Five still not enough, says All-Star Mannion
Dubs defender on his vegan diet, saving our climate and (tougher still) playing Kerry
ALL-STAR Dublin footballer Paul Mannion has said there is no reason to think the champions will be sated by the five-in-a-row, as the holders prepare for Kerry at Croke Park tomorrow week, in the first round of the Allianz Football League. ‘There are so many different sides to it,’ said Mannion. ‘I think the one we’re going to focus on is how are we going to make sure we’re a team that doesn’t fade away after this achievement. What would that say about us if we did? ‘Everyone’s talking about it: why should it be just five, because it hadn’t been done before. What if it was six?
We’d all be going with the same hunger and fervour. ‘We’ve had a few months off to celebrate and reflect on that achievement and now we’re focusing on where can we actually go from here? ‘It really wasn’t so much: “Here we go for five and we’ll all ride off into the sunset.” It was nothing like that at all. Stephen Cluxton is a great example of that. He won Footballer of the Year, five All-Irelands in a row, captain through it all, and people might have thought that it was a good time for him to step away, but I’ve never seen him more hungry and looking forward to a new season.’
“The Dublin
nutritionist wasn’t too
impressed”
“We can’t think
about if we’re far behind”
VEGANISM. Trump. Climate change. Australia on fire. Not your typical checklist of topics for an interview with an inter-county footballer to preview the year and the decade ahead. And to look back at the year and decade just gone.
But then, Paul Mannion has always been an interesting case study, from the time he took a gap year from the flagship senior team and immersed himself in Beijing in China as part of his UCD college studies.
He has his bit to say too about Dublin-Kerry on Saturday week and the floodlit All-Ireland final rematch that kick-starts the Allianz Football League in earnest.
But before that, meet the vegan All-Star, whose social and political engagement saw him take on a challenge from a friend to do his own small bit, rather than just talking about it, and prompted him to change his diet.
He doesn’t want to play himself up as some sort of Greta Thunberg-type figure on the Dublin senior football team, but he understands it’s an interesting topic in a testosterone-fuelled environment of the dressing room, where traditional heroes were raised on steak for breakfast.
He’s living proof of how to challenge traditional assumptions, a blue-chip talent on a blue-chip
Dublin team that broke the glass ceiling of competition history with the five-in-a-row.
The only left foot more celebrated in the capital belongs to his captain and leader Stephen Cluxton.
‘In fairness it’s a very laddy thing to eat burgers,’ he says, explaining how his own life choice dovetails with being a senior footballer.
‘The culture is Christmas dinner, the Sunday breakfast in Ireland with Clonakilty pudding and all that. That just got me thinking more about it and last year I thought I’d go cold turkey!’
Watching a couple of documentaries and wrestling with meat products as part of a college project informed his thinking to the point where he now exists on ‘just a fully plant-based diet. No meat, dairy and eggs and stuff.
‘Yeah, it was just a couple of years thinking it over before I actually just decided it was something I wanted to do. I gave it a go for January last year — it was for “Veganuary” or so it’s called. I hate that word. Yeah, it’s been going fine. Physically I felt great — no issues at all. I wouldn’t have done it because I expected to gain an edge as such. I didn’t do it for health reasons as such. I was kind of wary of the dangers of doing it when you’re trying to perform at a top level, and I had a lot of talks and meetings with Daniel Davey, our nutritionist, who wasn’t too impressed at my initial decision to go for it. ‘But, yeah, I just made sure to stay on top of what I was eating every day. Making sure I was getting the right intake of protein and all that. And it’s been fine — I love it now. ‘He was staying on top of that, so I’d want to be weighing myself regularly and the scans, getting the dexa scans done. In that two to three-month period after
I’d started it was the best I’ve ever had in such a short period of time. I gained muscle mass, lost body fat and it was really good, so once I got that it was a big relief and I felt comfortable with it.’
Perhaps it’s those nine months abroad that has instilled in Mannion (left) the sense of a bigger global picture. ‘I’m sure you all know yourselves the talk around climate change and the crisis that we’re in, in that sense. To me, to change my diet was the easiest thing that I could do. People will drive electric cars, or not drive cars — there’s lots of ways you can contribute in an individual way.’
As for the question of whether any of his teammates have gone vegan? ‘I try not to be pushy or too outspoken about it, because I know that people tend to just really hate pushy vegans.
‘I don’t try and convince anyone. I just tell them my own experiences of doing it, my own observations.
‘I think people are kind of naturally curious and interested. And it has [impacted]... I’ve met loads of people who have said they’ve cut out red meat.
‘My dad, a few of my friends, a few lads on the team now as well are trying more and more vegan food. I’m noticing the vegan portions at dinner after training are dwindling! So, it’s nice as well to, I suppose, share my experience and to know that that’s informing other people as well.
‘I don’t miss foods for the taste of it. I don’t miss a juicy steak or a chicken or anything like that. It’s the convenience things. Just like eggs are so easy, a quick source of protein, so easy to cook, throw it in the microwave for two minutes and there you go. It’s small little convenient things like that.’
Which leads him to the topic of climate, the crisis in Australia, and the world view of Donald Trump. ‘Yeah, it is scary. As you say, Australia is virtually on fire. Last year Chicago and North America was covered in ice sheets. People tend to think that it is far away, but it is something that does affect Ireland and has affected Ireland. Last summer and the summer before, there was a drought, hose pipe bans and all sorts. Yeah, I think it’s certainly something that is taking a hold in Europe, in Ireland, but more drastically elsewhere.
‘There’s probably no point even getting into a discussion with that man’s [Trump] views. But look, it’s a huge challenge that the world is facing. And it’s something small, I think, that everyone can do.’
Dublin have wintered well after the milestone achievement of the five-in-a-row, the squad returning from Bali to start life under new manager Dessie Farrell, the anointed one after Jim Gavin’s departure. Though he insists, ‘I don’t think it’s the end of an era as such.’ Not for this group of players.
Mannion knows Kerry have their sights trained on Dublin for the opening round of the league.
‘It’s a huge challenge,’ said Mannion. ‘Other teams will be ahead of us in their preparations. The game here against Kerry is a really exciting challenge. After the final last year and how that went I’m sure they’re going to be gunning for it. We’ve just got to focus on what we can do now. We can’t think about “are we far behind” or “are we streets ahead”. We just have to train as smart as we can and get ourselves right.’