McManus: Monaghan's championship only started with Meath win

KICKSTART: Conor McManus of Monaghan signs autographs after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 3 match between Monaghan and Meath. Pic: Ben McShane, Sportsfile

Veteran attacker Conor McManus says the championship only really started for Monaghan last weekend when they played what was effectively their first knock-out game.

The Farney turned the corner on a terrible run of results with their first win since January, dumping Meath out of the championship and securing a preliminary quarter-final tie.

Monaghan will travel to play Galway this Saturday afternoon and three-time All-Star McManus is drawing confidence from a number of sources.

Firstly, he is confident that the do-or-die nature of the contest will bring out the best in a side that reached last year's semi-finals.

And he is also hopeful that their ultra-experienced core of battle-hardened players will be inspired to produce their best form with so much on the line.

"It's a long time," acknowledged McManus of their January to June winless streak before beating Meath. "If somebody had told you after the Dublin game at Croke Park in January that it wouldn't be until now that you'd get another win, you'd be disappointed, which we are.

"It's been a disappointing run but at the end of the day, we needed to get ourselves into the last 12. 

"Last weekend, the Meath game, was really when the championship started because it was the first time that any team has been knocked out of the Championship. So it had a bit more of a championship feel to it."

Monaghan manager Vinny Corey made similar comments immediately after their three-point defeat of Meath in Cavan, a result that locked down third position in Group 4.

Corey said that with just four teams remaining in the championship after Sunday week, it's always been about what Monaghan do in the next fortnight.

They look set to be without Ryan O'Toole this weekend due to the arm injury picked up against Meath but Karl O'Connell (groin) and captain Kieran Duffy (hamstring) could return. Joel Wilson went off with a head injury that day but should make it too.

McManus is hopeful that the team's experienced players who possess Ulster medals and have contested All-Ireland semi-finals in the past will be energised by the challenge.

"That's it, and that's the reality of it," he said. "Because there has been a lot of shadow boxing earlier on in the year, particularly with the round robin and it was only last weekend when someone was actually knocked out of the Championship. So now is the time when it kicks off and hopefully we can kick off with it."

As for talk that this could be the 36-year-old's last game for Monaghan, he shrugged.

"You don't think about that," he said. "That day will come and we'll deal with it when it comes but that's not something to be thinking about at the minute."