Malachy O'Rourke wasn't surprised by Down's strong showing against Monaghan.

The Mourne County's heavy first round defeat at home to Donegal meant they travelled to Clones as rank outsiders, but they put it up to the Ulster champions for long stages before eventually succumbing to a two-point defeat.

"I suppose 15-20 minutes into the second half we were in control of the game and we made a few mistakes and they capitalised on them," the Monaghan manager is quoted in the Irish News.

"We missed a lot of chances as well so even though we were getting plenty of possession we weren't punishing them on the scoreboard. So we were hanging on a wee bit at the end and we're just delighted to get the win and get the two points out of it.

"Down weren't better than we expected. Down is a proud footballing county and they would have been very disappointed with their performance last weekend. We knew they were going to come here today and throw everything at it - they're all quality inter-county players and we knew it was going to be a tough battle.

"We knew that if we played as well as we could we'd be hopeful of getting the two points and we did some good things but overall we wouldn't be happy with our performance."

O'Rourke is hoping that Dessie Mone, who was introduced in the second half, and Vinny Corey will be fit for the trip to Croke Park to face All-Ireland champions Dublin in a top-of-the-table clash in three weeks' time.

"Dessie is carrying a knock and hasn't been able to do much training over the last couple of weeks," explained O'Rourke.

"There's fellas coming back - Vinny Corey wasn't there today - but we have a strong panel and they're working hard in training. Daniel McKenna was sharp when he went in and Shane Carey had a very good game today, Thomas Kerr did well, but we know we have a lot of work to do."

"Dublin are obviously going very well, they're very strong at the minute and it's in Croke Park but, look, that's what you want, that's what you're in the first division for; to measure yourself against these teams. We've three weeks and hopefully we'll use it wisely."

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