Conor McManus feels Monaghan made further progress this year, despite failing to retain the Anglo-Celt Cup.

The Farney defeated Donegal to land the Allianz League Division 2 title in April, but Jim McGuinness' men avenged that loss in the Ulster final. Monaghan subsequently beat Kildare after extra-time before suffering a 17-point defeat to Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

"We got well beaten by Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final, but overall I think we performed as well, if not better, than we did throughout last year's championship," the All Star forward tells the Irish Daily Star.

"We have four All Star nominees and although we didn't get the silverware that we wanted, it's good enough recognition of the fact we had a decent enough year.

"We beat Tyrone in the first round of the championship, we beat Armagh after a replay and we saw where Armagh went after that. So although we're disappointed with how the year finished up, we will take the positives out of it."

McManus, who will captain Clontibret in Sunday's Ulster club SFC preliminary round clash with Kilcoo, added: "I suppose we didn't want to be a team that came for one year and went away again. We wanted to drive on and get to the top table, I think we did that."

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