AWARD USUALLY GOES TO PLAYER WHO WINS TITLE
IT’S unlikely Padraic Mannion lost any sleep last night fretting over the PWC Hurler of the Year award.
The Galway defender is one of three players in line for the prize, which is voted on by the playing body and will be presented at tonight’s All-stars banquet, along with teammate Joe Canning and Limerick’s Cian Lynch (inset).
“It’s not something I put much thought into,” he said. “It’s other people’s opinion, and if more Galway people were voting there would be a bias, and Limerick would be biased also.
“It’s something you’d be very proud of looking back, when you’re finished hurling, but we’ll see what happens.”
Not since 2009, when Kilkenny’s Tommy Walsh took the prize, has the award been won by a defender and Mannion admits he feels it’s more likely to go to Lynch.
“More often than not, it goes to the player that wins the All-ireland final. I’m not going to worry too much about it.”
When it was put to Mannion that 2018 was his most consistent season, he replied: “I felt I was consistent last year. This year with the more games, it gives more time for players to be in the limelight, to prove yourself.”
The Ahascragh man will be jetting out to Australia next week to play against Kilkenny on Sunday week as part of the Sydney Irish Festival.
They played the Cats three times in this year’s Championship as they retained their Leinster title and though they didn’t keep hold of the All-ireland, Mannion says he wouldn’t change a whole lot.
“Ultimately we got back to All-ireland final, retained Leinster and lost the All-ireland final by a point. In a lot of ways, we timed things right. We knew we had a lot of training to do throughout the League.”