Mannion itching to get back playing matches

THE final question put to Padraic Mannion at last week’s press conference in Kenny Park ahead of the start of the Allianz National League saw the Galway captain go against his managers’ views for the first time in the entire interview.

You see, it was another long spring for Mannion just as it has been for the rest of us. He spent most of it at home, teaching his pupils online and training with his housemates – younger brother Cathal and Sean Linnane.

So, when asked about the three-week lead-in to the commencing of competitive action for the upcoming season and indeed the busy format of the league, Mannion can’t hide his excitement:

“I think the three-week lead-in is just perfect for us,” he acknowledges. “You get a bit of time to get a bit of work and you still have matches to look forward to, so it’s great to have the games coming up.”

Sitting only a couple of feet away, all Shane O’Neill could do was smile. Speaking minutes earlier, the Galway boss admitted he’d have liked more time to prepare his side but he’s not the one who goes out on the field and gets that buzz of playing anymore and he knows, just like every other manager at any grade across the country, all the players want to do is play.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an under-eight just beginning your trade, just out for a run around and to meet a few new friends, or an inter-county star at the very pinnacle of the game, we’re all the same and at the end of training every night, we all wonder the same thing: ‘Any chance of a match tonight lads?’

Now that’s not something an inter-county player would dream of asking midway through a session which has been planned out to the finest of details a couple of days in advance but deep down, they all hold out that hope.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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