Mannion is the king of Kilmacud as Crokes claim Dublin crown
JUST minutes into yesterday evening’s Dublin senior football final, Kilmacud and Dublin star Paul Mannion could be seen clutching his hamstring in discomfort.
The All-Star was clearly troubled yet an hour or so later walked off the pitch with a county medal to his name and a personal contribution of 1-6, all from play.
It was an incredible performance in the circumstances and joint-manager Robbie Brennan revealed how close the marquee talent came to missing out.
According to Brennan, a back injury that also affected Mannion’s hamstring threatened his participation but he played through the pain barrier to inspire an eighth title success.
Mannion had more reason than most to dig so deep as he wasn’t on the team in 2010 when they won their last title, a year after winning the All-Ireland.
He’s their main man now and displayed his value with the opening point and the 57thminute goal that finally killed off a determined Jude’s side chasing their first title.
‘We were saying beforehand that it was going to be brilliant or it was going to be tight for Paul,’ said Brennan. ‘He was struggling with the hamstring so we really weren’t sure. For him to be able to pull it out of the bag as he did was just incredible. He did that on one leg — and you know what he’s like on two legs!’
Aside from winning back their title, Crokes’ reward is a Leinster club clash with Dunboyne of Meath on Sunday week in Navan.
That’ll be a curious tie for Brennan who played for Dunboyne and managed them. He’s also married to the sister of Dunboyne stalwart David Gallagher, a proud Dunboyne woman herself.
‘I don’t know where I’m going to be sleeping for the next couple of weeks, she mightn’t let me in,’ said a smiling Brennan.
There were no smiles from anyone associated with Jude’s who played catch-up throughout as they chased a maiden county success.
They came into the contest as many people’s fancies after taking out big guns Ballymun Kickhams and holders St Vincent’s.
Yet they took too long to get going and spent the first half chasing shadows as Crokes dominated the possession stakes and carved out the majority of chances.
Mannion wore number 11 but played in the full-forward line and had a head-to-head with former Kildare defender Ciaran Fitzpatrick.
It was a largely one-sided duel as Mannion continuously slipped away from his man to curl over a succession of points off his left foot.
His first two came from out on the right wing and his third arrived after an interception on the Jude’s kick-out.
Mannion spun away from his man again in the left channel in the 21st minute to kick his fourth of the evening and put his team 0-5 to 0-1 clear.
Shane Cunningham got on the scoresheet for the Glenalbyn outfit too while ex-Dublin player Craig Dias got on the mark in the 25th minute.
They led 0-6 to 0-2 after 25 minutes and should have been further clear but kicked five wides in that period.
Kevin McManamon is Jude’s best known player but the sixtime All-Ireland winner with Dublin had a limited impact initially, only coming to life after the break.
He wore the number 14 jersey but generally played a deep lying role and found it difficult to influence the play.
In truth, it wasn’t a classic first 30 minutes with as many wides registered, 10, as actual points.
Crokes, crucially, held a commanding 0-7 to 0-3 lead at the interval and were satisfied with proceedings, holding Jude’s to a single point from play.
They also bossed the middle third and forced a number of turnovers that left the Jude’s defence under pressure.
McManamon finally opened up with a neat point 11 seconds into the second half that clearly inspired his colleagues.
It reduced the deficit to three points and the margin was down to one by the 39th minute at 0-8 to 0-7.
But Crokes drew on all their big game experience to effectively close out the game with 1-1 in response.
Mannion sniped another point before Crokes won the kick-out and played in Burke who teased his man on the right before firing in off the underside of the bar.
Jude’s battled gamely and got it back to a two-point game late on before Mannion turned Fitzpatrick inside out and slid a low finish to the net.