![\"Colm](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3860577_1_articleinline_24586_124843.jpg\" "\\"Colm")
Colm McManamon is tackled by Liam O’Flaherty of Kerry during the 1997 All-Ireland SFC Final at Croke Park.\tPicture: INPHO\/Patrick Bolger<\/p>\nHe can scarcely believe it is 30 years ago since that incredible summer of 1996. Time is sometimes a thief and for Colm McManamon, continuous involvement in the GAA ever since makes the gap seem much shorter.<\/p>\n
There are striking parallels between 1996 and today in terms of barren years beforehand, an infusion of youth, a young manager and former Mayo player in his first year, an unexpected All-Ireland appearance and facing a big Croke Park date against Kerry.<\/p>\n
While Mayo won Connacht titles in 1992 and 1993, a disappointing All-Ireland semi-final loss to Donegal in \u201992 and a humiliation at the hands of Cork in \u201993 showcased where Mayo were at in the national picture.<\/p>\n
There was a revolving door for managers from Brian McDonald to Jack O\u2019Shea and Anthony Egan before John Maughan took over for 1996.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a couple of years where Mayo football just seemed to get lost. There was a lot of change of management. A lot of players from the 1989 (All-Ireland final) team were still playing but didn\u2019t seem to gel with new players. It was a strange one. Mayo definitely got lost for a time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Maughan arrived at a good time \u2013 like this year, Mayo had a crop of talented young footballers coming on stream. Many of the class of \u201896 had been in Under 21 All-Ireland finals in 1994 and 1995, losing to Cork and Kerry respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a case of gelling those footballers with the existing panel and obviously we went to a different level with training standards. He got the best out of us fitness wise and the team was gelling. Physically, I\u2019d say we were one of the most physical teams in the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the 1995\/96 league season, Mayo were in Division 3 but emerged and went to the league quarter-finals (where the top teams from various divisions faced off) and beat Meath in Hyde Park before facing Derry in the semi-final in Croke Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cDerry beat us but we got a taste of Croke Park and that was important for us,\u201d McManamon recalled.<\/p>\n
Like in 2026, their championship started with a win over London in Ruislip but they went one better in their Connacht semi-final against Roscommon than the team of 2026. It was just as well as this was the era of the straight knockout championship.<\/p>\n
They beat Roscommon in Hyde Park setting up a Connacht final with an emerging Galway team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were both in building mode. There was damn all between us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mayo were the better team on the day though, emerging as winners on a 3-9 to 1-11 score.<\/p>\n
The reward was an All-Ireland semi-final with Kerry, who had won their first Munster title in five years and only their second in ten. It was a veritable famine for the Kingdom. But there was very little sense that Mayo could pull it off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no serious expectation in the county. A lot of the talk was that if Mayo could go up and give a good account of themselves, that would be good enough,\u201d recalled McManamon.<\/p>\n
After the \u2018lost\u2019 years that preceded 1996 and the 1992 and 1993 semi-final experiences, that is somewhat understandable.<\/p>\n
But John Maughan and his squad went up preparing to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably wasn\u2019t the best ever Kerry team,\u201d McManamon admitted. \u201cWe seemed to get a run on them and James Horan got a goal from 40 yards out late on. We had a little bit of luck on the day but it was a huge win for us and instilled belief in us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Colm McManamon is tackled by Liam O’Flaherty of Kerry during the 1997 All-Ireland SFC Final at Croke Park.\tPicture: INPHO\/Patrick Bolger<\/p>\n
McManamon gave a tour-de-force that day in Mayo\u2019s 2-13 to 1-10 win with both Ivan Neill in the Western People and Padraig Burns in The Mayo News using the same description \u2013 that he must have covered every blade of grass in Croke Park that day. It was a summary that could be used in many games the Burrishoole man featured in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played all my football with the club at midfield and you\u2019d be used to being up and down between the two 21s. With Mayo, I was playing centre-half forward, not a role I was used to but John Maughan gave me the freedom of the pitch to get around and it seemed to work well that day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Of course, one of the more infamous All-Ireland finals followed, not just with the fight in the replay but Mayo being six points up in the final quarter in the drawn game only for Meath to rein them in.<\/p>\n
Whether he likes it or not, that final still follows Colm McManamon around.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is hard to move on from it when people bring it up all the time! It is one that got away. It was there to be won, twice. We were six points up with just over ten minutes to go,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
When he looks at his Mayo career as a whole, the positives far outweigh the negatives. He played from the winter of 1990 to 2002.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t change it for the world. The lads you meet and the teams you were involved with. Some of us are very good friends to this day and we had some good days.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to finals is grand but you\u2019d like to have got over the line once. But when you are representing your county, your club and your family at that level is something I will always treasure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t change anything \u2013 except maybe a couple of final results,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
*****\u00a0<\/p>\n
McManamon \u2013 known almost universally simply as \u2018Colm Mac\u2019, sees the parallels between the group in 1996 and 2026, not least a big game against Kerry in Croke Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve young lads coming in like we had in 1996 full of confidence. They play with a freedom and are a real boost to the rest of the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Though he has finished playing, McManamon\u2019s commitment to Gaelic football has not waned. He has been involved with various Burrishoole teams in the men\u2019s and ladies clubs at all ages every year since he retired. There are very few of his contemporaries who can rival his commitment and very few who look more like a man who could still tog than the man hewn from granite from Tiernaur.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing more I\u2019d rather be at than down at the pitch, training kids, showing them what to do. The game has evolved so much but I love being involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He will do whatever is asked of him. Earlier this year he played the role of Dessie in The Snapper for the club\u2019s Oskars fundraiser \u2013 well out of his comfort zone but always willing to help in whatever way he can.<\/p>\n
He gets to as many Mayo games as possible and has been pleasantly surprised by the progress this year, especially after witnessing the crushing defeat by Roscommon in the Connacht semi-final.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalking out of MacHale Park after the Roscommon game was not a nice experience. The way they\u2019ve turned it around is very impressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey got over the line by a point against Monaghan and the Tyrone defeat could have went either way.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom there, if you\u2019d hand-picked the draw, you probably would have chosen exactly the teams they got. They\u2019ve been able to build and the draw suited them. Leaving MacHale Park after the Meath game, you could see them coming together. They controlled the game for long stages against Cork and in the Louth game, it was strange to be able to relax halfway through the second-half for a Mayo game in Croke Park. Normally we\u2019re biting our nails!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe three boys up front are shooting the lights out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And so a familiar foe awaits, Kerry in a final.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are hot favourites. I think this Mayo team are playing out of their skins and really gelling together. Kerry will score plenty but I think we\u2019ve enough firepower to match them. There\u2019s a big question over trying to curtail the Cliffords.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut midfield will be huge. Both forward lines are lethal so supply will dictate it. We\u2019ve been written off ahead of some games at midfield but have still contested quite well. We will need everyone firing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndy says no one will give them a shout. But they know themselves inside the camp how they are playing. They\u2019ve turned it around since the Roscommon game, you have to hand it to them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
*****\u00a0<\/p>\n
McManamon is very familiar too with the journey Kobe McDonald is making as it echoes his own Aussie Rules adventure 37 years ago.<\/p>\n
In 1989 strong performances for the Mayo Vocational Schools team \u2013 who lost an All-Ireland final to a Peter Canavan inspired Tyrone in Croke Park \u2013 and with the Mayo minors, who lost the Connacht minor semi-final to Galway by two points, brought him to the attention of Aussie Rules scouts.<\/p>\n
One of them was the former Galway footballer and, subsequently, Roscommon manager, John Tobin. The interest Geelong \u2013 Ois\u00edn Mullin\u2019s club \u2013 had in him was well flagged before a training camp in the old Pearse Stadium in Salthill.<\/p>\n
McManamon went along even though \u2018the deal was half done\u2019. Three players got signed up \u2013 McManamon and two other stars of the 1990s, Colin Corkery from Cork and Anthony Tohill of Derry.<\/p>\n
![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3860578_1_articleinline_oisin_20mullin_1_.jpg\" "\\"Former")
Former Mayo footballer Oisin Mullin tackled Luke Breust of the Hawks while in action for the Geelong Cats, an AFL club who attracted Colm McManamon to Melbourne over 35 years ago.\tPicture: Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n
So it was in January of 1990 that the Tiernaur man headed across the world to the port city of Geelong, some 50 miles south-west of Melbourne.<\/p>\n
It was a trip down under far removed from the modern day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s much easier for players now. There was no Facetiming, no Snapchat. Now if you walk down the street in some parts of Australia, it is like being in the middle of Castlebar or Westport but Irish people going for a year in Australia wasn\u2019t really a thing then,\u201d McManamon recalls.<\/p>\n
And while there was a cultural gulf, there was also a new game to learn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference in the ball was a big thing but the hardest part was getting rid of the ball before you were tackled or it would be a free against you. It is a hard thing to adjust to when you\u2019d be used to carrying the ball into contact in Gaelic football.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was lots of one on one coaching too most days and we did a lot of gym work and running,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
By this point, Dubliner Jim Stynes was already establishing himself as a legend of the game, having arrived in 1987 and won the Best and Fairest (Brownlow Medal) in 1991, the only ever non-Australian to do so.<\/p>\n
His brother Brian Stynes and Se\u00e1n Wight from Kerry were all there too but it was the early days of Irish talent spotting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very well looked after, flights there and accommodation was paid for. It is usually only after a year or two that you\u2019d be considered for the seniors but I was playing with the under 19s and played a few games with the first-team reserves,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
McManamon was making good progress. Anyone who saw his athleticism, power and competitiveness with club and county in latter years will testify that he would have been very well suited to the game.<\/p>\n
Then everything changed.<\/p>\n
His father, Brendan, died suddenly aged just 62 in May of 1990.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the last time I saw Australia. A month or so after I was home, I got a call from John O\u2019Mahony to go in with Mayo. S\u00e9amie Daly from Mulranny, who was a selector, called. Between that and a few different things, I decided to stay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While Mayo\u2019s gain was Aussie Rules\u2019 loss, McManamon does harbour regrets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never really got a good run at it. I do wish I had given it another whirl but I didn\u2019t have much time. The pre-season was just finishing and we were just in the thick of it when my Dad passed away. I decided not to come back but I would like to have given it a bit longer,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n
Fate would deny him the chance to play in Australia with the Irish Compromise Rules team too. His quality with the Irish team in the late 1990s underscored his suitability for the game but while he represented his country for home tests in Ireland in 1998 and 2000, he was injured for the 1999 trip down under.<\/p>\n
Time moves on and now, 37 years after his own Australian odyssey, McManamon is watching a son of a former teammate, Ciar\u00e1n McDonald, prepare to head down under.<\/p>\n
Kobe McDonald has lit up this summer\u2019s Gaelic football championship, belying his tender age of 18 but is due to link in with St Kilda later this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery Mayo supporter will be heartbroken to see him go but you cannot stop the lad. He is a serious talent and everything they want, he\u2019s got. Athleticism, pace, fielding a ball, he has all the attributes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see him flourishing out there. It is not good from a Mayo point of view but you can only but wish him luck. Is it the right thing for him at his age? I think so. He can always come back but I think he will get a taste of it \u2026 The professional game, a good lifestyle, doing something you love and getting paid, it is a dream come true,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He can scarcely believe it is 30 years ago since that incredible summer of 1996. Time is sometimes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-564316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}