Finlay fears Ulster final exertions could cost Monaghan against Mayo

Conor McManus and Paul Finlay feel Monaghan's response to Ulster final heartbreak, and February's heavy league defeat to Mayo, will reveal plenty about where the county stands

Monaghan goalkeeper Rory Beggan in the dugout after his side's Ulster SFC final defeat to Armagh. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

BACK of the bus, crawling up Clones hill, the smell of diesel and hamburgers outside, while the Garda escort forces the excited hordes to either side of the road. The neat symmetry of it all as the Monaghan team bus carves a familiar path.

The seating arrangements on the bus are ingrained in Conor McManus’s head.

He sat in the middle of the back row of seats. In earlier times, Dick Clerkin sat to his left, Eoin Lennon to his right with good space between them.

In the mind’s eye, McManus is adjusting his bearings and sees Colm Walshe and Darren Hughes a couple of rows away from the back, Finty Kelly, Kieran Duffy and Karl O’Connell in close proximity too.

“When Dick and Eoin moved on, their places at the back of the bus were taken by Ryan Wylie and Michael Bannigan,” McManus says.

“Bannigan to my left and I’d say that’s where he still sits; Wylie, back right.” 

Many brave-hearted men have left the bus over the years but the warrior gene still travels lightly with Monaghan.

“We have big moments players: Conor McCarthy, Michael [Bannigan], Stevie [O’Hanlon], you’ve Jack [McCarron] coming off the bench, you’ve Rory [Beggan] coming up for free-kicks. They’re going for you - they ask questions of you all the time."

On the doorstep of the 2025 season, McManus announced his retirement from the inter-county scene. Now forging a brilliant reputation as a pundit, the urge to play still gnaws.

“On Ulster final day [between Armagh and Monaghan], I was doing an AIB gig out in front of the Gerry Arthurs Stand before the game, and I looked at the top of the hill and all the fans were making a bit of noise, it was buzzing.

“There was a Gardaí escort coming through and I was standing thinking, ‘What would you not do to be on that bus!’ 

“I immediately thought about being at the back of the bus, in your seat, in the zone, you couldn’t be in a better place than coming up through Clones on Championship day.” 

Now 38, McManus will be suited and booted for some punditry work in Clones tomorrow afternoon and, like every other Farney supporter, he’s wondering exactly where the beaten Ulster finalists are at when Mayo pay them a visit, both sides licking their provincial wounds entering the All-Ireland series.

The post-mortems from Monaghan’s Ulster final defeat to Armagh a fortnight ago still linger.

Going down the home straight of normal time, Monaghan had the 2024 All-Ireland champions on the ropes before blowing a gasket in extra-time.

“Monaghan probably just ran out of steam a little bit,” McManus says of his native county’s heart-wrenching loss.

“Armagh had more on the bench than Monaghan – I think Armagh’s bench scored 1-5 and Monaghan’s scored three points. That was the wee fear you had. Monaghan put in such a monumental effort to get themselves into that position in the last 10-15 minutes of normal time and looked far more likely to win the game.

“Armagh were at sixes and sevens with their kick-outs, they were hanging on but Monaghan couldn’t find that extra punch to win.

“You just felt when extra-time came, Armagh had been in that position over the last three years, it was nothing new to them, there was extra zip in their legs that Monaghan didn’t have. Ultimately, Armagh were a bit more clinical.” 

Former playmaker Paul Finlay's glass remains “half-full” after watching Monaghan recover from a terrible Division One campaign, which yielded relegation, to reaching a provincial final in dramatic circumstances.

Nevertheless, the Ballybay man fears Gabriel Bannigan’s squad have expended so much energy into trying to win the Anglo-Celt, while Mayo have had five weeks to prepare for tomorrow's All-Ireland joust after their exit to Roscommon in Connacht in late April.

“I’m concerned because Monaghan emptied a lot into the Ulster Championship,” says Finlay. “Can they raise a gallop again?

“We’ll see where their energy levels are at this weekend. They’ve got a few boys back. But I don’t know how fit they are.

“Is Dessie Ward fit coming into the weekend? Young Oisín O’Gorman had a fantastic Ulster final but is he fit after coming off with a leg injury late in the game? (Both are named in Monaghan’s starting line-up).

“Is Ryan McAnespie fit? Ryan Wylie? (both are named on the bench). Are they close to being back because Monaghan’s squad isn’t deep enough without them?

“If they don’t have all these players back fit, I fear this game and the game after that because you’re going into the realm of squad depletion.” 

At the back end of February, Monaghan and Mayo squared up in a league encounter in Clones and the visitors skated to a 2-30 to 2-11 win.

Played in sheeting rain, if things weren’t bad enough for Monaghan, Kobe McDonald came off the bench for the visitors and mined an incredible 1-3 from his first three possessions. McDonald is named to start tomorrow.

Shorn of Rory Beggan among other notable absentees, Monaghan were all over the place. McManus described the grim afternoon as a “complete sh*tshow”.

Known for their warrior spirit, rarely has a Monaghan team been so passive.

“I know it’s nearly irrelevant talking about it but Monaghan had so many injuries and players were going off injured in that league game. Mayo were so far ahead.

“Monaghan will look back at that game and they’ll be referencing it. That game will serve a purpose. You don’t let anybody come to Clones and do that to you.” 

Andy Moran has named 11 players who started for Mayo in February’s handy win while only nine that started for Monaghan get the nod tomorrow.

“We do pride ourselves on maxing out and getting the best out of the players we have," says Finlay, who starred for the Oriel County between 2003 and 2016.

“But you don't get to play at the highest level for as long as we have without a sprinkling of quality footballers.

“There have always been good and bad performances from us - but it was never for the lack of effort. We always bounced back pretty quickly. We wouldn’t let a bad performance become two and three in a row.”