PADRAIC MANNION is starting to feel old in the Galway dressing room.
The Ahascragh-Fohenagh clubman turns 32 today, and made his senior debut for the Tribes a decade ago under Anthony Cunnigham.
Mannion helped them seal Ireland glory under Michéal Donoghue in 2017, and is one of 10 survivors from that victory still in the squad.
His brother Cathal, skipper Conor Whelan, Conor Cooney, David Burke, Daithí Burke, Jason Flynn, Tom Monaghan, Jonathan Glynn and Jack Grealish also remain.
Donoghue is back as boss after quitting in 2019, and has called a host of new faces into the squad such as Anthony Burns, Michael Garvey, Rory Burke, Oisín Lohan and John Fleming.
The Tribes sealed their third NHL win on the spin against Wexford last Saturday to cement their place in Division 1A.
They can take a big step towards a league final if they beat Limerick in round 5 on Saturday night at the Gaelic Grounds.
And Mannion admits things feel good in Galway at the moment as they mix the old with the new.
He told Galway Bay FM “I feel old enough in that dressing room now at the moment, but it’s great. It’s great, there’s a good morale between the team and with all the lads.
“We’re all competitive, we all like to win, but the league is really just working on things, performances.
“We were delighted to get the two points on the board in Wexford and just move on again.
“When you’re playing, there’s so little between the teams that you’ll get little purple patches here and there and it’s just probably how you deal with them.
“If you can keep building and keep going in the right direction and sometimes the results will go for you, sometimes they won’t.
“But as long as you’re going the right trajectory, that’s the main thing.”
