Conor McManus presses pause on retirement plans but admits time running out

Conor McManus says he's made no decision on whether to retire from inter-county football, though he acknowledged that the "clock is running out on my innings" after Monaghan's exit from the All-Ireland championship.

It had been assumed that 2024 was likely to be the three-time All-Star's last hurrah with the county side, though a disappointed McManus insisted it wasn't the day for such an announcement after they exited the championship at the hands of Galway at Pearse Stadium.

"No, I haven't done that," McManus told RTÉ Sport, when asked whether he had retired from the inter-county scene.

"Today's not about me. It's about Monaghan and we didn't get into the quarter-final. That's the biggest disappointment.

"It's no big secret that the clock's running out on my innings. But it is what it is."

In possibly his final few moments in a Monaghan jersey, McManus clipped over two injury-time frees to reduce it to a one-score game.

But there was time for little else and the hosts, despite a sluggish first half display, won by three points to book their spot in the quarters.

It was all looking so good for Monaghan in the lead-up to half-time. They led 0-05 to 0-03 on the half hour having played into the breeze in a damp and drizzly Salthill.

However, Galway rustled up the next three points to nose ahead by the minimum at half-time and they kicked on impressively after the restart, Paul Conroy, John Maher and the efficient Rob Finnerty to the fore as they built up a five-point cushion entering the closing stages.

It might have panned out differently had Barry McBennett ferocious shot not twanged off the crossbar when the score stood at 0-10 to 0-08.

"We put ourselves in a really good position in the first half. The boys played extremely well