Conor McManus reveals secret to Monaghan’s penalty shoot-out success

“There is no point in overdoing it."

Monaghan knocked Armagh out of the championship on penalties, and Conor McManus, who scored two spot kicks himself, reveals the secret behind their success. This is the fourth time in over a year that Armagh have lost on penalties, but you could see that they have been working on it as their shot selection was much better than when they lost against Derry in the Ulster final. However, Monaghan's was still better, and McManus, who was the hero on the day, has revealed that the secret to practising penalties is that you don't.

“There is no point in overdoing it. You hit the odd penalty as the training sessions progress, but there’s no point in over-egging it.” said McManus. “Maybe you miss a couple in training and, when you need to step up, your confidence isn’t right either.

“You don’t know who is going to be on the field at any given time, the games get very hectic and you’ve different players coming in for extra-time. "You just have to go with men who are in form and guys who’ve kicked penalties before. There’s no major practice that goes into it." Despite the Farney county's success, the star forward still sympathises with his opponents, and doesn't necessarily believe that it is a fair way to lose a game. “It is a very harsh way to lose a game,” reflected McManus. “Armagh are on the wrong side of it, we’ve been on the wrong side of it before - it is a tough way to lose an All-Ireland quarter-final.

“I don’t necessarily agree with it to be honest. It is what it is. We’re just happy to get through.

“These are super days for Monaghan football." Monaghan will now play Dublin in the semi-final stages and McManus will want to go one further and reach his first ever All-Ireland final. Related links:

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