WHATEVER about the future of those around them, Paul Mannion seems fairly set on at least another year with Dublin.
Having stepped away after their 2020 All-Ireland success, his return and that of Jack McCaffrey were confirmed last September before Stephen Cluxton’s surprise reintroduction during the league created a sense that the Dubs were set on a serious tilt at taking Sam back.
They did just that, bringing Mannion to a tally of seven All-Irelands, two behind his record-breaking trio of team-mates on nine.
At 30, having had two injury-hit seasons that coincided with Kilmacud Crokes’ elongated campaigns to reach successive All-Ireland club finals, the first pre-requisite for Mannion is avoiding injury.
If he can manage that, he’s set to stick around.
“At the moment, yeah, nothing has changed. Yeah, I've just got to see how we're going with Crokes, how the body is feeling.
“I'm just really hoping that I can stay injury free again over the winter and yeah, sure there's always been one or two changes at the end of every year.
“The squad of 30, 30-plus players, it's never been the exact same (each year) so I'm sure there will be changes in some respects but where exactly those come from I don't know.
“I'm just going to...yeah, nothing has changed in that respect at the moment. My plan is just to try to stay fit and injury free and have a long and good club championship again,” he said after being named PwC Player of the Final at a launch today.
