Dublin acutely aware of where they now stand

Dublin hardly expected Monaghan to roll out the red carpet for them on Sunday but when the home side chose not to provide them with a guard of honour the visitors knew for sure they were in for a testing afternoon, writes John Fogarty.

The age-old tradition of honouring the All-Ireland champions has been on the wane somewhat in recent times although there is photographic evidence Kerry formed one to welcome Dublin onto the Croke Park turf for their league opener in Croke Park in 2016 as Antrim’s hurlers did for Galway in their first-round Division 1B game in Salthill last year.