Mick Meagan: First Manager of the Republic of Ireland
Cian Manning charts the career of the first man charged with taking the reigns of the Irish national team, Mick Meagan. Continue reading → Cian Manning charts the career of the first man charged with taking the reigns of the Irish national team, Mick Meagan. Continue reading → The Anatomy of Cork City FC
Cian Manning charts the journey from Cork City’s inception and introduction to the League of Ireland to their historic double winning campaign traced in six matches that include fixtures in the league, FAI Cup, UEFA Cup and even the Champions League. Continue reading → Playing soldiers, Olympia versus Jacobs
The 1919/20 Irish League season took place during the country’s violent War of Independence and a Leinster League game between Olympia and Jacobs exemplified the tensions that existed in Irish society at the time. Cian Manning takes a look back. Continue reading → O’Mahony to Maguire – Kilkenny’s Soccer Pioneers
With Sean Maguire named in the provisional Republic of Ireland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, if the young Kilkenny man sees game time, he’ll represent a major milestone for the game in his native county. Here, Cian Manning tells the tale of Matt O’Mahoney, Kilkenny’s original footballing flag-bearer. Continue reading → Samba in the South-East: A Brazilian in the League of Ireland
In January 1986, Waterford United signed 26-year-old Sebastiao Elias de Freitas Filho, believed to be the first Brazilian to grace the League of Ireland. His time was brief but eventful if not always for what he did on the pitch. Continue reading → Frank Obiakpani, the Nigerian College Colossus
In 1950s Ireland, a Nigerian medical student made a stir in Irish soccer circles but his later life remained a mystery until a perhaps tragic ending, writes Cian Manning. Continue reading → Revolution in Blue: Waterford 2.0
New name, new crest, but a rich history to build on, Cian Manning tells the story of a proud League of Ireland tradition in Waterford. Continue reading → Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
Football clubs which were formed from the employees of factories are commonplace around the world with teams like PSV Eindhoven, and Bayer Leverkusen. Ireland, too can, claim its share of such teams including St. James’s Gate from the home of the world-famous Guinness. Cian Manning tells the story of the first ever winners of the League of Ireland. Continue reading → Escape to Victory: Irish Winger to Hollywood Goalkeeper
It’s bound to be shown on TV screens over the festive period but do you know the story of Escape to Victory’s only Irishman? Cian Manning profiles Kevin O’Callaghan and explains how his Euro 88 dream was destroyed by an international teammate. Continue reading → Roy Keane at Cobh Ramblers: ‘Kamikaze Man to footballer’
In November 1989, a young Roy Keane was handed his League of Ireland competitive debut sparking the career of one of Ireland’s greatest, and divisive, football figures. With two home-based players recently included in the international squad, Cian Manning looks back to where it all began for the Republic assistant boss. Continue reading → Denis Kelleher: An ‘Unpredictable Irishman’
Below the professonal ranks, Denis Kelleher was regarded as one of the finest footballers in Britain. In a remarkable life, the Irishman, capped eight times at amateur level, escaped from Nazi Germany, played for Great Britain at the Olympic Games, and became a folk hero at Barnet. Cian Manning tells his story. Continue reading → Con Houlihan: St. Pat’s Intellectual
The late Con Houlihan was a larger than life figure in Irish culture and journalism. His influence on sports writing was matched by a love for St. Patrick’s Athletic. Cian Manning profiles a literary giant. Continue reading → Let Erin Remember: Ireland at the 1924 Olympics
Barely three years after a bloody and violent war of independence, and less than 12 months after a bitter civil war, a football team representing a new Ireland walked out at the Olympic Games in Paris. Cian Manning looks back. Continue reading → Treaty City to Three Lions: Big Sam in Limerick
At his first press conference as England head coach, Sam Allardyce referred to his first management job at the helm of Limerick in the League of Ireland. Travelling the country in a mini-bus with Father Joe Young, Allardyce not only led the Shannonsiders to promotion, but he had started out on the road to Wembley and one of the biggest jobs in world football. Cian Manning looks back. Continue reading → Paddy Sloan, The Original Soccer Gypsy
As the first Irish players to ply his trade in Italy, Armagh’s Paddy Sloan was a football pioneer, writes Cian Manning. Continue reading → Ireland at the Mardyke
Cian Manning takes a look back at the first international game under the FAI banner to take place outside Dublin when Hungary, World Cup finalists in 1938, arrived by the banks of the Lee. Continue reading → Davy Walsh and Ireland-Sweden’s First Meeting
Ireland and Sweden first clashed in the 1950 World Cup qualifiers. Cian Manning recalls the events and looks at the career of one of the Irish goalscorers Davy Walsh. Continue reading → Northern Exposure: Martin O’Neill in Profile
“I’m full of anomalies, ironies, paradoxes and downright contradictions.” Cian Manning takes a clsoer look at Ireland’s enigmatic manager. Continue reading → King John of Royal Antwerp
An early loan spell with Royal Antwerp means John O’Shea probably understands the Belgium side he’s up against at Euro 2016 better than most Irish players, writes Cian Manning. Continue reading → Kevin McAlinden and the Grand Old Team of Belfast
Goalkeeper Kevin McAlinden spent 15 years at Belfast Celtic, one of the most successful sides in Irish football. Attacked during a pitch invasion in 1948, he spent months out injured before the club withdrew from the league at the end of the season and never played a competitive game again. Continue reading → Matt O’Mahoney – Kilkenny’s Soccer Pioneer
Sean Maguire is setting the League of Ireland alight with his goalscoring exploits but Matt O’Mahoney was Kilkenny’s original footballing flag-bearer, writes Cian Manning. Continue reading → Ireland at the Mardyke
Cian Manning takes a look back at the first international game under the FAI banner to take place outside Dublin when Hungary, World Cup finalists in 1938, arrived by the banks of the Lee. Continue reading → United Irishmen
As both national teams on the island prepare to take part in the finals of a major tournament together for the first time, Cian Manning recalls how it came about in 1973 that an All-Ireland selection took on the might of Brazil. Continue reading → Big Sam in the Treaty City
As Limerick look to pull off the impossible, Cian Manning recalls when the escape artist himself Sam Allardyce negotiated his early days in management in the Treaty City. Continue reading → The Curious Case of the Cork Athletic Committee Member
“I was in court both days before the replay. The case was definitely a contributory factor in our defeat.” As Cork City and Dundalk prepare to face off in the 2015 FAI Cup final, Cian Manning looks back at the extraordinary build-up to the 1952 decider when Leesiders Cork Athletic took on the Lilywhites.
Continue reading →