manning’s face is contorted with reddened delight as he grasps for the Ireland crest on his jersey.
“I know what you mean, maybe a lot of us did things that day that we wouldn’t usually do because at that point you realise it’s just a different feeling,” he says. “What you do for club and for your country, you’re there with teammates who you have known and been with for years, with staff you know years.
“When you start out in football what we’re talking about, getting to a World Cup with Ireland, that is dream stuff. Even this campaign with how it went, losing in Armenia and then coming back, doing what we have been able to do. It feels closer now, definitely, but I don’t know if that makes it more real.
“It’s the pinnacle for us, to get to a World Cup, and we won’t underestimate how big this occasion is, hopefully two occasions. We have to acknowledge that but also then put it to the side.
“In terms of where we are as a group of players, I think there’s a lot of momentum there. Obviously the squad’s probably in a little bit of a different place because it’s three or four months since the last camp, and there are injuries and form and all that sort of stuff, but you know, whoever turns up, whoever’s in the squad, we’re going to have that belief because if we can go away to Hungary and win there…
“This is essentially a cup final, it’s a shootout, and we just have to do whatever we possibly can to win. There’ll be good moments and bad moments throughout the game. We will be prepared do what we need to do to win.”
Manning’s daughter will turn three-years-old at the end of the week in which qualification for the World Cup could be secured in Dublin.
He also doesn’t mind admitting that his brother-in-law has already made booked his trip to Mexico and the United States where Ireland could play South Korea in Guadalajara on Thursday, 11 June, followed by South Africa in Atlanta on 18 June, and co-hosts Mexico in Mexico City on 24 June.
Manning also celebrates a significant milestone in between on 14 June. “That could be a silver lining to turning 30, being at a World Cup with Ireland. There are definitely worse places to turn 30.”
For now, he is ready to embrace the moment of a lifetime.
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'We just have to do whatever we possibly can to win' - Ryan Manning ready for moment of a lifetime
LIKE ALL GREAT pieces of art, each time you interact with it a new perspective can be found.
So back to Budapest we go, and the canvas upon which the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup reformation was inspired against Hungary.
By now, everyone can replay the trajectory in their minds. Caoimhín Kelleher launches the ball, Liam Scales rises to meet it, and Troy Parrott finishes with the most beautiful scrape of his studs.
The delirium that followed has helped to sustain a belief that takes Ireland into next week’s play-off in Czechia.
The biblical scenes of celebration in the Puskas Arena, and beyond, was a tapestry weaved by anguish, hope, and then unbelievable joy.
Watch again and, of course, you will naturally be drawn to the flight of the ball, straining the eyes with each replay to make sure it does in fact end up in the back of the net.
Yes, Darragh Maloney, THAT’S TROY PARREH .
Now stop and look at the edge of the box. Ryan Manning is there, just seconds after initially sprinting back in the direction of Kelleher near the halfway line.
The Ireland goalkeeper releases the ball on 95:07. Manning is in the D of the Hungarian box when Scales connects at 95:10. Just as Parrott stretches out at 95:11, the six Irish players in the penalty area – Scales, Festy Ebosele, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea, Adam Idah and Johnny Kenny – seem stuck in a kind of agonising stillness.
Not Manning. He dangles his left leg out and flicks the foot in anticipation of the finish to come. Then he sprints off with everyone else to savour a chaos that for so long has felt like it belongs for everyone else.
“It’s funny, but in my family group chat that was the first message they sent in after, me on the edge of the box trying to copy Troy’s finish,” Manning says, his days as a No.10 with Galway United long gone since evolving into a left sided defender throughout a professional career in England.
“Probably just a striker’s instinct, isn’t it? It’s still there, yeah, just not as good as Troy. The finish was unbelievable because I don’t think he could put it anywhere else besides just sort of dragging his foot down to get it under the keeper. It was class.”
Manning is speaking to The 42 from the Belfry Hotel. Due to bad weather he’s had to cut short a round of golf on the 11th hole at the venue that has staged four Ryder Cups, but this is not a casual retreat. The night before he was part of the Southampton side that pilfered a late draw away to Jayson Molumby’s West Bromwich Albion.
Southampton had another game in England’s midlands last Saturday – a 2-1 win away to Championship leaders Coventry City – and after two nights in the Belfry they spent last Friday at England’s training base, St George’s Park.
A win at home to Norwich City tonight will keep their play-off hopes very much alive.
We’re rattling through some build-up chat to Czechia when a message comes through about Parrott’s 31st goal of the season in AZ Alkmaar’s 2-1 win in the first leg of their Uefa Conference League round of 16 clash with Sparta Prague.
A good omen, surely.
“Troy is in the form of his life,” Manning says. “You will always feel like you’ve got a chance when he’s on the pitch. If we do our job at the other end and stay solid as a team, all we need is half a chance to make something happen for him and we can win this game.
“We will all know our jobs. The messages from the manager and from the staff, they are always so clear and consistent. We will know what to do.
“And you know, on the other side of it, when you have someone in the form that Troy is in, he is going to demand a lot of attention, and I’m sure they (Czechia) will spend a lot of time trying to negate his threat. That should bring opportunities for other players in positions to step up.”
Manning’s Southampton’s teammate Finn Azaz is a case in point. “He is ultra professional. We joke about it at the club and with Ireland that he’s the only player we know who will get a full body rub at half-time of games. He’s never off the physio bed.
“[Some players] are either totally mad or cool as a cucumber, and he is the latter. I hope he doesn’t mind me saying it, but he’s also got himself into the best condition. Physically he’s in a great place, and I don’t want to jinx it but he can have a really important role to play for us.”
Back we go to Budapest.
There are three photos involving Manning from the post-match celebrations that pique the interest. The first is him embracing Seamus Coleman at full-time, extending an arm across his chest in an almost protective manner while looking towards the away fans in the top tier.
“I was just grateful that Seamus was on the pitch for us,” Manning says. “His performances in those two games (including the previous win over Portugal), that was him giving everything he could to the Irish shirt and giving everything of himself to us as his teammates. He was there for us, his leadership, his standards, I think he dragged us through and got us all to that moment that we were able to have together. He still sets the standards in Irish football.”
The second photo is of the whole Irish squad lining up together with Heimir Hallgrímsson, his staff, and the backroom team behind them. Some angry Hungary fans are right in front and, again, the travelling supporters are up in the Gods singing.
“I hope that moment will be amplified much more by qualifying for the World Cup this month,” Manning says.
“I think as a day in our football careers, it’s one we will look back on in years to come as the standout moment for most of us. I think we were all in a bit of shock standing there, to be honest with you. To win the last three games of the campaign like that, to win like that there [in Budapest]. It’s one of the famous days for Irish football and I hope we can bring more.”
Before we examine picture three, let’s go back to an interview with Manning from The 42 in February 2023.
“You come over as a kid or dream as a kid of playing in the Premier League, the Champions League, of course you’d give anything to play in a World Cup for Ireland. You think that is what a successful career is.
“But once you get into it and see the game within you realise that’s the minority of the minority who make it. Success is a lot more. Can you earn a living from the game? That is a success. Can you earn money to set your family up for the rest of their life? That would be a success because a successful career is a lot more than what you do on the pitch.”
Manning is a clever, honest, well rounded person. He mentioned in that interview three years ago about a property business that would help occupy his time once football comes to an end.
Ipswich Town offered him a contract when he was in 5th Year of secondary school back in Galway but when they wouldn’t facilitate him completing his Leaving Certificate the family agreed it was best to remain.
He got enough points in his exams to be accepted onto a physiotherapy degree in UCD, at a time when his older sister was in Trinity. Everton and Spurs tried to entice him before Harry Redknapp and Les Ferdinand got him to Queens Park Rangers.
“It’s about getting contracts for the next 10 years and to keep striving to get to those next levels, working as hard as I can and doing what I can to rise up the levels. But if that doesn’t happen it won’t determine whether I have been a success or not,” Manning said three years ago.
But what about those words now, when the World Cup is in sight and he is part of the team striving to achieve it?
And that takes us to picture three from Budapest.
Manning’s face is contorted with reddened delight as he grasps for the Ireland crest on his jersey.
“I know what you mean, maybe a lot of us did things that day that we wouldn’t usually do because at that point you realise it’s just a different feeling,” he says. “What you do for club and for your country, you’re there with teammates who you have known and been with for years, with staff you know years.
“When you start out in football what we’re talking about, getting to a World Cup with Ireland, that is dream stuff. Even this campaign with how it went, losing in Armenia and then coming back, doing what we have been able to do. It feels closer now, definitely, but I don’t know if that makes it more real.
“It’s the pinnacle for us, to get to a World Cup, and we won’t underestimate how big this occasion is, hopefully two occasions. We have to acknowledge that but also then put it to the side.
“In terms of where we are as a group of players, I think there’s a lot of momentum there. Obviously the squad’s probably in a little bit of a different place because it’s three or four months since the last camp, and there are injuries and form and all that sort of stuff, but you know, whoever turns up, whoever’s in the squad, we’re going to have that belief because if we can go away to Hungary and win there…
“This is essentially a cup final, it’s a shootout, and we just have to do whatever we possibly can to win. There’ll be good moments and bad moments throughout the game. We will be prepared do what we need to do to win.”
Manning’s daughter will turn three-years-old at the end of the week in which qualification for the World Cup could be secured in Dublin.
He also doesn’t mind admitting that his brother-in-law has already made booked his trip to Mexico and the United States where Ireland could play South Korea in Guadalajara on Thursday, 11 June, followed by South Africa in Atlanta on 18 June, and co-hosts Mexico in Mexico City on 24 June.
Manning also celebrates a significant milestone in between on 14 June. “That could be a silver lining to turning 30, being at a World Cup with Ireland. There are definitely worse places to turn 30.”
For now, he is ready to embrace the moment of a lifetime.
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Exclusive Republic Of Ireland Ryan Manning world cup playoff