HE may not have Neil McGee for company at Kingspan Breffni Park this evening, but Conor McManus knows that whoever he is pitted against will be determined to play their part in knocking Monaghan off their perch as kings of Ulster.
The Farney County have met the Tir Chonaill men in the last three provincial deciders, coming out on top in two - 2013 and 2015 - and McManus’s battle with McGee was one of the many sub-plots that unfolded during the course of last year’s decider.
The Clontibret sharpshooter came up trumps that day as Monaghan edged home by a point, finishing with 0-6 - 0-3 from play. Unfortunately for McGee, he will not have the opportunity to put the record straight when the counties lock horns again this evening.
The Gweedore full-back was red carded against Fermanagh after being adjudged to have struck Ruairi Corrigan with his arm following an initial foul by the Erne forward, and was slapped with a two-game suspension.
Not that it has even entered McManus’s thoughts for a second, with his full focus on ensuring Monaghan can build on their demolition of Down to book a fourth consecutive Ulster final appearance.
“It’s a forward going toe-to-toe with a defender and whatever will be, will be,” he said.
“It’s an Ulster semi-final, both teams are coming to win it. Regardless of what’s happened before we both want to get into the final. I don’t see it as any more than that to be honest.
“This is probably Donegal’s sixth or seventh Ulster semi-final in-a-row - there’s not too many other teams have shown that level of consistency.”
After a difficult opening 35 minutes, both Donegal and Monaghan needed strong second half displays to seal their place in today’s Ulster semi-final.
Rory Gallagher’s men pulled away after the break to beat Fermanagh by seven, while Monaghan were lucky to lead by three at half-time against Down before turning up the heat to win by an astonishing 19 points.
Malachy O’Rourke’s side were able to play the latter stages of that game at a training pace, but McManus was quick to dismiss the notion that the ease of that victory will count against this evening.
He said: “It is what it is. There’s no point thinking about anything else other than what’s in front of us – there’s no point wishing this or wishing that.
“It was an Ulster quarter-final – we had to win it in order to get to the semi-final. We didn’t play particularly well in the first half, we have a lot of things to improve on and that’s just basically it.
“You have to take one game at a time, we did that the first day and that’s our approach for this game at the weekend. We’re just looking at Donegal.”
McManus was speaking at the launch of the Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship in Croke Park during the week, and had some words of advice for all young footballers who dream of lighting up the inter-county stage.
He said: “It doesn’t matter what age you are, whether you’re 18 or 28, you can always work to improve your game. It’s about hard work and always working on the basics.”
