Monaghan are much more than a one-man team

THE forgotten men of Monaghan can take a giant leap towards an All-Ireland semi-final tomorrow at Croke Park where they are 4/6 favourites to get their Super 8s campaign off to a winning start against an in-form Kildare. Malachy O’Rourke’s side are 22/1 to win the Sam Maguire — fifth of the eight that remain in the market. And that is a massive price considering the season they’ve had. Including their shock last-gasp defeat to Fermanagh, they have won nine of their 12 games in League and Championship – losing only to Division 1 table-toppers Galway in March and another topflight outfit in Mayo all the way back in January. They finished third in the Division 1 table, behind only Galway and Dublin – the latter they beat in Croke Park in the final round of games, getting a massive monkey off their backs in the process with a first-ever win at HQ. They have been accused of being a one-man team, over-reliant on Conor McManus. But the facts don’t bear that out. In four of their five Championship games they have had 10 different scorers, the only exception their defeat to Fermanagh. McManus has been responsible for an average of five points per game in their five Championship matches thus far. But they have had an average winning margin of 9.2 points per game, proving that they would have had enough to win without him. An heir apparent has also emerged in the Farney County; Conor McCarthy having a breakout year. He kicked 1-21 in helping UCD to the Sigerson Cup, and after working his way back into the first XV has bagged 1-7 in his last three games. Monaghan beat Kildare in Newbridge in the League in February — McCarthy notching 1-1 that day with McManus coming off the bench to kick the winner. They have been on a mission ever since that shock Ulster defeat, and should they beat Kildare they will have their fate in their own hands ahead of a visit from Kerry to Clones next week — another team they have already beaten this year.