{{short description|Irish hurler}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox Gaelic games player | code= Hurling | sport = Hurling | image = | name = Neil McManus | irish = Niall Mac Mánais | fullname = | birth_date = 02/06/1988 | feet = 6 | inches = 2 | occupation = | county = Antrim | province = Ulster | club = [[Ruairí Óg GAC|Ruairí Óg]] | cposition = | clubs = | clyears = 2005-present | clapps(points) = | clcounty = 3 | clprovince= 2 | clallireland = | counties = [[Antrim GAA|Antrim]] | icposition = Centre-forward | icyears = 2007-present | icapps(points) = 30 (7-112) | icprovince = 5 | icallireland = 0 | nhl = 0 | allstars = 0 | clupdate = | icupdate = 13:20, 11 June 2022 | birth_place=[[Cushendall]], [[County Antrim]],<br />[[Northern Ireland]] }} '''Neil McManus''' (born 1988) is an [[Northern Ireland|Irish]] [[hurling|hurler]] who plays as a centre-forward for the [[Antrim GAA|Antrim]] senior team.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://antrim.gaa.ie/teams/profiles/?id=217 |title=Player profile: Neil McManus |publisher=Antrim GAA website |accessdate=1 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716132656/http://antrim.gaa.ie/teams/profiles/?id=217 |archivedate=16 July 2011 }}</ref>
Born in [[Cushendall]], [[County Antrim]], McManus first played competitive hurling during his school days at [[St MacNissi's College]]. He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he first linked up with the Antrim minor team, before later lining out with the under-21 side. He made his senior debut in the [[2007 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship|2007 championship]]. McManus has been a key member of the team since then, and has won five [[Ulster Senior Hurling Championship|Ulster]] medals and one [[Walsh Cup (hurling)|Walsh Cup]] medal.
McManus has represented the [[Ulster GAA|Ulster]] inter-provincial team on a number of occasions. At club level he is a two-time [[Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship|Ulster]] medallist with [[Ruairí Óg GAC|Ruairí Óg]]. He has also won three [[Antrim Senior Hurling Championship|championship]] medals.
==Playing career==
===Club===
McManus plays his club hurling with the [[Ruairí Óg GAC|Cushendall Ruairí Óg]] club and has enjoyed much success. After a promising under-age career he made his senior debut as a seventeen-year-old in 2005. That year he won his first [[Antrim Senior Hurling Championship|senior county championship]].
Cushendall made it two-in-a-row in 2006 with McManus later collecting an [[Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship|Ulster]] club title.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/cushendall-crush-lynchs-to-take-ulster-club-crown-68407.html|title=Cushendall crush Lynch's to take Ulster club crown|publisher=[[Irish Independent]]|date=13 November 2006|accessdate=11 June 2011}}</ref>
After surrendering their county and provincial titles in 2007, Cushendall returned in 2008 with McMaus winning a third county title following another win over [[Loughgiel Shamrocks]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/gaa/cushendall-ease-past-loughgiel-13987213.html|title=Cushendall ease past Loughgiel|publisher=[[Belfast Telegraph]]|date=29 September 2008|accessdate=11 June 2011}}</ref> He later secured a second Ulster club title following a win over [[Ballygalget GAA|Ballygalget]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ulster.gaa.ie/2008/10/20/ruairi-ogs-take-hurling-club-title/|title=Ruairi Ogs take hurling club title|publisher=[[Ulster GAA]]|date=20 October 2008|accessdate=11 June 2011}}</ref>
===Inter-county===
McManus first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the [[Antrim GAA|Antrim]] minor hurling team. With the 'young saffrons' he won three [[Ulster Minor Hurling Championship|Ulster]] titles in succession in 2004, 2005 and as captain in 2006. He subsequently joined the Antrim under-21 hurling team, winning his first [[Ulster Under-21 Hurling Championship|Ulster]] title while still a minor in 2006. He won a second Ulster under-21 title in 2009.
McManus made his senior debut in 2007 in a [[National Hurling League]] game against [[Dublin GAA|Dublin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/Antrim/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=73617|title=Antrim draft in McManus|publisher=Hogan Stand|date=2 March 2007|accessdate=11 June 2011}}</ref> Later that year he made his championship debut in the provincial decider. A 2–24 to 0-4 trouncing of [[Down GAA|Down]] gave McManus his first [[Ulster Senior Hurling Championship|Ulster]] title.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/6716747.stm|title=Gaelic Games Clockwatch|publisher=[[BBC Sport]]|date=3 June 2007|access-date=11 June 2011}}</ref>
In 2008 McManus missed the later stages of the National League and the entire championship campaign due to injury.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/Antrim/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=94129|title=Double blow for Antrim|publisher=Hogan Stand|date=3 May 2008|accessdate=11 June 2011}}</ref> He returned in 2009 and has become Antrim's top score-getters.
===Inter-provincial===
McManus has also lined out with [[Ulster GAA|Ulster]] in the inter-provincial series of games.
==Career statistics== ===Club===
{{updated|match played 10 February 2018.}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- !rowspan="2"|Team !rowspan="2"|Year !colspan="2"|[[Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship|Ulster]] !colspan="2"|[[All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship|All-Ireland]]
!colspan="2"|Total |- !Apps!!Score!!Apps!!Score!!Apps!!Score |- |rowspan="5"|[[Ruairí Óg GAC|Ruairí Óg, Cushendall]] |[[2005-06 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship|2005-06]] ||1||0-00||0||0-00||1||0-00 |- |[[2006-07 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship|2006-07]] ||2||0-00||1||0-00||3||0-00 |- |[[2008-09 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship|2008-09]] ||2||0-01||1||0-04||3||0-05 |- |[[2014-15 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship|2014-15]] ||3||1-19||0||0-00||3||1-19 |- |[[2015-16 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship|2015-16]] ||2||0-15||2||2-14||4||2-29 |- !colspan="2"|Total |'''10'''||'''1-35'''||'''4'''||'''2-18'''||'''14'''||'''3-53''' |}
===Inter-county===
{{updated|26 June 2021}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- !rowspan="2"|Team !rowspan="2"|Year !colspan="3"|[[National Hurling League|National League]] !colspan="2"|[[Christy Ring Cup|Ring Cup]] !colspan="2"|[[Joe McDonagh Cup|McDonagh Cup]] !colspan="2"|[[Ulster Senior Hurling Championship|Ulster]] !colspan="2"|[[Leinster Senior Hurling Championship|Leinster]] !colspan="2"|[[All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship|All-Ireland]] !colspan="2"|Total |- !Division!!Apps!!Score!!Apps!!Score!!Apps!!Score!!Apps!!Score!!Apps!!Score!!Apps!!Score!!Apps!!Score |- |rowspan="15"|[[Antrim GAA|Antrim]] |2007 |rowspan="2"|[[National Hurling League|Division 1]] |3||1-04||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||1||0-07||colspan=2|—||3||1-03||7||2-14 |- |2008 |2||0-04||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||0||0-00||colspan=2|—||0||0-00||2||0-04 |- |2009 |rowspan="3"|[[National Hurling League|Division 2]] |5||4-03||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||1||0-03||1||0-01||1||1-00||8||5-07 |- |2010 |6||6-19||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||1||0-04||1||1-04||3||0-22||11||7-49 |- |2011 |7||4-46||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||0||0-00||2||0-15||3||0-27||12||4-88 |- |2012 |rowspan="4"|[[National Hurling League|Division 1B]] |5||0-12||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||1||0-01||1||0-03||1||1-01||8||1-17 |- |2013 |5||1-41||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||1||1-05||2||2-09||1||0-06||9||4-61 |- |2014 |5||0-07||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||0||0-00||5||0-07||1||0-01||11||0-15 |- |2015 |7||0-07||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||0||0-00||2||1-02||1||0-01||10||1-10 |- |2016 |rowspan="2"|[[National Hurling League|Division 2A]] |colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|— |- |2017 |3||1-05||3||2-19||colspan=2|—||1||1-06||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||7||4-30 |- |2018 |rowspan="1"|[[National Hurling League|Division 1B]] |6||0-62||colspan=2|—||6||3-67||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||12||3-129 |- |2019 |rowspan="2"|[[National Hurling League|Division 2A]] |2||0-02||colspan=2|—||4||1-30||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||6||1-32 |- |2020 |6||4-33||colspan=2|—||1||0-04||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||7||4-37 |- |2021 |rowspan="1"|[[National Hurling League|Division 1B]] |4||2-06||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||colspan=2|—||1||0-06||colspan=2|—||5||2-12 |- !colspan="3"|Total |'''66'''||'''23-251'''||'''3'''||'''2-19'''||'''11'''||'''4-101'''||'''6'''||'''2-26'''||'''15'''||'''4-47'''||'''14'''||'''3-61'''||'''115'''||'''38-505''' |}
==Honours==
===Team===
;Ruairí Óg *[[Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship]] (5): 2006, 2008, 2015, 2018, 2023 *[[Antrim Senior Hurling Championship]] (7): 2005, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2023
;Antrim *[[National Hurling League|National League Division 2A]] (1): [[2020 National Hurling League#Division 2A Final|2020]] *[[Joe McDonagh Cup]] (1): [[2020 Joe McDonagh Cup|2020]] *[[Ulster Senior Hurling Championship]] (5): 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 *[[Walsh Cup (hurling)|Walsh Cup]] (1): 2008 *[[Ulster Under-21 Hurling Championship]] (2): 2006, 2009 *[[Ulster Minor Hurling Championship]] (2): 2005, 2006
===Individual===
;Honours *Ulster Colleges Hurling All-Stars (2): 2004, 2006
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Navboxes |title=Neil McManus navigation boxes |bg= |fg= |list1= {{s-start}} {{s-sports}} {{s-bef|before=[[Eoin Price]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Composite rules shinty-hurling|Ireland Composite Rules Shinty-Hurling Captain]]|years=2013}} {{s-inc}} {{s-end}} {{Cushendall Hurling Team 2016}} {{Antrim Hurling Team 2020}} {{Ireland composite rules shinty team 2012}} {{Ireland composite rules shinty team 2013}} {{2018 Joe McDonagh Cup Champion 15}} }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McManus, Neil}} [[Category:1988 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Ruairi Og Cushendall hurlers]] [[Category:Antrim inter-county hurlers]] [[Category:Ulster inter-provincial hurlers]] [[Category:21st-century Irish sportsmen]]