Malachy O'Rourke has praised the character of his Monaghan side after they came from behind to win away to Kerry in their Allianz League Division 1 clash.
The Kingdom lead by 1-04 to 0-02 more than half way through the first half as it appeared the Farney side's unbeaten start to the campaign was in jeopardy.
However, a Jack McCarron goal after 27 minutes gave Monaghan a lifeline and they went in at the break trailing by just two points.
O'Rourke said his charges knew they were in with a shout at the interval. "We knew we were in the game, it was just a matter of not getting over-excited in the second half and wasting ball," he said.
"We just had to try and keep as controlled as we could and use the ball well and pick off the scores. Lucky enough we did that," O'Rourke added.
Kerry stretched their lead back out to three points early in the second half, but another Monaghan goal - this one courtesy of Gavin Doogan - levelled matters and Kerry did not lead again in the contest.
Last time out against Cavan, Monaghan had rushed things on occasion so O'Rourke was happy to see a change of approach from his men.
"The last day against Cavan we forced it a wee bit, we kicked hurriedly and that so I thought we were a bit better today and it paid off," he said.
With another win in the bag, Monaghan find themselves top of the pile after three games. They travel to face Tyrone next Saturday with more than local bragging rights at stake.
"Tyrone will be a different test next week - we've a number of injuries there but we’ll take a lot of positives out of today," he said.
