Antrim Darren Glesson says Neil McManus has left a legacy behind him.
The 35 year old Cushendall man, regarded as one of the county’s greatest ever players, called time on his inter-county career earlier this week.
Gleeson said: “I knew at the start of the year just from conversations that Neil was coming to an end.
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“I just said to him, ‘See how the year goes for you and we will have a conversation towards the end of the year.’
“With a couple of weeks left in the Championship there, we just had a little chat and I knew that he thought it was time to go.
“Thankfully he got a good send off with the win below in Mullingar (against Westmeath to stay in the Leinster Championship), which was important for him.
“It was nice. His new daughter was there and all his family.
“That was great for him.”
Gleeson continued: “He will (be a loss) but the only thing about it is Neil has been such a good role model for the current group.
“He is a standard setter and a standard bearer so he would have had a good effect on the coming leaders in the group and the present leaders in the group.
“It should be seamless, because he has set a good example and the boys know the road to follow.
“When he first came onto the scene Antrim had a strong team and a strong set up.
“The middle years Neil toughed it out there when they were playing the unglamorous games, Division 2A, and Christy Ring and different things like that.
“He stuck it out and he kept his standards high.
“That probably made it easier then over the last four or five years for us to make that change.
“Neil was always pushing the standard and the boys around him were doing that also.
“That was a good foundation for when we started making the go at it four or five years ago.”
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