It's probably just as well Mick O'Dwyer did not travel from Kerry to witness this detached Kildare performance at St Conleth's Park in Newbridge yesterday. Monaghan made them look so ordinary that the Kildare manager may have been jerked into nervous championship concerns.
Despite the favourable conditions, this was more like an opening league encounter than the crucial next-to-last of the pre-knockout stage. The result, however, puts Monaghan back in range for one of the top three play-off berths.
Kildare only needed a point from this game to secure their qualification for the quarterfinals, but even that seemed well beyond them from the early stages. Monaghan freetaker Damien Freeman was a model of accuracy, finishing with six out of six, while Mark Daly and Darren Swift were consistently threatening from play in the forward line.
Combined with the solid defence of Noel Marron and team captain Edwin Murphy, Kildare were rarely given a look in and 12 wides in total certainly didn't help their cause. Matters were made even worse when four players were carried off with injuries and they were left with a 14-man team for almost half the game.
Glen Ryan's absence from the start limited the possession in midfield. Monaghan's Joe Coyle and Frank McEneaney proved far more capable in that area and ensured their team never let their control slip after they took a comfortable lead in the middle of the first half.
"We came today knowing that we had to get two points for a chance of qualifying," said Monaghan manager Eamonn McEneaney afterwards. "More importantly we were really up for this game and might have caught Kildare on the hop in that they mightn't have been ready for what we gave them, especially if they looked at our result against Mayo two weeks back."
The assembly of the Monaghan lead was swift. Even though Karl O'Dwyer tested his boot with a point inside 30 seconds, McEneaney soon equalised more impressively from 45 metres out.
Freeman's first placed kick had the visitors in front not long afterwards and even at that stage Kildare's problems were growing. They lost their recent addition Cathal Sheridan after 15 minutes through a neck injury and the half forwards seemed to be giving away possession as quickly as they found it.
Pauric Gravin has been Kildare's top scorer throughout the league but when his first free went well off target it was obvious he was not in form. O'Dwyer was also guilty of a couple of wides before the end of the half, while Freeman continued to add to the Monaghan lead. Mark Daly then put them 0-6 to 0-2 in front and it took a hard-earned point from Paul McCormack to claw one back before the interval.
There was a distinct effort by the Leinster champions to lift things after the restart but their momentum was regularly broken by a series of injuries. Brian Lacey and Willie McCreery both hobbled off and since they had already lost Sheridan, and Gravin had been replaced by Dermot Earley at the break, McCreery's departure meant the reduction to 14.
Declan Kerrigan did provide brief inspiration with a long-range point, but the majority of attacks that they managed to string together were shut out by the increasing confidence of the Monaghan backs. John Conlon and Damien McKenna proved particularly good at frustrating O'Dwyer and Martin Lynch as they sought a Kildare revival.
The best opportunities, however, were squandered. Eddie McCormack saw five of his efforts stray well wide of the post. The wrestling for possession was also uncharasteristic. Peter Duffy pushed the visitors further ahead before the additional contributions of Daly and Freeman opened the lead to 0-9 to 0-4 with five minutes remaining.
The late awakening of Anthony Rainbow was about all the home side could muster in the end but there was still time for Freeman to double the difference with his final free. The accustomed strength of the Kildare support haven't yet had the need to leave the stands before the final whistle - yet that was the scene which concluded this encounter.
Monaghan, meanwhile, must only beat Clare in two weeks time to reach the later stages.
KILDARE: C Byrne; B Lacey, E Mulhall, K Doyle; M Ryan, J Finn, A Rainbow (0-1); N Buckley, W McCreery (0-1); P Gravin, D Kerrigan (0-1), P McCormack (0-1); M Lynch, K O'Dwyer (0-1), C Sheridan. Subs: E McCormack for Sheridan (15 mins); D Earley for Gravin (30 mins); D Maher for Lacey (32 mins).
MONAGHAN: G Murphy; D McDermott, D McKenna, N Marron; E Murphy, J Coyle, J Conlon; J Coyle, F McEneaney (0-1); D Freeman (0-6, all frees), P Duffy (0-1), C Ronaghan; S McGinnity, M Daly (0-2), D Swift. Subs: D Smyth for McGinnity (48 mins); G McGuirk for Ronaghan (55 Mins).
Referee: M O'Sullivan (Kerry).
