IT was one of the upsets of the summer; Fermanagh overcoming Monaghan in the 2018 Ulster Championship semi-final.

You’ll probably remember it fairly well, at least for the game’s decisive moment as Eoin Donnelly punched home a winning goal in stoppage time.

You’ll also probably remember Fermanagh’s style of play at the time – these were the Rory Gallagher years, and the blanket defence was their trademark, much to the chagrin of the purists out there.

However, it’s a results business and they reached their first provincial championship in 10 years with a sensational 1-8 to 0-10 victory over Monaghan.

Aidan Breen, who strode forward to hit two massive scores in the first half, remembers that they were confident in the lead-up to the match, and understandably so. They had achieved promotion to Division Two in the spring, and then they shut out Armagh in the first round of the Ulster Championship.

Breen said: “We felt confident heading into the match, the way we looked at it was that anything can happen on the day, so we felt we were in a good state of mind before the game.

“You want to be pitting yourself against the best, it’s a good gauge of where you stand. It’s a challenge we embraced. Lee and Che Cullen were playing for us at the time. They’re two of the best man-markers about so we were confident enough.”

Even though Fermanagh were notorious for their defensive style of play at the time, they very much took the game to Monaghan in the first half at Healy Park, which was all the more impressive given that Seamus Quigley, their top scorer at the time, was left on the bench for a breach of discipline before the match.

Suffocating Monaghan at the back, they played a cool possession game when they got their hands on the ball and built up a 0-5 to 0-1 lead by the 28th minute.

Commenting on the two points he kicked himself, Breen said: “It’s just the way things worked out – there was a bit of space on both occasions so I went for them and got the points. I suppose it was just one of those days, the team in general kicked some great scores.”

However, Monaghan began to win the battle for breaking ball that had been dominated by their opponents in the opening half, and by the half-time whistle they were only one point in arrears (0-5 to 0-6).

In particular, Karl O’Connell – who won an All-Star for his performances that year – began to find space while Kieran Hughes became increasingly effective as well.

The second half was a really war of attrition but as the game wore on, Monaghan looked the more likely victors.

They hit the front for the first time in the 59th minute when full-back Drew Wylie hit an inspirational score, and they opened up a two-point gap when Colin Walshe, another defender, struck a late point.

However, there was to be a sting in the tail. Ryan Jones landed a ball into his midfield partner Eoin Donnelly, who had stationed himself in the square, and he got his fist to it and scored what turned out to be the winning goal.

Breen said: “For a while in the second half it looked like it would be a step too far and we were a bit short but thankfully that goal went in. We rode our luck and kept battling on and got over the line. Thankfully Eoin got his fist on it. It’s just the way things worked out. We needed a goal and Eoin makes for a good target man.”

One of the reasons for Fermanagh’s success on the day was that they managed to curtail Conor McManus. He hit five points – but they were all from frees.

“Che Cullen was on Conor and obviously we’d a lot of numbers behind the ball as well. Conor’s one of top three forwards in Ireland.

“I suppose the blanket defence worked for us, but sometimes you can drop too deep and teams can pick you off.

“It seems like in the last couple of years teams have started to figure their way around a blanket defence so the game is starting to edge away from it.

Breen also says they didn’t have any special tactics to combat Monaghan goalkeeper Rory Beggan, but they knew that their tactic of flooding the defence would make things a little more taxing for the Scostown stopper.

“To be honest, the way we were set up we’d men back anyway so if the ball came out it was just about competing. Beggan is possibly the best goalie in Irelan. He’s liable to pick you off from anywehre, so it can be hard to devise a tactic to stop him.”

Unfortunately for Fermanagh, they shipped a heavy beating against Donegal in the Ulster final. Breen admits it takes the shine off their memorable win over Monaghan.

“It’d be right up there, but at the same time we went out and got tanked by Donegal on the next day out, so immediately we went from a huge high to a major low.

“At the end of the day it was only one day, Monaghan actually ended up in the All-Ireland semi-final that year, so it’s funny how the whole thing works out.”