“He always wanted the ball, always wanted it. There was never a day he hid. When you needed somebody to do something, to get us over the line, he never hid.
“We should be thankful he was there. He’s left Antrim hurling better than he found it.”
Terence McNaughton knows what Neil McManus is. Maybe Neil McManus does too. Maybe he doesn’t.
Either way, he has far too much humility to ever go for a gallop on his high horse around the glens of Cushendall or beyond.
For Neil McManus, it’s never been about Neil McManus. For Antrim hurling over the past decade and more, there’s been many an occasion where he was the one it was all about.
But whisper it quietly. He couldn’t bear hearing it.
No sooner was he on stage to accept the Irish News Ulster Allstars Hurler of the Year award than he turned the attention to someone else:
“Everyone in here knows that Paddy Burke was the best hurler in Ulster this year, probably someone that should have been in line for an Allstar in full from the GAA, but I’ll take this as a nice parting gift, so thank you very much.”
A parting gift he says, and no sooner than the word retirement escapes his lips, he is back playing. This time representing his country in the Hurling/Shinty match in Newry’s Páirc Esler. No rest for the wicked.
So, one more year?: “You couldn’t convince me to do another pre-season anyway!”
Cushendall is a place where you don’t choose hurling, it chooses you. Yet, on the inter-county scene, the vast political and cultural divide that exists in County Antrim could well serve to derail ambitions.
But those cracks of division are healing in a changing landscape and a changing world. And with McManus leaving Antrim hurling “better than he found it”, there is all the more room to grow:
“It was hugely difficult. We were working with a limited player base, which has thankfully extended over the last few years, in south-west Antrim and in west Belfast more prominently in the last three or four seasons.
“Traditionally the majority of the hurlers have been taken from the Glens of Antrim, which has been hard, but Antrim, for a small area, produce a panel of the necessary size to be competitive in Division One.”
Even with five Ulster titles, two Joe McDonagh Cups and, the honour of extending Antrim’s proud Division One record into 2024, McManus was once again eager to acknowledge a loss like no other to Cushendall hurling, and the Saffron County as a whole:
“John (McKillop) was the embodiment of our club in Cushendall. A very small, rural community, and very tight knit.
“For those who aren’t aware, John had Down’s Syndrome, but he was a very special man in our community. He gave so much more to it than he took.
“Shane McNaughton summed him up brilliantly when he said: ‘Nobody has played their cards better than John McKillop, ever.’”
And so, what next? McManus has never been a man to lie idle:
I’m playing with the club, we’ll see (in terms of management).
I really enjoyed the punditry stuff with Thomas (Niblock) and the lads. I don’t know, we’ll see. I’m kind of focussed on playing and being as successful as I can be with my club over the next while.”