It said a lot about Monaghan's fortunes on Sunday that goalkeeper Rory Beggan looked the man most likely to finish the day as top scorer for the local team.

The Scotstown man has a terrific thump of a ball and his long-range free-taking was one of the few sources of joy for Malachy O’Rourke’s men against a Dublin team that kept Monaghan penned in all through the field.

The Dubs posted 1-3 in the first 10 minutes and stymied Monaghan’s attempts to tap into their own game by pushing four men across the full forward line and denying Beggan any easy target on his kick outs. Monaghan had spoken about it but still found it difficult to counteract.

Character

“We knew rightly . . . Dublin are really good defensively and don’t allow that short kick out. But they hit us for 1-2 before we could really settle and that put us back a wee bit. The boys showed great character to get us back in the game and then they rallied at us again. But we were aiming for a semi-final and we got there.”

It was a strange sort of day: both teams were safe in the league and both had one foot in the semi-final.

A big home crowd settled in after it became obvious that Monaghan hadn’t figured out Dublin on this afternoon at least, and before the final whistle it began to dawn on people that the same teams could well meet seven days later.

That possibility did not dilute Monaghan’s intensity, though.

“No, the league for us is about performances. We wanted to get a good performance here and to kinda revenge a bit of last year’s championship defeat.

“Lookit, same circumstances really. It wasn’t as big a defeat but it got us into the semi-final and we can put a few things right hopefully. But we will have to improve a lot to match these boys next week.”

That heavy quarter-final defeat of a year ago was an abrupt end to a season in which Monaghan confirmed their potential as a top eight team.

They have made further progression in this year’s league and immediately after the game, O’Rourke and his players look upon next week’s visit to Croke Park as a chance to learn and improve.

“Any time you get to Croke Park you take it in stride. To get there at this time of year is very good for Monaghan football and hopefully we can get a result and go on to the final. But we are preparing for the championship as well so we want to get as many good performances as we can.”

Few teams are as sticky and tenacious as the Monaghan men and although they didn’t quit here, they were powerless for a 24-minute period in the second half when Dublin landed a series of jaw-dropping points while holding the home team scoreless.

Conor McManus and Kieran Hughes were lost in a sea of sky blue shirts: McManus got one half look at the posts and his shot was blocked.

With 10 minutes to go, the scoreboard read 1-18 to 0-6; the small bank of visiting fans on the terrace could afford to mock cheer when Thomas Kerr finally landed a score for Monaghan.

The Dublin forwards, in contrast, didn’t register a wide in that second half. The Dubs have been patchy in the league – Monaghan were just unfortunate that they encountered them on a day when everything clicked.

“They probably know themselves that they have been a wee bit inconsistent in the league. But they showed glimpses of what they can do against Mayo and probably today as well. You can’t really give them that space. If Dublin get that space they are going to kick it over the bar. They are known for punishing teams. We got punished today for stupid mistakes and we know what we have to do next week.”

They will bring a big support to Dublin. It was clear from the atmosphere in Clones on Sunday that the county is enjoying this ongoing renaissance under Malachy O’Rourke.

Trepidation

But there must be a degree of trepidation too, given what Dublin are capable of doing to teams in Croke Park. On Sunday, they silenced St Tiernach’s Park with their quality. If they carry that form into the Jones road venue, they will be close to unstoppable, but Beggan reckons the challenge for Monaghan is simple

“The crowd settled down in the second half whenever Dublin started pulling ahead. We did show character but you have to be on your A game to beat Dublin and we weren’t.”