It’s early afternoon in Ireland, which means that Paul Mannion isn’t long out of bed in Boston as he sticks in his earbuds for a transatlantic Zoom session.
They’re expecting close to 30 degrees there at the weekend and Mannion, his bleached blond dyed hair expertly coiffured, looks like he’s having the time of his life.
He’s kicking ball for Donegal Boston and he and his girlfriend don’t expect to be back in Ireland until some time in August. You inquire if he’ll perhaps work while he’s over there?
“No, just enjoy the time off,” replied Mannion, taking some time out to promote AIB’s new series, The Drive. The interview, like any with Mannion these days, inevitably builds towards a question about why the Kilmacud Crokes man, who has just turned 29, isn’t still playing for Dublin?
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Frankly though, it all feels a bit like the waiter handing over the champagne to George Best at the hotel room door, a Miss World on his arm, and asking, “Where did it all go wrong, George?”
Truth is, Mannion probably won’t ever be back for Dublin and the six-time All-Ireland winner is comfortable with that.
“I do feel like I have kind of drawn a line under it now,” said Mannion of his Dublin career. “I’ve been just enjoying the time with the club a lot and as I have said a few times now, the opportunity to do different things, to spend time on different things, I’m quite happy now.
“I’m still playing football and the game that I love. It’s not the game that I ever wanted to step away from itself, it’s just the size of the commitment to play inter-county. I was just kind of exhausted by that. Now I’ve got club championship which is just everything I love about Gaelic football.”
The really tantalising thing for Dublin supporters is that Mannion, an All-Star each season from 2017 to 2019, feels he could still cut it at the top level. Asked if he has gone past the point of no return with Dublin after two seasons out, he wasn’t inclined to agree.
“Look, I don’t know, I think physically I’m still pretty okay,” he said. “I’m probably technically past my prime a little bit [age wise] and that kind of thing but I still feel great, still feel like I’m able to perform to my best and yeah, I don’t think that would be the major issue for me.”
The Dublin squad that he left behind will return to Croke Park on Saturday evening to face Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
It is put to Mannion that after breezing through the Leinster Championship with big wins over Wexford, Meath and Kildare, and with an anticipated All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry or Mayo in mind, manager Dessie Farrell may have preferred a stiffer test this weekend.
“If you get all the way to the final or semi-final after getting through a few tough tests, then maybe it can give you an edge but it could also leave you more tired after a run like that,” he said.
“Over those years I was involved, we kind of just ignored the draw and just focused on ourselves and how we were training. And yes, you absolutely give every single team the same level of respect in terms of preparation and analysis. They certainly won’t be thinking, ‘Oh, I wish we’d got a different team’. They will be giving full respect to Cork, and Cork deserve it because on any given day they are capable of an upset and Dublin could be capable of underperforming.”
Ultimately, Mannion is expecting a Dublin win.
“I think it was 2019 we played Cork, they put up a massive battle against us that day in Croke Park,” he said. “I just think Dublin now, with the momentum they’ve got back and the confidence they have, it’ll be a massive challenge for Cork.”
Mannion isn’t too sure where he’ll actually watch the match. Could be at a friend’s house, could be in an Irish bar. It should make for pleasant viewing, wherever he ends up. To think they were almost talking about the demise of Dublin a few weeks ago, after their difficult league campaign. At one stage, former captain Paddy Christie even sent out an SOS for Mannion to return, suggesting it should be a “priority” of the management team to coax him back.
“They were obviously struggling with injuries and things, they were probably written off a little bit too early, just with the amount of people that they had to come back and given how early it was in the year,” said Mannion. “I’m not surprised to see them come back and be performing as strongly as they have been doing.”
Paul Mannion was speaking at the launch of AIB’s new series, The Drive, which explores the adversity faced by inter-county players in the modern game and what drives them to pull on the jersey year after year.
