Football

'With winning the club championship there, that’s a good way to leave it - everybody’s happy and there’s no grumpy men kicking about'

20/05/2018: Dessie Mone of Monaghan roars as another score goes over against Tyrone during the Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter final at Healy Park, Omagh on Sunday. Picture Margaret McLaughlin.
20/05/2018: Dessie Mone of Monaghan roars as another score goes over against Tyrone during the Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter final at Healy Park, Omagh on Sunday. Picture Margaret McLaughlin. 20/05/2018: Dessie Mone of Monaghan roars as another score goes over against Tyrone during the Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter final at Healy Park, Omagh on Sunday. Picture Margaret McLaughlin.

RETURNING Monaghan boss Seamus McEnaney must plan for 2020 without two Farney stalwarts after experienced duo Vinny Corey and Dessie Mone announced their retirement.

The Clontibret pair, who helped their club to a first county title in five years last month, confirmed yesterday they had reached the end of their inter-county playing days.

Thirty-six-year-old Corey made his Championship debut in 2003, with Mone (35) making his bow a year later, and both were there when a Malachy O’Rourke-led Farney County ended a 25-year wait for an Ulster title in 2013.

Walking away was a hard call, admits Mone, but the right one.

“It was a tough decision, especially when you’re so used to it and so used to going back training in winter-time. It becomes a routine and I’ve always enjoyed going back into the set-up,” he said Mone.

“It was probably made a wee bit easier after winning the club championship; I just thought it was the right time to go. There’s young lads coming through and you have to give them opportunities, there’s a new management there and they want to start fresh.

“I just didn’t want to be sitting on a bench or running up and down a sideline; I didn’t want it to end that way, so I just felt it was the right time.”

A natural competitor, Mone found it hard not to be in the thick of the action at all times, and admits he had to “be realistic” about his playing opportunities heading into another campaign.

“You want to be playing all the time.

“Probably the reason me and Vinny have been here so long is because you want to be playing for as long as you can - you always think you can contribute something towards the team.

“But you have to look at game-time, for the amount of training that’s done now. You have to weigh it up and be realistic.

“With winning the club championship there, that’s a good way to leave it. Everybody’s happy and there’s no grumpy men kicking about. I think it’s a sensible decision at the end of it.”

McEnaney returned to the Farney hotseat in September, nine years after his previous stint had come to an end.

In the meantime O’Rourke led Monaghan to two Ulster titles and the cusp of an All-Ireland final last year. He called time after a disappointing summer this year, but Mone feels there is still plenty to come from this group of players.

“Monaghan’s in a good place,” he said.

“There’s a serious amount of work with their development squads, they’re in around the secondary schools, the primary schools. I teach in Clones and I what work they do.

“There’s a lot of boys around my age starting to retire, there’s new players coming through and it’s whether they step up. I feel the young players in Monaghan will step up.

“Bar Dublin, every team’s in transition and it’s about who can get up to that level in the next year or two. I believe Monaghan can keep to that level, keep to Division One and that’s where you need to be to keep that standard going.”