Corey accepts time is right for Monaghan to regroup after Tyrone loss
NEED TO REGROUP: Monaghan manager Vinny Corey during the Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Tyrone and Monaghan at O'Neills Healy Park in Omagh, Tyrone. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Monaghan boss Vinny Corey rose above the despair on a gloomy night that saw his team relegated from Division 1.
Defeat to Tyrone brought the Farney county’s proud decade as a top tier force to an end, but Corey took it all in his stride, sensing that the time for reflection and rebuilding has come.
“It’s not something I’d be overly sentimental about, we’ve treaded the line a few times,” he said.
“I think if I had known the setbacks we would have had this year at the start of the year, we would have taken Division 2 this year, because it doesn’t do anybody any good when you’re down a load of players and getting hammerings in Division 1.
“I don’t think Division 2 is a bad place for where Monaghan is at at the minute, to build and maybe get a bit more momentum.
“Division one is a very difficult place, when you see how teams treat the league. They’re going flat out from day one, and if you’re trying to blood new players and find new players, and you don’t have experienced players, and you’re resting experienced players, it’s an absolutely ruthless place to be.
“So maybe dropping a division, and getting boys to get more momentum in tighter games will stand younger players in good stead into the future.”
Survival looked a realistic prospect when Jack McCarron hit the net after just five minutes, and the visitors stuck with the wind-assisted Red Hands through a first quarter played in challenging conditions.
But when Niall Morgan released Darragh Canavan for a brilliant solo goal on 27 minutes, Tyrone began to pull away, as the Errigal Ciaran man combined with Darren McCurry in a deadly strike duo to push the home side into a 1-11 to 1-6 interval lead.
The brilliance of 36-year-old attacker Conor McManus, who fired over a string of classy second-half points, looked like it could be Monaghan’s ticket to survival.
They trimmed a seven-point deficit back to two as Killian Lavelle’s 58th-minute goal set up a tense finish in the Omagh mud, and when McManus brought his haul to six, just a point separated the sides moving into stoppage time.
But the Red Hands steadied the ship with late scores from McCurry and Joe Oguz to ease their own relegation worries and condemn their neighbours to the drop.
“It was a very encouraging second half. We probably knew coming into this stage of the league ghat a lot of our key men were under-cooked,” said Corey.
“It was good to get them back today, but we knew it was going to take while for them to find their feet.
“You could see how rust a few of our key men were in the first half, which is understandable, they haven’t got a lot of game time.
“But as the game wore on, you could see them getting into their stride, and I thought it was a very encouraging second half, the first time we had a good experienced team on the pitch.”
Tyrone joint manager Brian Dooher breathed a sigh or relief as his side survived a frantic finish.
“To be truthful, we were thankful for the whistle in the end-up. A day like that you could see a goal happening towards the end,” he said.
“A bit of character there, a lot of young boys there, and you have to give them a lot of credit because they came in here and they are playing Division One football.
“They put the shoulder to the wheel and all you are looking for is a performance.
“Some days it goes for you and others it goes against you. Today is one of the days we came out on the right side of it.”
D Canavan 1-6 (0-3f), D McCurry 0-6 (4f, 1m), K McGeary 0-2, B Cullen, A Donaghy, C Daly, C McShane, J Oguz 0-1 each
J McCarron 1-4 (0-4f) K Lavelle 1-0, C McManus 0-6 (1f, 1m), C McCarthy, C McNulty, M Bannigan 0-1 each
N Morgan; C Devlin, P Hampsey, C Quinn; B Cullen, K McGeary, N Devlin; B Kennedy, A Donaghy; C Daly, S O’Donnell, J Oguz; D McCurry, D Canavan, C McShane.
M Donnelly for McGeary (41), R Canavan for McShane (56), A Clarke for Hampsey (64), L McGarrity for Daly (75)
D McDonnell; R Wylie, K Duffy, R O’Toole; J Irwin, K Lavelle, C McCarthy; M McCarville, D Hughes; D Ward, M Bannigan, R McAnespie; C McManus, J McCarron, C McNulty.
K O’Connell for Irwin (h-t), G Mohan for McCarville (44), A Woods for McNulty (50), J Wilson for McAnespie (56), D Garland for Ward (68)
J Henry (Mayo).
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