By Shaun Casey

ONE of the stories of the 2025 season so far has been the impressive form of Monaghan during their Division Two campaign and Gabriel Bannigan’s men are within touching distance of a swift return to Division One.

Their decade long presence in the top tier came collapsing down last season but the Farney men have shown this year that they can still compete at the very highest level, although their spot in Division One isn’t secured just yet.

Should they lose out to Down on Sunday afternoon, in their own home patch of Clones, then they run the risk of falling out of one of the top tier promotion spots and possibly finishing outside the golden spots.

Monaghan currently sit at the top of the pile on 10 points but the four-team strong chasing pack all rest on eight points with Meath, Roscommon and Cavan all hunting a place among the best in the business.

Monaghan do have the head-to-head advantage over the Royals and their Ulster foes, if it’s called for, while their only defeat of the season so far has come against the Rossies.

Should more than two teams finish on the same number of points, then Monaghans should still be in a strong position as they hold a much stronger score difference, so this week’s results would have to be exceptional for them to miss out.

That’s the negative side covered, more positively, if Monaghan come out on top against Conor Laverty’s side and pick up their sixth victory of the campaign, then no other result will impact them. They’ll finish top of the table.

But they face a Down team that are absolutely fighting for their lives at the bottom end of the Division Two table so Monaghan will have to be well prepared for the dogfight that is about to take place.

If it comes down to pure talent and quality, then Monaghan should come through.

The form of Conor McCarthy, Micheál Bannigan, Rory Beggan and Jack McCarron to name a few has been absolutely outstanding of late.

Their physical presence around the centre of the field is another area that the Mourne men could really struggle with as Monaghan have the power and strength of their perfect midfield partnership of Gary Mohan and Micheál McCarville.

A lot of drama can and usually does happen on the last day but the experience and quality that Monaghan hold in their ranks should be enough to secure not only victory on the day, but guarantee of promotion as well.