It's hard not to get a little excited when you win your first championship game in six years. and after beating Fermanagh on Sunday to set up an Ulster football semi-final with Cavan, the future looks bright for Monaghan.

Last week there weren't many supporters in Monaghan thinking about an Ulster semi-final. This week they are thinking about the final. Cavan stand in the way of that on June 24th, but there is a fast-growing belief in the county they may yet go all the way.

For Eamon McEneaney, the star centre forward during Monaghan's 1980s heydey and then manager prior to Jack McCarville, it may perhaps be a year too early to start talking about Ulster titles.

"I think anything is possible once you get to a semi-final," says McEneaney, "and if Monaghan can reproduce the form they showed on Sunday they will have a great chance of beating Cavan. Of course, the confidence has been given a big lift as well.

"Whether they are good enough to win this year I can't say. But it is still a very young side built around the under-21 team of two years ago. They may need another year or two but I wouldn't rule it out either. In many ways they've overcome the hardest hurdle."

It was 1988 when Monaghan last appeared in the provincial final - beating Tyrone by two points - with a team built around the successful side of 1985. Two years back the under-21 side, managed by McEneaney, won the Ulster title and that has become the foundation of the current line-up, as six players from that side lined out with the county in Enniskillen on Sunday "Some people saw the 1999 win with the under 21s as a surprise, but they won it because of their hard work. So you had those players on Sunday with no fear of winning. It shows as well there is no substitute for youthful vibrancy in today's game. Those young players have the right attitude, that says `an Ulster title, why not us?' That rubs off on all the team and everyone seems to give it that little bit more."

There was clearly no lack of fear in the Monaghan side, even though they had lost to Fermanagh for the past two years and the county's last championship win came in 1995, against Donegal in the first round.

"Of course you have to give great credit to Jack McCarville because he had them very well prepared," said McEneaney. "After five years of losing in the first round and two years of losing to Fermanagh it's not easy to be confident. But maybe it proved to be the extra spur. I thought the hunger and tenacity to win the ball was the main reason they won." Of the team that won the under21 title, the likes of Raymond Ronaghan up front, James McElroy at midfield, and John Paul Mone, Colm Flanagan and Gary McQuaid in defence could easily be singled out as the key elements in Sunday's win. And there was further inspiration coming from midfielder Jason Hughes. Two years ago he couldn't even walk, after cancer had spread to his lungs. "You can imagine the hard work he did over the last two years," says McEneaney. "But he's that type of lad, a real bubbling personality and that would inspire anyone."

McEneaney believes the game against Cavan is anyone's for the taking: "In a local derby like that you know anything can happen. I saw Cavan against Down and they could have won by a whole lot more, but I think it's going to be close. If they get over that, then it is a long time since anyone beat Monaghan in an Ulster final. And they have a good record in finals against Tyrone and Derry, who have never beaten them in an Ulster final."

For the time being, however, Monaghan will still go in as underdogs. "Of course, Cavan will be fancied to win. Players like Dermot McCabe and Larry Reilly all have great experience. And they've had the benefit of division one football all year. You couldn't make a team of youthful players like Monaghan favourites."