Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FARN FROM 1 MAN TEAM
Mcmanus delight as Monaghan young guns find their feet
CONOR Mcmanus admits talk of Monaghan being a one-man team makes him sick. But the emergence of the group of potent young forwards has eased the burden on the sharpshooter as the Farney county set their sights on regaining the Ulster title and making an impact in Croke Park. Aiming to get past Down – their third provincial obstacle after the preliminary round win over Fermanagh and quarter-final against Cavan – Mcmanus can nevertheless be pleased Malachy O’rourke’s men are no longer over-dependent on him Jack Mccarron and Conor Mccarthy showed in an impressive league campaign what they can do. And Mcmanus is hoping for more to come as Monaghan seek their fourth appearance in the Ulster final in five years. “It’s never something I really bought in to,” said the 29-year-old of the one-man team description. “You can’t really control what people or media say. You kind of get sick after a while listening to it. “I know the boys in the team certainly don’t think that way either, and the management certainly never thought that way. “People form their own opinions and there’s nothing you can do about that but we’re very much focused on the team and getting the performances out of everybody. “We have scorers – lads like Owen Duffy, Conor Mccarthy, Jack Mccarron. Boys are coming up from the back chipping in with scores. So as long as that continues, that’s all you really want.” Monaghan beat Down by 18 points in the Ulster quarter-finals last year. Typically, Mcmanus scored eight points of their 2-22 total. But the Farney men know they can’t rely on Mcmanus to deliver on his own. So the development of Duffy, Mccarthy and Mccarron has been a big boost. “It’s no big shock to anybody in Monaghan to see Conor and Jack performing, they have serious quality and immense talent,” said the Clontibret star. “It’s great to see them finding form and finding their feet at this level. Long may it continue. “Owen came off the bench against Fermanagh and got man of the match, he probably felt hard done by not starting. “He didn’t throw the toys out of the pram, he made the difference. Rightly so he got his starting place the last day and kicked three or four good scores. “It doesn’t matter where they come from. When you’re losing there’s no point (me) getting six or seven scores. Somebody else could get four or five and you win. Brilliant, it’s all about winning.”