Tomás Mannion – Galway legend

HE was a central figure in Galway’s All-Ireland football triumphs of 1998 and 2001, and also had the unique distinction of winning county senior hurling and football medals with his native parish. Tomás Mannion is one of the county’s GAA greats and Stephen Glennon catches up with the former All-Star who was also a keen rugby exponent.

Tomás Mannion has never sought out the limelight. Yet, given his athleticism and talent, it was inevitable that the limelight would find him. Be it Gaelic football, hurling or rugby, whenever the Monivea man took to the field, the eyes of the gallery were drawn to him.

In sporting circles, Mannion is best known as a pivotal figure in Galway’s All-Ireland senior football wins of 1998 and 2001. Uncompromising and relentless, he never gave less than 100% to the cause and, in doing so, he won the hearts of the Galway faithful.

This was no more evident than over the past fortnight when Connacht Tribune readers and social media followers voted Mannion as one of the top footballers to wear the maroon and white jersey in the past sixty years, giving him the nod ahead of other Galway legends such as Tommy Joe Gilmore, Bosco McDermott and Tom ‘Pook’ Dillon.

While this is the esteem and fondness the Galway sporting public have for him, an unassuming Mannion feels a lot of his success was down to good luck and being in the right place at the right time. That, in itself, is a measure of the modesty of the man.

Gaelic games, though, is in Mannion’s DNA. His mother was an aunt of former Galway hurler Pat Malone while his grandmother’s family were the Cullinanes in Turloughmore. “So, there was a lot of hurling in my background. I got my football from my uncle, Fr. Tommy, who played with St. Jarlath’s, with which Fr. Tommy won a Hogan Cup medal one time.”

Indeed, his earliest memories are of family and the GAA. His late uncle Patrick was a wheelchair-user and, as his uncle’s designated helper, Mannion travelled with him and the Irish Wheelchair Association to all the big games.

“They would come to the house to collect him,” recalls Mannion. “I was a helper, gladly so, because I got to go to all these games. The first time I went with him was to a Connacht final in Roscommon in the late 1970s. My main ambition from that point was to get out there and, funny enough, 10 years or so later I played my first Connacht final in Dr. Hyde Park.”

It was not just Gaelic football that held a fascination for a young Mannion. In 1980, he travelled with his uncle to Croke Park and watched the Galway senior hurlers forge out their own little piece of history.

“It was my first time ever to be in Croke Park and it was great that Galway won the All-Ireland that same day. So, it was a big day out for me. That set me on my way. I was hooked. I said this is what I want to achieve some day.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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