McManus urges Monaghan to build on consistent League form
Monaghan must build on League form, says McManus
IT is a measure of Monaghan’s comfort as a top-tier team that they have nothing to play for when they take on Dublin at Croke Park this Sunday.
While the number of dead rubbers — the Donegal/Mayo relegation clash at Ballybofey is the only game with something at stake in this weekend’s final round of topflight Allianz League fixtures — underlines the cost of abolishing the semi-finals, some counties would settle for having reached their survival target with a game to spare.
Monaghan would tick that box after last Sunday’s emphatic six-point win over Donegal ensured that they will be playing Division 1 football for a fifth season on the bounce next spring. Only the big three of Mayo, Kerry and Dublin boast longer periods in the top grade. What makes Monaghan’s achievement under Malachy O’Rourke, who inherited the group when they were a Division 3 outfit in 2013, is that they have defied their lack of size and the predictions of pundits who regularly identify them as relegation candidates.
But what really impresses is the comfort with which they have secured their status. This is their third season out of four where they will end the spring with a winning record. Included in that run was a semifinal appearance against Dublin in 2015 and while they flirted with the drop the following season — they edged out Cork by five points on scoring difference — they still won three of their seven games in that campaign. For Conor McManus, who reminded us of his quality last Sunday with three sublime first-half points from play, Monaghan’s performances over the past four years are proof of the quality within the group. ‘It shows the resilience and character that is there,’ insisted the two-time All-Star. ‘We don’t get caught up on what the media or people are saying, but we have been tipped to go down fairly regularly over the last number of years. There is quality in that dressing room and it is just a case of getting it out of ourselves and putting our best foot forward.’ Their difficulty, despite winning two Ulster Championships and reaching the All-Ireland quarterfinals in four of the last five years, is that they have not always managed to carry their spring form into the summer.
Last year was a prime example. At one stage, when they led Dublin in their final round match, they looked set for a place in the League final. But they flopped in the Championship when losing to Down before an emphatic defeat to Dublin ended their campaign.
That offers a lesson for Monaghan, but with Tyrone coming up fast on May 20, they will need to learn quickly.
‘Look, we had a good League campaign last year and there was a lot of talk about us but ultimately we had a poor Championship.
‘That’s the challenge for us now to get our heads down over the next six or seven weeks and get ready for Tyrone,’ added McManus.
Still, the fact that they beat both Tyrone and Donegal — their two main rivals for the Anglo Celt Cup — should provide some belief, especially to rookies like Niall Kearns, David Garland and Barry Kerry who have all featured prominently this spring.
But McManus has been around long enough not to read too much into those results and, in particular, last weekend’s win over a Donegal team weakened by a virus which had infected their camp.
‘While it is good to win games and get into the habit of winning games, we are well aware that Donegal were understrength — they were missing the two McHughs, Ohdrán MacNiallais, Paddy McBrearty and Neil McGee, so they have a lot of boys to come back in so that is probably not a fair reflection on Donegal.
‘We will go to Croke Park on Sunday and see what we can do. That was far from a perfect performance against Donegal,’ added McManus.
‘From our point of view we can only be happy with how we performed there in the second half, we were not good in the first half even though we had the breeze and Donegal played all the football in the first half.
‘We have a lot to work on and there is no better place to do that than in Croke Park against the Dubs to see where you really are at.’