Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke said that he "couldn’t have dreamt of the impact" that substitute Stephen O’Hanlon made after the forward scored a goal and had a hand in another as the Farney came from behind to shock Dublin.
O’Hanlon was introduced, along with Conor McManus, with Dublin leading by three and his first contribution was to raise a green flag and level proceedings.
"He stuck his first touch in the back of the net and he had a hand in the second one as well. Conor obviously made a massive impact as well. It was just what we needed at that stage and it gave us the impetus to drive on and win the game," O’Rourke told RTÉ Sport's Marty Morrissey.
Sunday’s victory is Monaghan’s second in succession against the Dubs and they remain the only team to beat the All-Ireland champions in league or championship since April 2017, but O’Rourke was keen to downplay its significance.
"It gets us two points today, but there’s two points for every league game. Look, we’ll enjoy it today because we didn’t really know where we were coming into the league, but it’s another tough one next week down in Roscommon, so we’ll just park this one and move on."
O’Rourke was pleased with how his side recovered from a shaky start to record an impressive win against the reigning league champions.
"I’m delighted, especially having gone behind early on you don’t know what way you’ll react. It’d be very easy to say Dublin are the better team here today and start thinking about damage limitation, but the boys stuck in there."
