By Shaun Casey

THE Monaghan players need no reminding of their clash with Down two years ago. The Ulster Intermediate Championship title was on the line at Clones and during the early exchanges of the second half, it was all but over.

Down had sailed into a comfortable ten-point lead with goals from Eimear Fitzpatrick and Laoise Duffy, but Monaghan dug deep. They weren’t about to go down without a fight.

In the end, their efforts were in vain as the Mourne ladies held on to win the game by the minimum of margins and claim the provincial crown.

Down also earned an All-Ireland Championship victory over their Ulster foes, winning by three in the quarter-final of the competition later that summer.

When Monaghan line out in Sunday’s championship opener, revenge will be on their mind, says Jennifer Duffy. “We played them twice that year and they beat us both times, so I think we’re looking for a wee bit of revenge.

“In fairness, they’re a very good side and they had a decent league campaign, so we’ll obviously be pinpointing their strong players and hoping to rectify those results from two years ago.”

Down just missed out on promotion to Division Two, while Monaghan avoided the drop to Division Three, so in terms of league standings, there isn’t a whole pile to split the teams.

The Farney County earned two wins over the relegated pair of Westmeath and Wexford but were fiercely competitive in a lot of their other outings.

League champions Donegal, along with Cavan who were also promoted to the top tier, both enjoyed three-point wins over Duffy and her teammates, so they realise they aren’t that far away.

“I think we did pretty well (in the league) because there were games that we probably could have pushed that wee bit further,” the Monaghan midfielder continued.

“The likes of the Donegal game, they only beat us by three points and then they went on to win the league. Cavan as well, we lost those games by small margins and then Tipperary, we drew with them and they beat (Division One champions) Cork last weekend.

“We know we are in and around it. I know it’s only Division Two, but our goal was to stay up and perform in each game so we took a lot of learnings from it but hopefully now we can rectify all the mistakes in the league and fix them for the championship.”

With the sun appearing more regularly and the ground beginning to harden, it feels like championship time.

It’s four weeks since their last league encounter, so Monaghan can’t wait to get back on the field this weekend.

“It’s what you’re aiming for throughout the league, just to get through it and get by and training has been ramped up since the league finished so we’re looking forward to Sunday.

“The dry ground is good for our fast players and they’re beginning to blossom now and it’s great to get into the sunny weather and we’ve plenty of games ahead.”