Conor McManus believes Monaghan can deliver

Nine years Conor McManus has spent in the Monaghan shirt, on but one occasion was he overlooked.

From 33 championship games has he featured in 32. Little wonder then, those 70 minutes spent on the bench continue to play on the mind.

The date was August 12, 2007. Monaghan, bidding to end a 19-year gap to their last All-Ireland semi-final appearance, were piped by Kerry at Croke Park on a scoreline of 1-12 to 1-11. The quarter-final performance would represent the high-water mark of Seamus McEnaney’s six-year stint as manager.

Kerry again marked their card the following summer in round 3 of the qualifiers and another five seasons would pass before the Farney County returned to the quarter-final juncture. By then, the old guard had moved on.

“You had Damien Freeman, Tommy Freeman, Gary McQuaid, John-Paul Mone, Dermot McArdle, Rory Woods and a lot of top class players. They are the guys who carried Monaghan football for years and didn’t get the rewards they were maybe due,” reflected McManus, ahead of the county’s latest bid for an All-Ireland semi-final berth.

“Those players changed the mindset, definitely so. Under Seamus and Martin McElkennon, Monaghan’s approach to things changed. We started competing at the top level but we didn’t get over the line in those years. It set Monaghan football up for where we are now.”

2007 aside, McManus is one of a handful of players who toiled through those unfruitful campaigns under McEnaney and believes the younger members of the squad are benefited by the fact they know little other than Ulster finals and Anglo Celt triumphs when it comes to championship.

“After Dick Clerkin, Owen Lennon, Vinny Corey, Paul Finlay, Stephen Gollogly and probably Dessie Mone, a lot of the guys wouldn’t have been about for the leaner years in Monaghan.

“In fairness, since I came in under Seamus McEnaney at the end of 2006, we didn’t win as much as we would have liked but we were competing in Ulster finals and things like that. From that point of view, it’s good for the younger lads in the squad that haven’t seen that. Now they are in a position and Monaghan are in a position where you really want to kick on and stay among the top teams in the country.

“For some players, the game against Donegal was a fifth Ulster final and to only win one would not be good enough. It’s two of the last three now, which is better. It’s no good getting to them you want to make them count when you are there. We have been to the last two quarter-finals and not gone any further. We want to win our next game and it is down to us.

“There are improvements to be made, we wouldn’t be entirely happy with our performance against Donegal. We didn’t score for the last 15 minutes or whatever it was, so to put ourselves in a position where we were four or five up and then to be left hanging on at the end; there is a look of work for us to do.”

The Monaghan talisman is in the process of switching jobs at present and does not believe it is feasible to take time out from work to concentrate solely on Gaelic football.

“Obviously, everyone would love to do that but financially it is just not viable and that’s just the way it is. Everyone would like to be a professional sportsman if they could, but financially it is not going to happen. You have to work and that is just the way it is. You shape the rest of your life around training and matches.

“It would be great if you could do it, but when you are working, it gives you a routine as well - whereas when you are not working, there is only so much you can do to pass the day.”