GAA Corey has to make some big decisions
RECALLING BEGGAN AND McMANUS HARD CALLS MONAGHAN v CAVAN
ALL eyes will be on the Monaghan starting team for this weekend’s Ulster Championship opener against Cavan at St Tiernach’s Park.
The two names they’ll be looking for are Conor McManus and Rory Beggan.
McManus played just one Division 1 game this year, the final round against Tyrone, while Beggan didn’t feature at all as he went for American football training and trials.
Beggan is back in the country though and training again.
With Monaghan struggling in Division 1 this spring and losing their top flight status, which they had held for 10 years, boss Vinny Corey has some big calls to make.
Darren McDonnell played every league game in goals, while it is unclear yet the role McManus, who has long running hip issues, will play.
McManus and Beggan are Monaghan’s main big game players and leaving them on the sidelines could open the door for Cavan.
“He (McManus) played well against Tyrone,” said Corey of his Clontibret club mate.
“He had six points in that game. He will take a lot of confidence from it and though he only played that one game in the League, it was enough for a fellow of that vintage.
“When you get to that stage when you have played 18 seasons, it is just a matter of the niggling doubt, ‘Can I still do it at this level?’
“Once he realised in that game that he did, he got as much out of the League as anyone else did.”
Corey continued:“We had a right few chats and he was undecided at the start of the year.
I am not too sure how much influence those chats had.
“But I think always in Mansy’s mind was whether the body could stand up to the rigours of county football for another year.
Route
“And once he decided that was the route he was going, there was no doubt that he always wanted to play another year with Monaghan.
“You never had to persuade him about that as such. It was more the body side of things. Listen, his body is in good enough nick at the minute.”
“I was not a bit surprised, especially when Darren Hughes and all those boys had committed. It wasn’t a big shock.”
The Beggan situation is trickier.
An All Star and one of the top handful of goalkeepers in the country, he doesn’t owe Monaghan anything, but should he step straight back into the team?
“He has been Monaghan’s number one keeper for the over a decade now and we haven’t blooded any other ’keeper,” said Corey, who was speaking before Beggan’s return from America.
“It was Darren’s first year and Rory Beggan’s shoes are big enough to fill. Darren has improved game on game.
“It was a high pressure situation he was coming into with all the hype over Rory and he has improved a lot.
“Listen, Rory Beggan would be classed as one of the top three ’keepers in the country so it is always difficult.”
“I have spoken to Rory a few times. He has put a lot of work into what he is trying to do, trying to get a contract.
“He is practising every day. Myself and the whole panel wished him well when he went.
“The boys were in contact with him before his kicking days to wish him well.
“We have settled on it now. That is the nature of it and he himself, he is waiting. He is waiting for a call.
“It is a wee bit of limbo for him but we spent the League blooding Darren McDonnell.
“Darren is the only (other) ’keeper who has played National
League for Monaghan in the last 10 years.
“Division 1 is a tough place to start and he has done as well as can be expected and he has improved in each game.
“It is a high pressure position to be coming into at the best of times, never mind trying to come in after Rory Beggan.
Learning
“We are happy with the enthusiasm and positivity that Darren has shown even though there would be learning points in it for him but he has always bounced back and kept coming.”
Cavan shocked Monaghan, knocking them out of the Ulster Championship in 2019 and 2020, with the border rivalry making the battles keenly fought.
“Always a very difficult game,” said Corey. “The last few times we played them in the Championship they have beaten us and we are very aware of that.
“They would probably argue they had a better league campaign than we had.
“So it’s going to be a difficult game. Local derbies always are and I don’t expect this one to be any different.”