Conor McManus: Three-time All-Star likely to end Monaghan career after 2024 campaign
- Published
McManus has continued to produce brilliant displays for Monaghan despite inhibited by a hip injury in recent seasons
Three-time All-Star Conor McManus says 2024 is likely to be his final year of inter-county football with Monaghan.
Speaking to The GAA Social podcast on BBC Sounds, McManus, 36, said his ongoing hip injury makes continuing on with Monaghan beyond 2024 unlikely.
McManus added that he expects to undergo a hip replacement soon after his Farney County career ends.
"The hip injury I have, it just won't allow me to go much further," McManus told the BBC GAA podcast.
"This will be my 18th year with Monaghan. I'm 36 now. It's nearly half your life.
"I imagine this [year] will be my last. I'm not putting any definitive [decision out there]. I'm not going into the year saying that.
"We'll take it as it comes but it's hard to see how it could stretch to 19 years."
McManus was speaking on the first instalment of The GAA Social in 2024 which took place before a live audience at the Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre in Armagh and also featured former Celtic manager and Northern Ireland player Neil Lennon
Needs painkillers to train and play
The Clontibret man, who made his Monaghan senior debut in 2007, says he needs to take painkillers to be able to both train and play games.
And his training is often restricted to bike sessions in an indoor gym as his team-mates are put through their paces on the pitch outside.
But he has had to accept that routine in order to prolong his career.
"I have Vinny [Corey] there who probably knows my body as well as I do at this stage and the physio team," added McManus.
"To be fair to them, they are brilliant at managing your load.
"It allows you to be still there. It's not ideal. It's not how I particularly like to do it. The enjoyment in inter-county football is being on the field and training."
In basic terms, McManus suffers from an arthritic hip, "with no cartilage between the ball and socket".
"When you run, twist or turn, the two bones are banging together.
"Probably sooner rather than later, [I'll be looking at a hip replacement]. If I wasn't going back to play football this year, you'd probably be looking at it."
McManus' demeanour after last July's All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Dublin led some to conclude that he had decided to end his Monaghan career
McManus' post-match reaction after last July's All-Ireland semi-final defeat by eventual champions Dublin, when the sides were level with less than 10 minutes left, led some to conclude that he had already decided to end his inter-county career.
"Anytime I was beaten in any of those games, I was gone - the first man off the field. Just get out of there.
"I don't really know why after that game, I went over and saw my mother and father in the stand and I would never had done that before.
"I suppose that led people to think...and then there was a photo taken and maybe that led people to thinking that was it. [But] that wasn't in my head at the time.
"I've given it plenty of thought and consideration over the last couple of months. It's not that I didn't want to commit.
"It's just as my body doesn't allow me to give it as much as you would like to but I figured we'll give it one more rattle and see where it takes us."
'Lee Keegan would be right up there'
In a wide-ranging discussion with Thomas Niblock and Oisin McConville, the Monaghan great laughed off the suggestion that he is now the greatest gaelic footballer not to have won an All-Ireland medal.
"There's a multitude of Mayo men...Lee Keegan to me would be right up there," he added.
"It's not something when you're playing, that you need to hear or want to hear.
"You're still playing and putting yourself out there. Maybe in two or three years' time, when somebody says it to you, you might take it on board and appreciate it a bit more."
Conor McManus landed the free which brought last year's All-Ireland quarter-final against Armagh to penalties and went on to score two spot-kicks in the shootout
After running Dublin so close last year, McManus believes Monaghan can contend for All-Ireland glory in 2024 although he admits "many others teams are believing the same".
But the Farney County star thinks Monaghan's "toe-to-toe" approach which did rattle the Dubs should give the squad conviction for this year.
"You can't play Dublin at Croke Park and try and defend your way to a win.
"If you are sitting back and allowing them time and space on the ball for the full 70 minutes, you are not going to win the game.
"You have to go and take a cut at Dublin in Croke Park. We did that.
"We probably nullified their third quarter which all year was their big power play. We were level with eight or nine minutes to go but their quality shone through in the end."
McManus produced a superb individual display as he tormented Dublin's highly-regarded man marker Mick Fitzsimons, which came after Monaghan's dramatic quarter-final victory over Armagh when the Clontibret man netted two spot-kicks in their penalty shootout victory.
He had won and pointed the medium-range free which had ensured the shootout after having started the game on the bench before coming on in the impact substitute role which he fulfilled for much of the championship.
McManus' second penalty in the shootout saw him spectacularly fire past Ethan Rafferty to the top corner.
Asked whether he had aimed there, McManus deadpanned: "Yeah I did. You have to kick it somewhere. Not many goalies dive high."
'I hope Beggan makes it into the NFL'
Monaghan's own goalkeeper Rory Beggan could be about to begin an NFL career in the USA and McManus says while that would be "bad news" for the Farney County, he hopes the Scotstown man is able to achieve his ambition of forging a new sporting career.
"You can only wish good luck to him. I do hope he makes it. That would be bad news for Monaghan for this year and the next five years. To me, Rory is the best goalkeeper in the country."
As for the greatest moment of his career, McManus picks out captaining Monaghan to the 2015 Ulster title when they edged out Donegal, two years after they had defeated the then All-Ireland champions in the 2013 provincial decider.
Monaghan also faced Donegal in the 2014 Ulster decider when Jim McGuinness led the Tir Conaill men to victory in the final year of his first stint in charge and McManus recalls with a smile his battles with teak-tough Neil McGee during those campaigns.
"In 2015, I don't think I touched the ball for the first 25 minutes. I spent most of my time on the ground with Neil McGee."
But for the most part, McManus says he has avoided getting "caught up in the verbal side of things or sledging".
Conor McManus fires over the point against Tyrone in 2018 which he regards as the best score of his career
As for his greatest score, McManus picks out the remarkable point he scored at Healy Park in Monaghan's Ulster Championship victory over Tyrone in 2018. Anybody who recalls that incredible score, will surely concur.
With his career now in the closing straight, McManus is inevitably being asked as to whether he might consider management and perhaps even inter-county management but he says that "taking charge of the under-13s" at his own club is likely to be as far as that goes at least in the short and possibly medium term.
"It wouldn't be something you would jump into straight away anyway.
"When you've been in the inter-county game for 18 years, you'd probably just want to get a break from it and get away from it.
"The time and effort that goes into it [inter-county management] is absolutely insane. For a manager there's no switching off from it at all."
After missing out on the Dr McKenna Cup, McManus doesn't expect to return to Monaghan duty until the latter stages of the Division One campaign.
"Hopefully it will be in the middle of the league or towards the end of the league."
Whenever he does, people will surely feel privileged to be there to witness him in action in what is likely to be his final inter-county campaign.