Conor McManus becomes Ireland’s second highest ever top scorer in International Rules

The others have played way more games than him.

Conor McManus has now played in four International Rules series for his country. The Monaghan man has played in six games against the Aussies, and is averaging 16.2 points per game. Despite the marquee forward scoring more than twice as much as any other Ireland player in Saturday's loss in Perth, he was only just matching his averages. Indeed, with the prolific GAA Stats providing the information, the Farney man is in second place on the list of Ireland's highest ever scorers in the competition. It is a list dominated by Ulster players, with the men from the north of the country occupying the top five spots on the list. Former Armagh sharpshooter and International Rules specialist, Steven McDonnell is the only player who has scored more than the Clontibret club man. McDonell has notched 118 points in 11 appearances for his country. McManus is narrowing the gap, with now only 21 points separating the pair. The Armagh man has played five more games, however. McManus will be odds on to surpass his fellow Ulster man by the time the next year's series rolls around. With his 16-point haul on Saturday, the man they call Mansie passed out Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh. This is despite playing seven games less than the Moy club man, who had to skip this year's series due to his club's success in Tyrone and now in the Ulster Intermediate Club Championship. Michael Murphy is in fourth place on the list, and he has scored four more points than Down's Benny Coulter, who completes a top five full of Ulster players. Kerry's Tadhg Kenneally breaks the Ulster stranglehold on the charts with his 61 points in 12 games, and behind him, a host of top class performers from Connacht, Ulster, Leinster and Munster follow. https://twitter.com/GAA_Stats/status/931864274191962112 The stats page also worked out the players average scores per game, and McManus now has the best having bettered Cork's star of the 1990s John O'Driscoll's average of 16 points in three games. https://twitter.com/GAA_Stats/status/931870818480676865 That's some shooting from McManus. His magic right foot is one of the best this country has ever seen. https://twitter.com/officialgaa/status/931967764260052993