Two-time All-Ireland winning manager Tony Ward recalls his time managing the Mannion brothers at NUI Galway.
JUST OVER A week after the 2017 All-Ireland hurling final, the NUI Galway hurlers were lining out for league game against UCC.
But while the rest of the county was toasting the success of Micheál Donoghue’s team, Cathal Mannion was reaching for his gear bag and his stick. The rest of the Mannion flock are hurling to the bone too. Their eldest brother Ciarán was also a talented hurler with a fruitful inter-county career on his horizons before his progress was derailed by three cruciate tears across both of his knees. And so it ended up with just Cathal and Pádraic divvying out four All-Stars between them as well as a Hurler of the Year nomination for the wiry defender in 2018.
“You wouldn’t think they were brothers, you’d just think they were good friends. Ok, they’d have a word with each other if Pádraic didn’t hit the right ball to Cathal or vice versa. But that would be the same with any teammate. They weren’t like two arguing brothers coming to training. “Pádraic works so hard in the gym on his recovery. And he works so hard on injury prevention. He’s a professional bar in name. It’s probably not the right word to use but hurling is his God. That’s why he is where he is.
“It came so naturally to Cathal. He hurls at his ease; he seems to have space and he seems to have time. He’s just a born athlete and is probably one of the top hurlers in Ireland at the minute. He probably doesn’t get the recognition because he’s not knocking over seven or eight points a game. “They still gave everything they could to the Fitzgibbon. They mightn’t have been able to train as often because of their club commitments, but once that was over, they were full on [with us].
The Mannions are capable footballers too with connections to the famous Caltra club, home to the another famous GAA family — the Meehans. Cathal and Pádraic have both lined out for Caltra in the past and Ward notes how the pair have benefited from dipping their toes in dual code waters.
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