On Wednesday night, the footballers of Monaghan hooked up at Rooskey and ran themselves into the ground, still hurting after Sunday.
Their league experience in Navan had been galling, from the mock encouragement of the home crowd to the shocking clarity of the scoreboard, on which they designed 0-2 over the hour. Hardly an ideal build-up to this weekend's All-Ireland B final in Scotstown, where Monaghan will meet their Border rivals, Fermanagh.
"Well, it could have been better, but I was really pleased with the way the lads approached training the last night," says Monaghan manager Eamonn McEneaney.
"It really was as good a session as we have had. I wasn't too despondent after the Meath game. I would be extremely worried had we failed to create any chances, had Meath limited us to two points, but we were hammering wides from every angle.
"But to be honest, I felt that had we converted our chances, we could have been quite easily leading at the break. Instead, Meath took a few early scores after halftime and the game just slipped from our grasp. But we won't lose sleep over it yet."
There is a small, incongruous buzz around the GAA communities in mid-Ulster this weekend. As well as the provincial club final between Bellaghy and Crossmaglen, the All-Ireland B final affords the folk of Monaghan and Fermanagh the chance to shout about something. Its timing is yet another quirk on the ever baffling GAA calendar, a ghost of a competition fought out in small venues when the mainstream GAA world lapses into hibernation. But it is no less important to those involved for that.
"We've never won it in Monaghan and it is an All-Ireland title," McEneaney says.
"We saw it as a chance to get reasonable competition in a knock-out situation. As we progressed, there was quiet enough interest around the county, but now that we're in the final, people have taken note, there's a bit of anticipation about. And the fact that our opponents are Fermanagh heightens that, of course." Two years ago, Fermanagh became All-Ireland B champions, a welcome bright spot after interminable years of justified pessimism. Fermanagh had drifted into the role of Ulster whipping boys, and almost came to accept it. Too often, their summers were brief and savagely humiliating. But the win, secured as twilight fell on Carrick-on-Shannon, kick-started Fermanagh to a degree, and they pushed Cavan to a replay the following summer before Martin McHugh's team made a late rush and took the Ulster title.
"Yes, Fermanagh are a team that are greatly improving, and obviously Sunday's game offers us a chance to assess each other before the first round championship match next summer," says McEneaney.
"So much depends on confidence in this game. That was apparent last Sunday, when our boys missed their chances. And, with Fermanagh, that win seemed to give them a starting point from which they have gradually progressed. From our point of view, winning on Sunday would be a nice way to lead into the break in the league."
But in Fermanagh, the enthusiasm for the fledgling All-Ireland competition seems to have waned in comparison to 1996. Paul Brewster, one of the county's most determined and gifted athletes, has declined to make himself available for the match, as he had pencilled in the weekend as free months ago. His absence affords younger brother Tom a chance to spread his wings at midfield, but it also perhaps indicates the worth placed on the contest.
Sure, the bonfires and singsongs were nice two years ago, but maybe the joy of winning it is a one-off sensation; maybe at heart, players do not want to become too closely linked to a competition which is deemed to be of a lesser nature by its very title. But when the players take the pitch, instinct will take over. Hell, Monaghan and Fermanagh lads would scrap over the remote control. Sunday will fizz as keenly as any other encounter. McEneaney has been forced to work around substantial defections since he guided the team to the league semi-final last spring. Pauric McShane is in the US. Kevin Hughes has excused himself from the panel due to work pressures. Peter and Dermot Duffy are out through injury, as are Gerard McGurk and Seamus Mullin. And there are other casualties. "I'll put it this way, only five of Sunday's team were playing intercounty football three years ago before I came along. We are a young team. Winning matters to us."
All-Ireland images are those of blazing colour and sunny glamour, when a green field seems to hold the world's attention.
It may appear different in Scotstown this Sunday, but the hope and pain will remain the same.
Fermanagh: C McAdam; P Courteney, P McGuinness, M Lilly; R Curran, C Gallagher, R Johnston; D McGrath, T Brewster; L McBarron, R Gallagher, C Courtney; S Maguire, C McManus, S King.
Monaghan: G Murphy; P McKenna, D McDermott, N Marron; D McArdle, E Murphy, J Conlon; J Coyle, P McCaul; D Freeman, M Daly, P O'Connor; S McGinnity, C Ronaghan, D Swift.
