Monaghan match-winner Conor McCarthy said that the thought of another year absent from the All-Ireland quarter-finals was the driving factor in their thrilling one-point win over Kildare in Tullamore.
The Scotstown man scored an early goal in the 1-11 to 0-13 success, but it was his drilled point deep into additional time that sparked wild scenes afterwards on a special day for the Oriel County, with their minors, managed by McCarthy's former county team-mate Dermot Malone, reaching a first All-Ireland final following a win over Kerry in the undercard.
McCarthy, converted to a deeper position under manager Vinny Corey, said that their absence in the last eight had been noted, even if Covid had taken that possibility out for a couple of seasons.
"It was mentioned that we hadn’t been there since 2018, so to get back to Croke Park and a quarter-final so our fans can travel and watch us in Croke Park means a lot to us as players and the Monaghan people," McCarthy told RTÉ Sport afterwards. "We're grateful to be there."
On his winning score, McCarthy said that his mind was honed in on the next play rather than allowing himself to get caught up in the moment.
"It was looking like extra-time for a while and thank God we got over the line.
"I didn’t know if it was the last play or not, I just ran back as quick as I could – probably adrenaline took me back. Thank God the ref blew it up after that."
Monaghan will now eagerly await Monday’s draw on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland. With Derry ruled out as a potential opponent, Armagh, Kerry or Dublin await them next weekend.
It will be their fifth match in six weeks given that they had to go the preliminary quarter-final route, not that McCarthy is complaining.
"There’s probably a lot of talk about the amount of games, but for the player it's great
"You'd only be training at the weekend anyway, probably playing an in-house game, so to have these games, competitive championship games, is brilliant."
Manager Corey was delighted with the commitment from his players, but he knows massive improvement is needed for next weekend regardless of who they draw.
"It's Dublin or it’s Kerry or it’s Armagh, those teams are going to be well rested as well.
"If you're going to run into tackles next week, those teams are going to hit you and they’re going to punish you."
The Clontibret man’s first season in charge has picked up after a slow start. They secured their Division 1 status in typically dramatic fashion and although last week’s group loss to Donegal was disappointing, they are still standing.
"Happy just to get across the line, that’s what you want to do in games at this time of the year.
"It was a tough fixture for us, away from home after being defeated [by Donegal] last week.
"Kildare packed up their defence today, probably a wee bit different to what they were doing. They were hard to break down, they had the upper hand at times, full credit to our boys for never giving up, never saying die."
He also had a special word for the "brilliant" McCarthy and his match-winning contribution.
"Coming at speed at that stage of the game to kick that winning score, he drilled it with the outside of the left boot – a great day for him."
