Finlay happy that Monaghan have the right man at the helm

Paul Finlay felt Vinny Corey was always destined to become manager of the Monaghan senior footballers.

Corey was appointed Monaghan boss in September, succeeding Seamus McEnaney. It brought an end to Monaghan’s long and at times difficult search for a new manager.

Corey only retired from intercounty football at the end of the 2019 season. Finlay feels the position might have come to his former teammate sooner than expected, but it is still no surprise to the Ballybay man that the former Monaghan captain has stepped up to the role.

“There were a lot of people mentioned and a lot of talk about who the manager would be and it was out there for a few months longer than it should have been. But having played with Vinny and known Vinny for so long, I would be very happy with who Monaghan have got as their next manager,” said Finlay at the launch of AIB’s 32nd year supporting the AIB All-Ireland club championships.

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“Has it come a couple of years earlier than maybe Vinny himself would have expected? I would say so. But having said that, when I was playing with him he was one of those guys you knew would manage Monaghan in the years ahead and here he is.”

However, Finlay says there will be an element of patience required from Farney fans as he believes Monaghan are facing a period of personnel change. That doesn’t mean they won’t be competitive, but Finlay feels younger players will need to be brought through as some of the county’s more experienced servants edge closer to the exit.

“Vinny will do well, the whole county is behind him and he’ll have great support from everybody. He has already formed a good team of men around him. But it’s not going to be that easy, they are still in Division One and there are a lot of players in the squad on that cusp of do they stay on or not.

“And with that naturally comes the realisation that players are on the wrong side of 30, so probably some transition has happened already and there probably needs to be a little bit more over the next couple of years to try and blend a new team.

“So that’s the challenge that’s ahead of Vinny and it’s a big one, but one that I’m sure he’ll take on and we’ll all be behind him in doing so.”

Meanwhile, Sean O’Donoghue has been named as Cork senior hurling captain for 2023. The Inniscarra clubman, who was vice-captain this season, replaces Mark Coleman as team captain. The 26-year-old defender made his senior debut in 2018 and has been handed the leadership role by new Cork manager Pat Ryan.