Rory Beggan says Monaghan are keen to make an immediate return to Division One league football.
The Farney County’s nine-point win over Meath on Sunday has put them within touching distance of the top-flight again.
Monaghan spent an unbroken decade in Division One from 2015 until suffering relegation last season. But with just one round of games remaining, they are top of the Division Two table and on course for promotion.
They have 10 points after six games – Roscommon, Cavan and Meath are just below on eight points but Monaghan also have the strongest scoring difference in the division and barring a heavy defeat against Down next week will be promoted.
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Monaghan’s scoring difference is plus 33, Roscommon are on plus 19, Meath are plus 10 while Cavan are minus four.
“We want to go up – watching the two [Division One games on Saturday night], that’s where we want to be,” said Beggan.
“We want to be in the likes of Tralee and Croke Park and playing in these places. That was our main aim, to get back up. The lads will learn in a top division, they’ll learn against the likes of Con O’Callaghan and Shane Walsh and David Clifford. That’s where we want to be.
“I think there’s a lot of lads champing at the bit to be up and playing Division One.”
The last round of games in Division Two will see Monaghan host Down in Clones, Cork travel to Cavan, Westmeath are at home to Roscommon while Louth will face Meath in Inniskeen.
Down are battling to avoid relegation so there will be plenty at stake when Conor Laverty’s side arrive at St Tiernach’s Park.
“We’re in our home patch and we always say at the start of the year we want to keep that as a cauldron as best we can,” added Beggan.
“Down are coming up and looking for points as well. We’re all gearing up for the Ulster Championship. The league final will be a cherry on the top, but for us it’s gearing up for Donegal or Derry in four or five weeks.”
Beggan played an influential role in Monaghan’s win over Meath in Navan on Sunday. Despite the tweaks to the rules in relation to the role of the goalkeeper, Beggan did come out the field and got involved in his team’s attacking plays.
Indeed, the Scotstown clubman scored a brace of two-pointers at Páirc Tailteann.
“Maybe there’s not as much pressure on me to go up each time but if the lads want me to go up, I’ll go up,” he said.
“We’re confident that the four back will do a job. When I get up, I’m not coming up to keep the ball, I want to come up and contribute and try to get the ball forward.
“I think that’s where the whole thing of the keepers coming up was creating that bit of controversy, some keepers were coming up and taking the sting out of the game. We want to contribute to this.
“It’s just not coming up and giving a handy pass, you want to come up and contribute.”
Monaghan clearly worked on maintaining the correct number of players back and played with more fluidity in managing that sector than many other teams last weekend.
“We worked on it a lot in training, we had smart players back there, boys looking around them, it just showed how tuned in we were to come up and get the two points. We never breached it at all.”
Beggan remains one of the best goalkeepers in the country and his game-reading ability out the field is a significant resource for Monaghan.
“Rory is Rory, the new rules, old rules, tweaked rules, Rory Beggan is a very smart footballer,” said Monaghan manager Gabriel Bannigan.
“Rory will come up the field and add value to our attack, he has to be more selective I suppose in terms of when to do it and we have to manage it on the pitch with having to keep four back.
“We talked about it during the week as to how we were going to handle it and I think we managed it very well. Rory added value every time he came forward but he just had to be more selective in terms of when he came.”
Beggan believes the changes introduced by the Football Review Committee have been largely positive for Gaelic football.
“There’s going to be different opinions on everything, we’re never going to get a perfect game, but I think we’re way ahead of where we were. If you talk to any forward in the country, they love playing in this. It’s easy to watch.”
