KAROL MANNION IS transported back in time to 17 years ago.
It’s late in the day in Dr Hyde Park and the wait for St Brigid’s to land a Connacht title looks to be on the verge of dragging on.
Corofin are clinging to a two-point advantage after the standard-bearers from Galway and Roscommon have toughed it on a November afternoon, when Mannion drifts upfield in injury-time to get on a ball transferred smoothly along the left wing.
After a game where he absorbed personal blame for the concession of two first-half goals, the midfielder took charge.
“We were two points down for a while so I was just pushing forward from midfield trying to get on the end of a move. I got a nice ball in and the first thought was can I score the goal myself or do I need to look to someone else to create it?
“And when I turned, the man was so close to me, I didn’t feel like I had time to look up and pass it.
“I just said I’d take him on, when I got beyond him the space was there and I could see the goal. So I decided I’d just go straight away and try and pull the trigger. I caught it right on the meat.
“So yeah it was a nice feeling, the relief and emotion was huge.”
It was a stunning strike, both in execution and timing, after a madcap game that saw Corofin have a player sent off after three minutes and score only twice in the opening half, both goals.
Mannion’s career featured another glamour goal moment, displaying the ingenuity to punch low to the net on St Patrick’s Day 2013 when St Brigid’s produced the terrific fightback that saw them take down Ballymun Kickhams and land the biggest prize in club football.
But that 2006 win is regarded as a key launchpad.
“It was new territory for us. We’d got a hiding the year before off Salthill. So to get through Connacht, beat Crossmolina in the semi-final and then to beat Corofin, it brought us to a new level from a player perspective and a club culture. We then felt we belonged and pushed on. It was a big stepping stone.”
Which brings us to today. Back to Dr Hyde Park, back to another meeting of St Brigid’s and Corofin in a provincial final.
It is a pairing that has a healthy tradition and rivalry to it, two members of the modern Connacht football ruling class coming together.
Between 2005 and 2019, the two clubs won 11 Connacht senior titles between them, Corofin claiming seven and St Brigid’s collecting four.
Every one of the 15 finals in that period featured at least one of the two clubs in participation. New faces have emerged in the last two seasons as champions, Padraig Pearses from Roscommon and Moycullen from Galway, but now the Big Two have returned.
“Two ambitious clubs, there’s a lot of ambition in Brigid’s and I know the same in Corofin People wanted to keep that success going on both sides. We’d a lot of serious players and men on our team, we didn’t want to let it go when we won our first.”
After that 2006 game, the clubs met again in the 2011 final when Brigid’s won a fiery encounter by a point and the 2016 decider when Corofin hit full speed to win with ease in Mannion’s last major outing for the club.
There was a 2017 semi-final that was only settled in extra-time by a Daithi Burke goal, the last time paths crossed until now. The various chapters came together to write the Brigid’s-Corofin story.
“There was a lot of aggro that day in 2011. It was a real arm wrestle. They were on the end of a poor refereeing performance, we can admit that at this remove. They dominated the first half, had a goal disallowed that was debatable. No one gave an inch that day, it was a tough old game to play in.
“By 2016 football had moved on a good bit. I remember coming out of that game thinking they were at a different level to us physically. I knew that was going to be my last campaign for Brigid’s, i remember having conversations that night with people in the club, saying that’s the bar now that we have to get to.
“They did give us a lesson that day. They had changed their style of play, the way they moved the ball had gone to a different level. On the other side, we were coming to the tail end of the team that I was part of.”
The teams were stacked with recognisable names on the field and marquee names marched on the sideline as well – Anthony Cunningham, Stephen Rochford, Kevin McStay, Liam McHale and Kevin O’Brien a selection of those in operation.
As opponents they were good for each other, demanding more and raising expectations.
“They were a team we had aspired to be like,” reckons Mannion.
“We knew as a club and as a team they were at a level and we wanted to get there and to challenge them. The same with us and Crossmaglen, we were obviously a lot more distant in geography but we played them three times. The likes of Corofin and Crossmaglen, and I hope we were viewed that way to a certain extent, they’re the teams that you have to be beating to win the big titles.”
The cast has changed now considerably but there is a survivor from 2006. Gary Sice was a wing-back then, the attacking leader now, and Mannion has been as impressed as anyone at his longevity.
“He’d a great game in ’06, he was only around 21. He’s a fantastic footballer. I do think he’s a reflection of the kind of characters that Corofin produces. They’ve a lot of really solid guys with personalities to drive themselves and their club on. Kieran Fitzgerald was another one, older players that I would have played against like Kieran Comer and Greg Higgins. They’re the type you want in your club to keep pushing things on.”
These days Mannion lives in Galway after being based in Dublin during his prime playing days for St Brigid’s. The heartstrings are still tugged by results involving the players from Kiltoom and Cam. He will be amongst the green and red supporting brigade today.
It’s been a year where their All-Ireland winners gathered for a reunion and joyous remembrance a decade on, and where current star Brian Stack became the club’s first All-Star nominee.
There is pride that the legacy they built up in the club is being carried on by a new generation.
“A lot of the team I was part of would be proud that there was some inspiration for the younger people in our club, that playing for Brigid’s and continuing with the standards that were set is important. I’d look at this team now and be very proud. It is nice to see the characters that they are, really good solid club men and players. That culture of producing people like that, it’s good to see that happening again.”
The latest chapter awaits today.
