AFTER nearly two decades pursuing excellence, Antrim hurling ace Neil McManus has announced his inter-county retirement and described his time wearing the saffron jersey as a “joy and the honour of my life”.
The 35-year-old Cushendall clubman’s last game for his county was last month’s Leinster SHC relegation face-off win over Westmeath in Mullingar.
McManus’s embrace with his manager Darren Gleeson when he was substituted in the dying seconds of the May 28 tie in Cusack Park suggested that it might be the former Allstar nominee’s last dance. And so it proved.
In an in-depth interview with arguably the greatest Antrim hurler of all-time, McManus felt it was the right time to step down after representing his county since his minor days in 2005.
He won a host of Ulster Championships, two Joe McDonagh Cups and was hugely influential in making Gleeson’s reign one of the most successful for many years and leaves them in Division One for a fourth consecutive season.
“Things have changed in my life, obviously,” McManus told The Irish News.
“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.”
Still one of the fittest players on the current Antrim panel, McManus said his decision to retire was made easier due to the burgeoning talent coming through the ranks.
“These players want to progress, they fear nobody and our top players are as good as any of the top players in the country. Okay, we still have a way to go in developing the whole panel, but that’s a longer-term process.
“We’re a very different team than we were three years ago.”
McManus has loved every minute of his inter-county career and what he has learned over the past two decades.
“Sport is an unbelievable teacher in how to deal with setbacks and injuries," he said.
"You realise that you don’t always win and when you lose it’s tough – and I lost more than I won. Sport teaches you values of hard work, team-work and what you put in is what you’ll get out of it. I’m so lucky sport has been such a big part of my life.”
