Facing champions excites O’Rourke

Malachy O’Rourke is going to embrace the challenge of facing All-Ireland champions Donegal in the Ulster final.

The reward for beating Cavan on Saturday night is a dubious one, with Jim McGuinness’ side chasing the county’s first three-in-a-row of provincial titles. No one expects Monaghan to have a hope of causing an upset on July 21, but that’s fine with their manager.

“We’ll be written off by those looking on from outside, that’s only natural,” said O’Rourke. “Donegal have been the benchmark for all teams in the last few years.

“They have refined a system of play which has worked very well for them and no one has been able to overcome it. It’s going to be a serious uphill battle but we’re delighted to be there.”

O’Rourke’s trainer, Ryan Porter, also trained Donegal during the Brian McIver era but the team has been transformed beyond all recognition since.

Monaghan know what it’s like to come up against an immovable force, losing Ulster finals to Tyrone in 2007 and 2010.

Conor McManus hopes the survivors from those teams can warn the rest of the heartache in store unless they pull off the shock of the summer.

“On form and on paper we’re underdogs and rightly so. They’re unbeaten in Ulster for a long time but we’ll work hard for three weeks and see what we can come up with.

“The main thing we’ve learned from those Ulster finals is that losing them is not pretty, looking up at other teams lifting the trophy.

“Hopefully we can use that in some way to drive us on.”