Brave Monaghan held out in trying conditions to book their place in the Div 2 final at Clones, etching their names in history in the process with a 1-13 to 1-11 win over Derry.
The last time the Farney Men contested a league final was back in 1985 when Eugene 'Nudie' Hughes was the star.
This time around, his nephew, Rory Woods saw red after 20 minutes to leave Monaghan with just 14 men for the remainder of the game.
Their whirlwind start that yielded 1-4 in the opening seven minutes ultimately saw them escape to victory though.
Derry will count the cost of a string of wides, 14 in all, that cost them dearly with Paddy Bradley guiltiest. Even at that the Oak Leafers almost pulled it off with just a point between the sides before Nicky Corrigan's insurance point late, late on.
It started in equally pulsating fashion with Monaghan hitting the net after just 12 seconds. It was no surprise that the magnificent Thomas Freeman, with 2-18 from six previous Div 2A games, was the scorer. James McElroy fed him almost from the throw in and Freeman finished low and hard to the bottom left of the Derry net.
Monaghan were now in full flow and Derry didn't score until the eighth minute by which stage they trailed 1-4 to 0-0.
Paddy Bradley grabbed Derry's opening point as the Oak Leafers pulled themselves back into it. Johnny McBride, Gavin Donaghy and Bradley all hit the mark with a sole Paul Finlay point in response.
At 1-6 to 0-4 down Derry were making progress and the 20th minute sending-off of Monaghan's Rory Woods for an off the ball incident helped them further.
The game swung in the following minutes though with Bradley wasting a possible 1-1 and Mark Lynch shooting wide in a one on one.
In fact, Derry didn't score again before half-time with Monaghan tacking on points from Freeman, Ray Ronaghan and Gary McQuaid.
At the break Monaghan led 1-9 to 0-4 and Derry, serious favourites beforehand, were struggling badly. Niall McCusker's yellow card dismissal didn't help matters after the restart but Derry somehow found a foothold.
And a 43rd minute goal from Paul Murphy after a brilliant Mark Lynch solo run pulled them back into it. Moments later Paul McFlynn pointed and from nowhere Derry were just 1-9 to 1-5 down. With midfielder McBride in glorious scoring form for Derry they had the margin down to a point at 1-12 to 1-11 in injury time.
But sub Nicky Corrigan fired over a fine Monaghan point with the last kick of the game to seal a memorable victory.
Derry: B Gillis; K McGuckin, N McCusker, G O'Kane (0-1); P Wilson, P McFlynn (0-2), P Kelly; F Doherty, J McBride (0-4), G Donaghy (0-1), C Gilligan, Paul Murphy (1-0); Paul Bradley, Paddy Bradley (0-2; 1f), M Lynch.
Subs: Padraig Murphy (0-1) for Paul Bradley (y/c) 33, K McCloy for Kelly (y/c) 36, M Kelly for McCusker (y/c) 40, E Burke for Gilligan 59, F McEldowney for McCloy (y/c) 63, C Moran for Donaghy 67.
Monaghan: S Duffy; G McQuaid (0-1), V Corey, C Flanagan; D Freeman (0-1), J Coyle, J Ward; F Duffy (0-1), J McElroy; P Finlay (0-3; 2f), M Daly, S McManus (0-1); T Freeman (1-2), R Ronaghan (0-1), R Woods (0-1).
Subs: D McArdle for Coyle (y/c) 12, D Clerkin (0-1; 1f) for Daly h/t, J Conlon for McQuaid 50, N Corrigan (0-1) for McManus 60, D McKernan for Ronaghan 64.
