| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 1979 (age 45–46) | ||
| Nickname | Budda[1] | ||
| Inter-county | |||
| Years | County | ||
| Westmeath | |||
| Leinster titles | 1 | ||
Alan Mangan (born June 1979)[1] is adual player ofGaelic games, ahurling coach,manager, selector and formerGaelic footballer. He played football and hurling forWestmeath.
Mangan first played hurling forCastletown Geoghegan as a 16-year-old, at which age he played as a goalkeeper in aWestmeath Senior Hurling Championship final.[1] He won three Westmeath SHC medals while playing with his club, the first in 2004, adding another in 2013.[1]
Mangan also played football for the St Malachy's club.[1]
Mangan played senior inter-county hurling for Westmeath for two years: 1999 and 2000.[1]
His inter-county football debut for Westmeath, limited to substitute appearances, was as part of the team that won the 1999All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship and retained theLeinster Under-21 Football Championship the following year, under the management ofLuke Dempsey.[1] Then Mangan featured for the county junior team, twice scoring five points from play, with both games against Offaly.[1] Westmeath's junior team manager Ned Moore contacted Dempsey (who had by then been promoted to the position of senior team manager) and convinced him to call Mangan into his panel.[1] Mangan arrived onto the senior panel the following year.[1] Mangan's first senior game for Westmeath was againstAll-Ireland Senior Football Championship title holderGalway atCusack Park.[1] He was put into the team in place of established corner-forwardGer Heavin and assigned to markTomás Mannion.[1]
Dempsey used Mangan as a substitute againstMeath in a draw and then a replay in the 2003 championship before starting him againstMonaghan, in what would be Dempsey's last game as manager.[1]
Páidí Ó Sé succeeded Dempsey as manager.[1] Ó Sé left Mangan out for the first2004 O'Byrne Cup but started him in the second game of the competition, againstKildare.[1] Mangan scored three points against Kildare.[1] He started every game for Westmeath after that (O'Byrne, league and championship) until he injured his knee in 2009.[1]
Mangan was one of those who won the2004 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final.[2][3] Ó Sé made a memorable comparison between Mangan and a loaf of bread afterDarren Rooney ofLaois knocked him over the sideline during the drawn game between the teams.[1] Mangan then scored four points from play in Westmeath's next game.[1]
Mangan was aselector whenMichael Ryan managed the Westmeath hurlers.[1]
He ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for theLabour Party in theLongford–Westmeath constituency at the2020 Irish general election, with the intention of replacing the retiringWillie Penrose.[4][5] Mangan was coaxed into running, as Penrose was a family friend, though Mangan's mother advised him against.[1] He cancelled a holiday that he had paid for in New York when the election was suddenly called.[1] Due to his involvement in that election he also refused various coaching and management offers that he received in early 2020.[1]
Mangan then joined the Westmeath senior hurlers in a coaching capacity later in 2020.[6] As of 2022, he was managing theCastletown Geoghegan hurlers.[1]
Mangan is married to Corinne and is a father of four.[1] He is from the village ofCastletown Geoghegan.[5] He inherited his nickname ("Budda") from his father and is known throughout Westmeath by it.[1] OnlyDessie Dolan and the Westmeath hurling managerMichael Ryan ever refer to him as "Alan".[1]
Eighteen years after being memorably compared to a loaf of bread by an exasperated Páidí Ó Sé, Alan Mangan is still playing football at the age of 43... He was turning 25 in June, 2004, so it took time to make it as a county footballer... 'I am 43 now. Not good enough to be on the starting team anymore with St Malachy's but I'm still plugging away'... One last thing, the nickname, Budda? It derives from his father's physical resemblance to the founder of Buddhism. The 'h' has been dropped.