Cork won this meeting of the two promoted teams from last year, getting the better of a game Monaghan side thanks to a trio of late points.
Goals were the order of the day at Scotstown, but Paudie Kissane, Paul Kerrigan and substitute John Hayes decisively split the posts to hand Cork the spoils.
Goals from Kerrigan (2) and Pat Kelly had the Rebels leading 3-04 to 1-06 at half-time, with Vinny Corey registering Monaghan's goal.
Tommy Freeman netted on the rebound and Darren Hughes took his tally to 1-02 as Monaghan hit the front but Cork produced the stronger finish.
This was a first competitive outing of 2010 for Conor Counihan's Cork panel, who opted out of last month's McGrath Cup competition in Munster.
The hosts, who lost to Cork in last year's Division 2 final, dominated possession in the opening half. Despite Kerrigan netting early on for Cork, Monaghan were fully deserving of their 0-06 to 1-01 lead, with ten minutes to go in the first half.
The old reliables, Paul Finlay and Freeman, impressed for the Farney men, who failed to give Cork a sniff of possession for long periods of the first half.
But Counihan's charges could have scarcely believed their luck as two goals inside 40 seconds pushed them four points clear.
The Rebels used their limited scoring opportunities well, with Kelly netting from close range in the 27th minute following a Kerrigan pass.
Amazingly this was Cork's first score in 21 minutes, but they kept up the momentum from the resulting kick-out.
Nicholas Murphy, who was named at full-forward in a much-changed side, won a mark. The ball was quickly ferried on to the inrushing Kerrigan, who made no mistake with a crisp finish past Monaghan goalkeeper Sean Gorman.
Cork led by 3-01 to 0-06 at this stage, with a Daniel Goulding point edging the visitors into a five-point lead with six minutes remaining before the break.
Monaghan rallied with full-forward Vinny Corey palming a Finlay 45-metre kick to the back of the Cork net.
Cork were strongest before the break as a brace of Donncha O'Connor points pushed them to a hard-earned interval lead.
Both sides were a lot more clinical in front of the posts in the second period, with a fast flowing and thrilling closing 35 minutes produced.
Cork started the second half brightly with a brace of Goulding points, but were on the back foot for a nine-minute spell when Monaghan outscored them by 2-02 to 0-01.
Freeman brought his side back within a goal when he thumped a powerful 40th minute shot which gave Cork goalkeeper Kevin Murphy no chance.
Conor McManus and Aidan Walsh swapped points before full-back Darren Hughes netted his side's third goal to tie the contest.
Hughes' effort came following a well-worked hand-passing move, which finished with Ciaran Hanratty offloading to the Scotstown defender, who squared things up at 3-07 apiece.
The sides were level on four further occasions during an entertaining final quarter, with substitute Hayes pushing Cork in front in the 69th minute.
With two minutes of injury-time to follow, there was still time for Monaghan to snatch an equaliser, but Seamus McEnaney's men failed to satisfy the large home crowd as Cork held out for a hard-earned victory.
Monaghan 3-12 Cork 3-13
