There’s an old trick you would use in underage football to stop your bloody full forwards from wandering out the pitch.
They were to simply imagine a string attaching them to the goal posts so they couldn’t go beyond the 21′. They could only go sideways, all the while gravitating towards the posts.
Obviously, you had to give them a bit of leeway – when your number 13 is standing on the white line, scared sh*tless to cross it, just waiting for a ball to come into his zone so he could pick it up, you’ve done something right but you also need a bit of cop on. Give them the general idea, but still let them play the game.
Full forward is the most frustrating position in Gaelic Football. You’re at the mercy of 12 other men bringing you into the play. If they fail to do so, there’s damn all you can do, unfortunately.
All you can do is wait. And then wait some more.
But good things come to those who wait.
With Conor McManus, it is quality over quantity.
But, God, how the quality oozes off the man.
On Sunday afternoon, Monaghan’s captain got the ball in his hands 12 times against a defence-minded Cavan. 12 times. He came away with seven scores.
Five from frees – two of which he won himself as blue shirts hung off him like he was a washing line – and two of the finest scores from play under relentless attention.
The Farney men won by a point. And because their full forward, their go-to man, was so patient and disciplined, he was able to spring to life when the side needed him. But, crucially, where the side needed him.
That’s why he took just one hand pass all afternoon. The one time he came into his own half, he took the ball off Ryan Wylie and started an attack himself. But, for the large part, he was patrolling on the inside line latching onto direct long passes from the rest of the team.
In the first half, McManus was Monaghan’s way around Cavan’s swarming defenders – even with his own beehive to contend with himself.
Malachy O’Rourke’s side ran the ball with pace and power when their number 15 wasn’t available first time and, more often than not, they drew a free from some sloppy Cavan challenges which McManus dispatched of with ease.
But when he took possession in open play, he took it where it mattered. Here’s a map of where the skipper picked up the ball on Sunday.
McManus had eight shots against Cavan, he raised a white flag with seven of them in a ridiculously efficient return.
What happened in the second period was even more impressive though. Despite winning just five balls – incidentally, all five balls that were aimed at him – McManus scored three times in those 35 minutes. Two were from frees – one of them, again, he won himself.
The other? A serious catch 25 yards out on the right, running at his double markers and curling over from the flank with deadly accuracy.
With his first three possessions after the break, he was upended as Fergal Flanagan and Jason McLoughlin both tried to keep tabs on him together.
But McManus was still popping up in the right areas.
McManus had to wait until the 59th minute though to pick up what was his second piece of action of the half. He had just one ball in almost 25 minutes but he exploded to life for the final 10.
A lot of that was down to Stephen Gollogly and Dick Clerkin coming in and giving the Farney men purpose again. Driving them in the right direction but, more importantly, feeding the danger man.
And where was the danger man? He wasn’t off in a huff out hunting for football. He was inside waiting. Waiting. And waiting. He trusted his manager to get the best out of him eventually and he ended up winning the game for Monaghan.
Kieran Hughes found McManus four times with four long balls inside. He and the likes of Clerkin and Gollogly were the crucial supply line to the electric magic at the end of it.
Conor McManus impressing for Monaghan, leading the scoring for Monaghan, inspiring Monaghan isn’t going to surprise anyone.
But Conor McManus just gave a masterclass in the full forward line and he should be held up as a shining example for anyone looking to learn that trade.
And he should be feared by anyone looking to stop Monaghan this year.
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