ATTACK THE ONLY WAY TO BEAT DUBS – McMANUS
MONAGHAN star Conor McManus believes three in-a-row All-Ireland champions Dublin won’t be beaten by a side that adopts a defensive approach, WRITES DONNCHADH BOYLE.
The Farney men were ruthlessly dismissed when they faced the Dubs in an All-Ireland quarter-final earlier this year with McManus pointing to Mayo’s more offensive approach as a better way to take on Jim Gavin’s men.
“I genuinely don’t believe you can beat Dublin playing a defensive system because they’re so comfortable in that environment,” the Clontibret man said.
“If you go out and play man-to-man and play them toe-to-toe, who knows where it’s going to take you. You’re not going to beat them doing anything else.”
And he hinted that Monaghan, who will be under the management of Malachy O’Rourke once more, might take a more offensive approach in 2018.
“I suppose when you look at how we played against them, Dublin are so comfortable in that environment now of teams sitting back off them,” McManus continued. “There was one score they got against us where they kept the ball for maybe one-and-a-half or two minutes, and that was us with 13, maybe 14 men behind the ball. I think there’s a lesson for us and everybody.
“If you look at how they dealt with us and Tyrone, and how compact Tyrone were all year, it shows how good Dublin have become at that game.
“When you flip that to the All-Ireland final and you saw Mayo went toe-to-toe with them, man-for-man and pushed right up, and caused them problems, there’s probably a lesson in that.
“Mayo are an exceptionally good side, they’re very physical and fit, they have the personnel to play that game. But that’s the standard you have to get to if you’re going to seriously compete at that end of the championship.”
McManus (29) is vice-captain of Joe Kernan’s International Rules team that travel Down Under for two Tests next month. And despite battling a troublesome hip injury, he insists he was never going to pass up the chance to play for Ireland.
“When you’re invited in to represent Ireland and put on a green jersey, you’re never going to pass it up if you can, if the body’s right and you can get through it,” he added.