From the draw for the Ulster Championship took place, Rory Gallagher and his Fermanagh side had put all their efforts into getting past Armagh and booking a place in the Ulster semi-final.
However, Gallagher admits that they were also keeping an eye on Monaghan and Tyrone throughout the year as potential last four opposition. And while he acknowledges the size of the challenge that Malachy O’Rourke’s Farney outfit will pose, he states that Fermanagh will go to Omagh targeting an Ulster final spot. 
“At the start of the year we wanted to be in the Ulster final,” said Gallagher. 
“There was no point talking about that until we beat Armagh but from a management point of view we would have been keeping an eye on Monaghan and Tyrone all year. We felt if we prepared well and played well on the day we had a good chance of beating Armagh and now we have Monaghan and all our energies will go into beating them.
“It is going to be a big step up and we are well aware of that but that’s what we have been gearing for all year and that’s the position we want to be in.
“It is a semi-final, there’s a place in the Ulster final at stake and that’s what we are looking forward to,” said the Fermanagh manager.
Standing between Fermanagh and a first Ulster final appearance since 2008 is Monaghan and the man who led the Ernemen to that 2008 decider, Malachy O’Rourke.
Gallagher and O’Rourke are former team-mates but have been in the opposing dug-outs on numerous occasions when Gallagher was Donegal boss.
“Malachy has been there since I started playing football. He would have come in and taken a couple of training sessions when I was a minor, I played with him briefly at senior level and I played under him briefly as well. Also, I have come up against him seven times in league and championship in the last couple of years in management. There has been four championship matches and three league games and I think with the exception of one there has maybe only been a point or two in any of the games,” said Rory.
O’Rourke’s men were hugely impressive in seeing off Tyrone in the quarter-finals but Gallagher says that Fermanagh have to get their own game right first and foremost before they start to worry about Monaghan.
“Obviously, we will pay a lot of attention to them and how they play but again a lot of what we have been doing all year is about ourselves and trying now in the middle of the summer to produce the performances that is needed to win Ulster Championship matches.”
He has though been impressed with what he has saw of Monaghan to date this year.
“Monaghan have been evolving this year and I think this year has been Monaghan’s most impressive National League by a mile. Obviously, Conor McManus is a wonderful player but they have realised the work that goes in to curtailing him from the opposition so they have added more scoring options which has helped them.”
And he knows that not only do Fermanagh have to try and limit the scoring at one end, they also have to keep the scoreboard ticking over at the other.
“Look, we know that 12 points isn’t going to be enough to win it and we know that they are likely to cause us a lot more harm than Armagh, they are further down the line and have some serious quality players,” he added.
Gallagher also expects a big rise in the intensity levels on Sunday afternoon.
“It is going to take a savage step up in the overall intensity level both with and without the ball. I think Monaghan have been in that top four or five for the last number of years so we are going to have to up the ante,” he said.
However, he states that Fermanagh will be striving to produce a performance good enough to win the game. 
“We expected if we played well enough to be in an Ulster semi-final and the boys badly want to make an Ulster final now. It’s a very privileged position, there are only four teams left and that’s where they wanted to be. We have to prepare really well and make sure that we improve on our display the last day and make sure that we can reach a level that is going to be good enough to beat Monaghan,” he concluded.