By Shaun Casey

AT the end of last season, Monaghan’s obituary had been well and truly written. They dropped out of Division One for the first time in a decade and failed to reach the last eight in the race for Sam Maguire.

That narrative only increased when arguably their greatest player of all time Conor McManus decided to call it a day and hang up the boots. With a new management team in place, what did 2025 hold for Monaghan?

So far so good for Gabriel Bannigan’s men. Their form so far this season has impressed former player Kieran Hughes, who won two Ulster titles in the blue and white in 2013 and 2015.

The Division Two league title success has surely given the Farney County a huge boost heading into the championship, but they face a hugely difficult task on Sunday as they take on Donegal.

“This time last year, we were down in the dumps and nobody was talking about Monaghan,” said the Scotstown man. “The media had forgotten about them and that was the thing about Monaghan, as soon as they were gone, they were gone.

“People never would have thought they’d get back up again and maybe some of the players thought that too but looking at the team at the moment, there’s a really good balance of pace, experience and a bit of flair as well.

“I think that’s absolutely imperative for any team that is going to progress in the championship but I wouldn’t get too carried away with it. It’s a Division Two title at the end of the day and a lot of those players needed experience in Croke Park.

“They had to go and try to win the game. Roscommon had a game the week after and potentially pulled up the handbrake and looked after players because championship is more important but you can never turn down a wee bit of silverware.”

To upset the odds this weekend and advance to the final four of the competition, Hughes believes that Monaghan will have to be “absolutely on it.” Hughes also hopes that reigning champs Donegal will have an off day in Clones.

“Monaghan are going to need to be absolutely on it this weekend,” he added.

“They can’t take anything for granted, if they’re off it then they’re losing. Donegal will need to be off it and Monaghan will need to be on it to win it.

“It’s happened before but that’s past tense, that’s 12 years ago. There’s two new teams here and there’s new rules. Both teams will have been looking at video clips of how to nitpick around the kick-outs and stuff like that.

“There’s an intriguing battle ahead. I just hope Donegal don’t get a big lead early on and come out with that energy that can surprise Monaghan but I have full belief that there’s enough in that dressing room that they can pull something out of the bag.”

This week’s Gaelic Lives pod looks ahead to this weekend’s Ulster SFC games. Our guests are Kieran Hughes and Shane King.