Fired up by their first championship win outside the qualifiers in four years the prospects of Monaghan reaching a first Ulster final since 1988 look a whole lot better than they did just a few weeks ago.
Standing in their way, however, are an equally determined Derry team. There isn't much separating these teams right now and that makes for a typically tense championship clash in Belfast tomorrow.
Monaghan start with the same team that beat Down in the quarter-final, a performance epitomised by their determination to play for the full 70 minutes.
The Derry defence has been weakened by the loss of injured half back Paul Cartin, who is replaced by Patsy Bradley. But it's the return of the other Bradley - Paddy - that stirred fresh interest in the team. Bradley's 12-week ban for a club altercation was put on hold before their last match against Antrim, yet is still due to be re-heard by the Derry County Board. In the meantime he is eligible to play.
Enda Muldoon and Joe Diver have the class to back up Paddy Bradley even if he's kept quiet, and they still boast one of the best defenders in the country in Seán Marty Lockhart.
DERRY: B Gillis; M McGoldrick, K McCloy, G O'Kane; Patsy Bradley, SM Lockhart, C McKeever; F Doherty, J Conway; Paddy Bradley, C Gilligan, J Diver; R Wilkinson, E Muldoon, M Lynch.
MONAGHAN: S Duffy; D Mone, V Corey, C Flanagan; D Freeman, G McQuaid, D Morgan; E Lennon, B McKenna; D Clerkin, P Finlay, S Gollogly; C Hanratty, S Smith, T Freeman.
