FORMER Monaghan manager Vinny Corey is back in harness for Clontibret’s Monaghan Championship semi-final against Ballybay at Clones on Sunday (2pm).
Corey, who stepped down at the end of last season having propelled the Farneymen to an All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin in 2023, returned to the fray in Clontibret’s final group game.
However, Conor McManus, his long-term team-mate at club and county, is out of Sunday’s game with a hand injury and will almost certainly (although he has confounded the medics before) miss the final, should Clontibret get there.
Opponents Ballybay beat Latton after extra-time in their quarter-final last weekend while Clontibret qualified automatically by virtue of their results in the group stages. That run of form came after a difficult league campaign.
Clontibret had to win a play-off to avoid relegation after Down natives Paul McCartan and Neil Coulter had taken over as joint-managers.
“We were late coming in because we were with the Down U20s,” Burren clubman Coulter explained.
“We had four boys away with the county (McManus, Darren McDonnell, Killian Lavelle and Aaron Carey (U20s)), a couple of injuries and obviously we had to get to know the players and the opposition too so we had a slow start in the league. It’s a one-round league so we had a lot of boys doubling up playing seniors and seconds, so it was tough going alright.”
As the season wore on, the new management duo steadied the ship and results improved dramatically during the championship group stage. Even without McManus, Clontibret aren’t short on experience with Corey joining fellow 2019 championship winners Dessie Mone, Greenan brothers (Colm, Brian and Kieran) and former Monaghan full-back Colm Boyle (the team captain) in the dressingroom and youngsters like Carey, Henry Kelly, Cian Brennan, Daniel McDonnell coming through.
“We had a three-week break between the league and the championship and the boys really worked hard and knuckled down,” Coulter explained.
“We went up to Inniskeen and put in a really good second half performance to get over the line. The only disappointment was that we lost Conor (McManus), he shattered a bone in his hand and broke two fingers. We haven’t had him since – the fingers have healed but the bone hasn’t so we’re planning without him.
“But the boys regrouped and they haven’t looked back.”
Beating Killanny the following week and then Donaghmoyne meant Clontibret went straight through to the last four, despite what Coulter viewed as a disappointing performance against Latton in their final group game.
“We’ve had a lot to work on from that day,” he said.
“We watched Ballybay on Sunday (beat Latton 0-19 to 1-15 after extra-time) and they were very impressive in how they went about their business. They were four points down with 12 minutes to go and they clawed it back to a draw and in extra-time their experience shone through in the likes of Drew and Ryan Wylie, Paul Finlay and the McGuinness’s so we know it’s going to be a tough game. There isn’t much between the two sides.”
Ballybay have the benefit of that game under their belts while Clontibret, who waited three weeks’ between beating Donaghmoyne and playing Latton, have had to wait four more for Sunday’s semi-final.
“It’s hard to beat competitive football,” said Coulter.
“Ballybay had a really good, competitive, tough game last Sunday. It hasn’t been easy for us over the last four weeks, especially not knowing who we’re playing until the week before. It’s probably an advantage for Ballybay because it’s been difficult to get challenge games but the boys have reacted well, they’ve trained really hard and they’re focussed because they’ve been beat comfortably in the last two semi-finals and they want to go out on Sunday and right the wrong.
“They’re in a good place. They’re keen and they’re mad looking to go to Clones on Sunday and give a good account of themselves.”
