It was, appropriately, Easter Sunday 10 years ago when Monaghan last contested the semi-finals of the National Football League. The result, a mauling by Dublin, suggested that the team's lease on life at or near the top of the game (it was the county's fourth successive year to have reached the semi-finals) was running out.

An Ulster title later that year proved to be the last achievement of a fine team which in these more egalitarian times might well have claimed an All-Ireland. Instead they peaked during the years of the virtually unbroken Dublin-Kerry duopoly.

Tomorrow's re-acquaintance with the penultimate stages of the League comes at a time when football in the county is once more casting hopeful glances at the future.

Under the management of Eamonn McEneaney, who played with the 1980s team and provided it with a symbolic high-point when kicking the free that levelled the 1985 All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry, Monaghan are back in Division One for the first time in eight years.

Furthermore the team performed that most elusive trick last weekend against Down in the League quarterfinal - they won a match in which they had played disappointingly before their lively forwards plucked two goals from the last quarter's play to come from seven points behind to a narrow victory.

"When I took over," says McEneaney, "I thought there were a lot of good players who had lost confidence. Looking at them and assessing them and the other teams in Ulster, I thought they were as good as what was around but that they didn't have the confidence to win tight games. The difference now is that they can come back and win those games."

Coming through the toughest section in the reorganised League, a year after they had been relegated to Division Three, Monaghan had plenty of opportunity to display this new-found resilience. An exuberant performance in Dublin and a claustrophobic decider in Tyrone yielded two unlikely victories and secured their new status.

This elevation comes within a season of the retirement of Declan Loughman, the last playing survivor of the 1988 team. The renewal of the team has been more than symbolic according to Sean McCague, manager of the sides that won Ulster titles in 1979, '85 and '88, whose frequent involvement with the county team included sharing management duties with McEneaney last year.

"Transition has taken place and they're certainly progressing. Had they not scored those goals and been beaten by 10 points, the worst fears would have come to pass but they're still there and I think will perform a lot better against Derry because to an extent the pressure's off."

He remembers the impact that winning the League had 13 years ago. The side wasn't as fresh as tomorrow's and many had won an Ulster title six years previously but the success, combined with a trip the previous year to the Centenary Cup final, helped restore both the county's and the team's confidence in itself.

"It was I suppose a great boost, it confirmed we could win in Croke Park and facing into the Ulster championship, that we were as good as what was around. It wasn't that we were overly cocky about winning but it helped.

"If this team could boost themselves by winning but also get a better idea of what needs repairing, it will be very useful. A good performance helps players go that extra yard in training. Back then it was a more experienced team.

"Over the two years there was a kind of bandwagon effect of supporters travelling from Monaghan to Croke Park between the various matches. A good few of this team hadn't played at Croke Park until last week."

How the county has rehabilitated itself is interesting because Monaghan has one of the poorest underage records imaginable for a county which has had a reasonable share of senior success over the last 20 years.

Whereas leading counties plan to win underage All-Irelands, Monaghan were content until recently, according to McCague, "if two or three good minors came through at senior". This decade has, however, seen a radical overhaul of the underage system.

"We haven't won an Ulster (minor) title for over 50 years, God help us," says county secretary John Heaphey. "The beginning of the modern structures was the Lakelands scheme back at the start of the '90s. A good number of the present team came through that: Dermot McArdle, John Conlon, Cyril Ranaghan, Damien Freeman, Mark Daly etc.

"All under-16s were targeted and coached over the autumn of that year. Then a team of the series was selected. Later we decided to revamp the scheme as it had become too competitive and concentrate on coaching.

"In the spring of last year, a school of excellence was set up and under-15s targeted for coaching and special guidance under Des Patton. They were targeted in the spring, selected in the summer, coached through autumn and winter and are now on a break. The whole approach has proved to be a success and some are now part of the minor squad."

Since then, performances have improved. There have been some memorable tussles in Ulster with counties which have gone on to win the under-21 All-Ireland and last year Derry, with all its rich tributaries at schools' level, were beaten in the minor championship. Other results in the minor league and the Hastings Cup (under-21) have been equally encouraging.

"There are," says McEneaney, "better quality players coming through with more confidence. They know they have been close at underage rather than miles off the pace."

It was remarked at Croke Park last week that without Monaghan supporters' lively presence the two quarter-finals would have been peculiarly lacking in atmosphere. Tomorrow, Heaphey expects more of the same to be organised by the clubs in the county.

"There's a great club system, a good quality of officers leading the clubs, excellent support in areas like transport and at least one coach at foundation level for every 10 kids. We hope in time to reap the deserved rewards and show progress."