“I’ll have a wee bit of this.'”
Kyle Coney spotted a little moment between Conor McManus and Rory Beggan during Monaghan’s victory over Tyrone in the Ulster championship.
The former Tyrone star has came up against McManus plenty of times throughout his career, and understands exactly how good this man is, even in his more advanced years.
During the match, when the game was on a knife edge, Monaghan were awarded a very difficult free kick, and Beggan came up from the nets to offer his services and take it.
However, McManus was having none of it, and as Coney reveals on the latest episode the GAA Hour podcast, the Farney forward has been their main threat for nearly a decade.
“I probably played against Conor 10 or 12 times over the league and championship games, and there was never a day that we went out, where he wasn’t the sole focus their attack,” Coney said on the podcast.
“Yes there was a number of other threats and we have had to curtail them, but there was no doubt that number one target for our defence was – if we stopped Conor McManus, then we had a good chance of winning the game.
“Not that it’s under appreciated, but there’s certain players that can kick the ball from a standing position or with a very limited room, and McManus is one of those players.
“All he needs is one of those yards, a bit like how David Clifford kicks very high over the block a lot of the time, but McManus’ point that time from the side, going against a bit of a breeze – he’s a fabulous striker of the ball.
“I did love the walk-off between him and Rory Beggan. Rory had missed a couple of frees before that, and that one at the 45 is a tough kick, but you have to give him credit because at that stage of the game, to back himself, from the wrong side – we know Beggan gets that distance easy, but his accuracy might have just been off on the day.
“McManus says ‘no, I’ll have a wee bit of this.'”
It goes without saying that McManus stroked the ball over the bar with relative ease, ad continues to be a thorn in defences all over Ireland.
Related links:
- Peter Canavan asks Conor McManus the question on every Tyrone fans’ lips as Monaghan do it again
- Padraic Joyce hails Monaghan for their pure grit as they grind it out once again
- How return of one player can fix Tyrone’s defence and catapult their season
