Kevin McManamon is not about to stir the pot in relation to Dublin’s current league pickle. When it comes to bandwagons, he’s old enough to remember the ‘split Dublin in two’ locomotive gathering a fairly prolonged head of steam.
McManamon’s role in Dublin’s unprecedented era of success between 2011 and 2020 is the stuff of legend, born out of his epoch-making goal in the 2011 final.
For much of his Dublin career, there was the persistent drum of criticism around the reasons for the county’s dominance – cries that Dublin should be split in two (or three or four) were common. As were assertions much of the success was down to Dublin’s superior financial backing.
“I knew it was nonsense at the time. We were being baited,” says McManamon now. “I remember going down to one interview in Carton House and it was just about money and I remember being fuming. That was the narrative that was kind of written, I didn’t really buy into it at the time.
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“It was a shortcut that people were making. Certain people were jumping on the bandwagon – people that I’ve never seen in a GAA press conference in my life – and then all of a sudden they were jumping on a bandwagon because Dublin were winning the All-Ireland.
“They made things a bit dramatic, that was why I was calling bull***t on it at the time. Those guys (on that Dublin six in-a-row team) were successful because of the effort that went in.
“We were a really good team that came along together at the right time, we won a few All-Irelands by a point, we drew two finals. It could have been different.”
McManamon is the focus of the latest episode of Laochra Gael on TG4. During his career he garnered himself a role as Dublin’s super-sub, but the part of impact sub didn’t always sit well with the St Jude’s man.
In the show, McManamon tells how then-manager Jim Gavin tried to sell the role to him by talking about bullfighting, and how they’d tire out the beast before sending in the matador to finish it off. McManamon was Gavin’s matador.
“How did it make me feel? I remember I was just a bit like, I know what you’re doing here. You’re not going to reverse 28 years of me being told, ‘If you start, you’re good. If you don’t start, you’re not so good.’
“But I have to say it was a bit like turning the Titanic slowly. You did believe it and a lot of the encouragement I would have got was also from teammates. Little conversations with lads going, ‘I know you don’t like it, Kev, but like, jeez, it really helps when you come on.’
“So, it was a show of support, I guess, from Jim. I did feel valued by him and the coaches. I’ve seen it done well in other teams. You have to just respect the panel as much as you can.
“I probably didn’t like (the super-sub role) in the first half of my career and the second half I probably needed it a little bit to stay involved.
“In my first five years, I think I started 80 per cent of the championship games, [but] I was just getting done in the big ones. Partly that was my own fault, so if the super-sub was my own doing, I can’t really be arguing too much.”
After retiring in late 2021, McManamon – an accredited sports psychologist – got back involved with the Dubs as a mindset coach during Dessie Farrell’s reign.
He has stepped back from that role now and is currently a coach/selector with the county’s under-20s, managed by Jonny Cooper. Having previously worked in the area of sports psychology with other Dublin minor and under-20 teams, McManamon is aware of the talent coming through the ranks in Dublin.
And he isn’t worried about Dublin’s current Division One league standing – despite Ger Brennan’s side finding themselves in a relegation battle with two games remaining.
“I don’t think anyone’s getting caught up with losing a couple of early league games,” he says. “Dublin won’t be judged pretty much until June or July really. Well, I certainly won’t be judging them.
“Not that I’m not paying attention to Dublin. I’m watching the games and all, but these things will emerge. It’s like the snow globe being shaken up a little bit and a new manager coming in. Where does Dean Rock fit in? Or Clucko or Bastick or Niall Moyna? Where does Con as captain [fit in] and Murchan and Howard, new leaders and stuff like that?
“And then who are the people that are going to be part of the furniture? I’ve seen so many league games where three or four newbies play and we don’t see them again.
“So, you’re just waiting for things to settle down. I think it’ll come. We’ve got big-game players to come back as well. I’m excited to see how they get on.”
As for the possibility of relegation, it’s fair to say it wouldn’t be keeping him awake at night.
“I’m sure it would be a setback, it means you’ve lost five out of seven games or whatever it is. But we won the All-Ireland from Division Two in 2023, so it’s not a death sentence.
“But I think Dublin need to be playing in Division One. Division Two potentially for a year here and there over the next 20 years, but I don’t see that as being part of anyone’s plan.
“We’re one of the strongest football counties and we need to be [in Division One]. I wouldn’t be too stressed this year if they went down. Like I said, I think they’ll be fine in the championship.”
Kevin McManamon will be the focus of Thursday night’s episode of Laochra Gael on TG4 at 9.30pm.
