Malachy O'Rourke says none of his Monaghan players complained about Down's physicality after their Ulster SFC semi-final.

The Mourne County produced a stunning performance at the Athletic Grounds on June 24th to dump the Farney Boys out of the Anglo Clet Cup race and the two teams are set to renew acquaintances at Croke Park in a fourth-round qualifier this Saturday night. A lot was made of the physical approach adapted by Eamonn Burns' charges last month but O'Rourke says his players made no reference to it after the final whistle:

"That wasn't a big thing for us. Down did absolutely nothing wrong. They'd good physicality about their play but it was a championship match," he told The Irish News.

"I know certainly none of our boys were whinging or complaining about it afterwards. That's what you expect in a championship match.

"We felt that Down took over the game and played better quality football, and were able to get scores at crucial times. In the overall picture, it's the quality of football we wanted to improve more than anything else.

"We know Down will have been disappointed not winning the Ulster final and they'll be coming with a determination to get their season back on track. It's very much a 50-50 game. They'll be very confident after the way they played and beat us the last day. It'll be a tough championship game."

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