NEW Monaghan manager Vinny Corey is confident that Conor McManus and other tried and tested Farney veterans will continue to rally to their county’s cause next season.
Corey has taken over from Seamus McEnaney having served two years’ as his assistant and the former Monaghan full-back sees no reason why his clubmate McManus or the likes of Scotstown’s Darren Hughes should hang up their inter-county boots.
Scotstown meet Ballybay in the senior county final on Sunday and Corey says he will leave
“Some of them are still involved with their clubs,” he said.
“I don’t want to be annoying them just yet. Even the likes of Conor McManus has only finished but hopefully I’ll get talking to them over the next few weeks. The likes of Conor and Darren Hughes still have the base (fitness) and in the club championship this year they showed that they still have it.
“From talking to Conor I think he will be available. We finished with the club last weekend so we’ll sit down and get talking properly over the next few weeks but I don’t see any reason why he should retire. He's still moving very well, he was moving well for Clontibret this year. I’ve seen him up close and he still has the pace – he’d be one of the quickest on the team so while he still has that and I don’t see why he would retire. So far I’m not aware of anybody retiring.”
Corey will be with Ryan McAnespie and Niall Kearns next season. Forward McAnespie and midfielder Kearns have already informed the Monaghan set-up that they intend to go travelling and will be out of the picture in 2023.
“We were lucky in Monaghan for a long time because there was a core group of players who never went anywhere,” said Corey.
“You were guaranteed that they’d dust themselves down and they’d be back the next year and when you get that over a number of years and you accumulate all that experience it leads to your team having that sort of chemistry because they’re used to playing together for a long time.
“We were blessed in Monaghan for a long time but it’s part of management at club level or county level that you’re going to have players who’ll want to travel and go away for a year and we’ll have to try and manage that.”
Keeping the experienced players on board is vital but so too is introducing talented youngsters to take their places. Corey will have one eye on blooding new players when next season begins.
“There’ll be a few new players in,” said Corey.
“And there’s a few good young players who I’ve seen in the Monaghan panel already and I’m hoping that they will step up further and become mainstays in the team. There’s a lot of talent already in the Monaghan squad and we’re hoping to develop it a wee bit further.
“There are definitely young players there but county football is a step up and, like everything else, you have to put in the work to get the rewards.”
While Scotstown (seven) and Clontibret (two) have shared the last nine county titles between them, Ballybay, Magheracloone, Truagh and other clubs have pushed them hard. Corey says that is a sign of the good health of Monaghan football.
“There have been a number of teams over the last few years that have been on a par,” he said.
“Obviously Scotstown have had the upperhand in Monaghan and they have a lot of quality players but the Monaghan championship has been tight and you’ve had different teams coming up and getting to finals and semi-finals – Inniskeen, Latton, Truagh, Clontibret, Ballybay and even the likes of Donaghmoyne. So it has been very good in that regard.”
THE chance to manage his native county was too big an opportunity, too big an honour, for Corey to pass up.
After Seamus McEnaney stepped down at the end of last season, rumours of Oisin McConville and then Jason Sherlock taking over came and went before Corey, who won two Ulster titles during his distinguished career with the Farney County, was confirmed as the successor to ‘Banty’ and was appointed on a three-year term with Martin Corey, Dermot McArdle and Gabriel Bannigan as his backroom team.
“It was a privilege to be asked,” said Corey.
“It’s an honour to manage your county but especially to manage this group of players. I know them and I know the character that’s in the dressingroom – you wouldn’t meet a better bunch of lads.
“It was a privilege for me to be asked to manage a group like this. Did I think I would ever manage Monaghan? I thought maybe it was a possibility perhaps and when you are given the opportunity, it’s too big of an opportunity to pass up. You have to roll up the sleeves and get on with it and do your best.”
Corey is still playing for his club Clontibret. The O’Neills reached the Monaghan senior championship semi-finals this year so the new Farney manager has had an opportunity to view the best players in his county up close and personal.
“The whole management team has done that,” he explains.
“I have Gabriel Bannigan with me and he has taken Aughnamullen from junior up to senior so he has seen all the divisions up close and he would have a good read on all the players. Dermot McArdle been a selector with Castleblayney for the last couple of years so we’re all heavily involved in club football and it does help when you are looking at players and seeing them close.”
Becoming Monaghan manager won’t hasten Corey’s retirement as a player: “You try and keep yourself available for the club as long as you can,” he says.
He intends to see how next year goes on the sideline with his county before he makes any decisions and of course he was on the line for the past two seasons as selector with McEnaney.
“It was a great experience,” he said.
“Seamus is Monaghan’s most experienced manager. He has been around county management for 20 years’ or more so it was great experience to come in under him as a selector and you had the likes of David McCague there as well so I was working with really good men.”
In those last two seasons, Monaghan retained their Division One status despite being in perilous positions going into the last round of matches. Last year it took an injury-time goal from Jack McCarron to keep the Farneymen up and send Dublin down.
In 2020 Monaghan were a whisker away from winning the Ulster title (Tyrone won by a point at Croke Park) and last season provincial champions Derry edged them out at the semi-final stage.
“Division One is very unforgiving, especially if you’re trying out new players,” said Corey.
“There’ll be days when you have to take a few hits but I think if we come out of the National League healthier than we’ve gone into it – find a few players and maximise the potential in the squad – we will be in a good place.”
