By Orla Bannon

When you start finger-counting the number of years you might have left in inter-county football and you only need one hand, it's time to take stock and appreciate things.

Monaghan captain Conor McManus is that man in that position right now.

With two Ulster titles and three All Stars safely tucked away, the 32-year-old has made a huge contribution to Monaghan football and intends making the most of every minute of every match he's got left.

“This is my 13th championship year coming up and yeah, we're definitely down to one hand now," he says.

“It doesn't feel like my 13th year but definitely the attraction of summer is still as high as ever.

“You always have the bulk of the hard work done at this stage and you definitely do do any bit of extra bit of preparation leading into that you can.

“Not that you didn't before, but the older you get you're certainly keener than ever to put your best foot forward.

“You know it's not going to last forever and whenever you get into that mindset, you embrace it as much as you can.”

Monaghan go to Kingspan Breffni Park on Saturday night to face Cavan in one of the oldest, fiercest rivalries in gaelic football.

At times in the last few decades it has flatlined and without a pulse, but there's cause for optimism that this year's first round tie could be one of the better contests between them in recent years.

For one thing, it's at Breffni, and Monaghan's dubious Division One league form – when they fortunate not to join Cavan in relegation – suggests there may not be much between them.

“It wasn't a good league by any stretch of the imagination,” admits McManus, “We started well enough but three or four poor performances in a row and we were lucky to stay up in the end”.

“On reflection over the seven games we have an awful lot to improve upon going into the summer, and that's probably the biggest learnings we took from it.

“In terms of the mood, there's no real difference in mood because no matter what kind of a league you had you are always refocusing for the championship anyway.”

Monaghan haven't had too many problems getting over the early rounds in Ulster under manager Malachy O'Rourke.

Having reached the Ulster final in his first three years in charge, winning two of them in 2013 and 2015, they've crashed out at the semi-final stage in the last three years.

A replay defeat by Donegal in 2016 was one thing, but the losses to Down and Fermanagh in the last two years jolted them.

“If there's anything we've learned from the Ulster championship in the last few years it's that you can't look past any game,” McManus says.

“Being drawn away to Cavan you could find yourself out on your ear on the first day and it's a long road back from there.

“Our aim is to try and get out of Cavan alive.”