Early December and Ross Munnelly is wrapped up against the biting cold, looking down from the Hogan Stand on the green carpet below.
Shane Walsh is out there doing his thing. A couple off the left, a few more off his right. Munnelly marks the scores down as they climb up. He has come to watch the Leinster club final because his Arles-Kilcruise clubmate, Lar Wall, is managing The Downs.
But it is clear from early on Walsh is going to scupper Wall’s hopes. The Kilmacud Crokes forward is unplayable. And when top forwards find that kind of form, all you can do is admire their brilliance. So Munnelly jots down the scores, just like the rest of us. Only, he was not like the rest of us in the press box two weeks ago.
Because there were days when he was that player on that pitch, cutting defences apart, darting out to win possession, jinking one way, sending defenders the other, throwing over points while his marker was still heading off towards Clonliffe Road.
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After 20 years as a Laois senior footballer, Munnelly announced his retirement on Tuesday – breaking the last link with the county’s famous 2003 Leinster SFC triumph.
He turns 40 later this month, so his departure is hardly surprising. But Munnelly had become an enduring presence, defying the sands of time, raging against the end while somehow still managing to look like a fresh-faced student.
“I would put him down as the best forward Laois produced,” says Pádraig Clancy, who soldiered with Munnelly during the halcyon days.
“Ross would be the first at training, he’d get there early and be working on his shooting and would often be the last to go as well, he always wanted to be best he could be. I couldn’t speak highly enough about him.”
If Clancy saw Munnelly in his prime, Mike Quirke got to work with him towards the twilight of his career.
“I remember calling Ross shortly after I became Laois manager,” remembers Quirke, who was appointed in late 2019. “I was just checking in, so I didn’t know what his plans were, but straight away he told me he wanted to be part of it, which I was delighted about.
“When he started out, he was this kind of boy wonder who came in under Micko, so it was fascinating to see how his game evolved over the years, and continued to do so right up until the end.”
Munnelly played under 10 Laois managers – Mick O’Dwyer, Liam Kearns, Seán Dempsey, Justin McNulty, Tomás Ó Flatharta, Mick Lillis, Peter Creedon, John Sugrue, Quirke and Billy Sheehan. Interestingly, six of those 10 were of Kerry stock.
He lit up Croke Park in his maiden season of 2003, scoring 1-1 as Laois won their first Delaney Cup since 1946. Had he announced his retirement on the pitch after that Leinster final, his place in the annals was already secured.
But if his undeniable talent made him a star in Laois, it was his unwavering commitment to the cause for two decades that made him a hero.
It is telling that in announcing his retirement, Munnelly name-checked just one person – Mick O’Dwyer.
“Thank you Micko for giving me the chance to achieve my dream of playing for Laois in 2003. It has been both a privilege and an honour,” stated Munnelly.
He played a record 222 games for the Laois footballers, league and championship. His last appearance for the county was their Tailteann Cup defeat to Westmeath in May. Munnelly featured in 17 of the O’Moore County’s 19 games in 2022.
Incredibly, his retirement means in 2023 there will be no current footballer outside of Dublin who has played on a winning team in a Leinster SFC final. Bryan Menton was an unused Meath sub in 2010. Offaly’s Niall McNamee is, for now, the longest serving intercounty footballer, having also debuted in 2003.
“His energy was incredible,” recalls Clancy. “Ross would run all day. He never stopped moving. He also had an incredible will to win.”
And while Munnelly’s game-time reduced in recent years, in the fading of the light there were no Ronaldo-esque histrionics about the end-game.
“Of course there were times when Ross was disappointed he wasn’t playing as often as he wanted, but he took it the way you would expect him to,” says Quirke.
“He was respectful of the decision but would ask, ‘what can I do to get better?’ It is the type of question you’d expect from a player in his early 20s, but Ross was still striving to get better in his mid to late 30s.
“His longevity is remarkable. And it was never a case of managers playing him because he was Ross. Managers play the players they feel will give them the best chance of success, and that is why Ross was still playing for Laois right until the end.”
Going out the way he came in, with class.
