Dublin have reached the All Ireland football final for the first time since 2020 after a seven-point win over Monaghan at Croke Park on Saturday evening.
Defeated in each of their last two semi-final appearances, Dublin outscored their opponents by 1-05 to one point in the final ten minutes to secure a place in the final, winning on a score of 1-17 to 0-13.
Monaghan, written off by many, put it up to Dublin for large parts of the game and remained within two points of their heavily-fancied opponents until the final ten minutes.
Monaghan fans might have dreamed of causing an unthinkable upset when Conor McManus clipped over a mark to draw the teams level at 12 points a piece with 10 minutes remaining, but Dublin's experience came to the fore and the game quickly slipped away from Vinny Corey's side.
It was Dublin who opened the scoring through the excellent Cormac Costello who slotted off his left after a pinpoint Stephen Cluxton kickout.
Monaghan responded quickly, however, and drew level through a fine effort from Stephen O'Hanlon.
There was a widely held consensus that Monaghan would have to score goals if they were to shock Dublin and reached a first All Ireland final since 1930 and they passed up two excellent chances to raise a green flag in the opening 20 minutes.
First, Conor McCarthy crashed a shot against the post with Dublin leading by 0-03 to 0-01, before Ryan McAnespie saw a goalbound shot blocked by Michael Fitzsimons with the score at three points to two.
Crucially, McAnespie's opportunity came when Dublin were temporarily down to 14 players after Niall Scully was black-carded and given a ten-minute sin bin for a deliberate pull-down.
Monaghan failed to take advantage of that numerical advantage and saw Dublin match them for scores in the ten-minute period, although they manage to go in just one point down at halftime, trailing by eight points to seven.
Many expected Dublin to blow their opponents away with their typical third-quarter surge at the beginning of the second half, but Monaghan held firm, notching the opening score of the half through an excellent effort from McAnespie.
Dublin led by two points thanks to points from Costello and Con O'Callaghan and threatened to pull away, but Monaghan reeled them right back in, leveling the scores through two Conor McManus frees.
Once again, Dublin established a two-point lead through O'Callaghan and Lee Gannon, but McManus again stepped up and drew Monaghan level with two well-taken scores.
With the scores level in the final ten minutes, Dublin's experience came to the fore.
Brian Fenton - a two-time player of the year - kicked a brilliant score off his right foot before Paul Mannion - back in the Dublin panel after a two-year hiatus - kicked over a difficult free.
Jack McCaffrey - who is back after a three-year break from inter-county football - added another via the post to extend Dublin's lead to three points for the first time.
Monaghan briefly reduced the arrears to two points through a Jack McCarron point, but Fenton was on hand again to re-establish the three-point buffer.
Introduced from the bench, Dean Rock then added 1-01, first kicking an easy free before finding the net from close range after an outstanding pass from O'Callaghan.
Dublin will now play the winners of Kerry and Derry, who do battle on Sunday afternoon.
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