ONE thing can be said with a fair degree of certainty is that Davy Fitzgerald’s reign as Antrim senior hurling manager won’t be boring.
Clare’s All-Ireland winning goalkeeper and manager had a couple of opportunities to shut down the discussion around whether Neil McManus will come out of inter-county retirement in 2025.
Davy Fitz should want people talking about Antrim hurling. They need exposure.
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about,” Oscar Wilde once said, “and that is not being talked about.”
This column is a case in point.
Had Fitzgerald shut down the debate and stated, “Neil McManus will not be coming out of retirement as he will be focusing on his role as Antrim’s performance coach next season,” there would be no rationale for this column.
It wasn’t that the new manager was keeping the door ajar for McManus - no, he was flinging it open to the Cushendall man who announced his inter-county retirement at the end of the 2023 season.
It was an entirely legitimate question from RTE presenter Damian Lawlor to ask Fitzgerald at full-time of the epic Ulster Club semi-final between Cushendall and Sleacht Néill.
McManus hit 3-9 in what was one of the best individual displays you’ll ever wish to see on a hurling field.
For a 36-year-old who is supposed to be slowing down, the level of performance from McManus on the night was absolutely scandalous.
Cushendall wouldn’t have won this year’s county championship without him.
Lawlor posed the question at pitch-side in the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds about the prospect of McManus coming out of retirement for Antrim.
Davy Fitz replied: “It certainly makes you think...”
After Cushendall lost the game after extra-time, Fitzgerald said with a smile: “We might stick a pair of togs and socks on him at some stage.”
Five nights later, the Antrim Club Allstars awards were being hosted at the Devenish Complex where McManus picked up a gong in the full-forward line for his championship displays with Cushendall, with Fitzgerald in attendance as guest speaker.
Clearly, it wasn’t just the immediate emotion of the game between Cushendall and Sleacht Néill.
Fitzgerald was still keen on the idea of McManus coming out of inter-county retirement 14 months after making the announcement.
If anything, Davy Fitz was warming to the idea of his performance coach leading Antrim’s charge on the field next season.
In conversation on stage with Mark Sidebottom, the Clare man said: “I knew if I was ever coming here (Antrim) I wanted him with me. He is Antrim to the core. Being honest, the best hurler in Antrim that I’ve seen this year is Neil McManus, without a shadow of a doubt.”
In search of an ‘exclusive’, Sidebottom later stopped McManus on stage after picking up his award and, interestingly, the Cushendall man didn’t say ‘no’ to Fitzgerald’s notion.
There is no doubting McManus could still perform at inter-county level because his fitness levels are that of a 29-year-old rather than a creaking 36-year-old’s.
In any case, every player reserves the right to change their mind.
Nobody in Antrim would be complaining either if McManus donned his white helmet and number 14 jersey again and jogged out from the Corrigan Park changing rooms come the start of the National League.
In fact, it would be cause for celebration among Antrim Gaels.
Retiring from something you love doing is always an emotional decision.
A player can sound as rational and definitive as they want but it’s not always the case.
Michael Murphy was emphatic about his decision to quit Donegal a couple of seasons ago.
Now he’s back under Jim McGuinness.
In June of last year, McManus was equally emphatic about his decision to leave Antrim after they preserved their Championship status with a win over Westmeath in Mullingar.
He said: “Things have changed in my life, obviously. I’ve a young daughter. I want to spend more time with her and my wife. I’d spend my day working in Belfast in a fairly demanding job and you train so much nowadays, and then you’re home after bedtime.
“It’s a huge commitment and I never wanted to do it less than 100 per cent. I’m very happy with the way I’m leaving it. I can live with it knowing that I gave it all that I could. I’m really looking forward to giving more to my club.”
In the same interview, McManus displayed an unquenchable passion for hurling. And when you hit 3-9 against a brilliant opponent, the heart strings start to tug at you.
“I love the feeling of going up for a high ball. Whenever I’m watching a game, people are throwing ash very, very hard and somebody has the bravery and the skill and the timing to go up and pull that ball out of the sky.
“There is something special about that… It’s a mad thing, isn’t it? But there’s a beauty to it.”
Perhaps Sidebottom caught McManus in a moment where the Sleacht Néill defeat was still raw.
Any competitor worth their salt just wants to get straight out onto a hurling field again. And then there’s Davy Fitz on his shoulder telling him that he’s still the best hurler in Antrim.
Can McManus be the team’s performance coach and play at the same time?
Make no mistake, McManus is made for both roles. Being Antrim’s performance coach is perfectly suited to his skill set. So is wearing number 14. But given the commitment levels required on both fronts, it’s nigh on impossible.
A lot of perspective can be found over the Christmas period, and the rawness of epic defeats do fade.
While the feeling among Antrim Gaels would love to see McManus back on the field for one more year, they may have to content themselves with the Cushendall man working away in the background and helping to squeeze out a bit more from those who will definitely be wearing saffron next season.
Still, that outrageous 3-9 tally down in Armagh will be gnawing away at Davy Fitz.
