Ethan Doherty then is the man to fire over another Derry score from play.

Paul Cassidy continues his impressive start as he is given far too much time to hit Derry's fifth score. All Derry's scores have come from play which is ominous for the Farney men......to make matters worse for them, Dessie Ward then misses a good chance to reply at the other end.

Orla Bannon
BBC Sport Northern Ireland in Omagh

It's getting hot and heavy already. Derry manager Rory Gallagher is incensed when Monaghan are awarded a free right in front of the Derry dugout.

Referee Sean Hurson stamps his authority on proceedings and shows Gallagher a yellow card. The crowd are cheering and booing in equal measure. Lively stuff.

Image source, Inpho

Rory Beggan fires his second and Monaghan's second point with a huge wind-assisted free from over 60 metres.

Padraig McGrogan bombs forward to slot another Derry point as Jack McCarron was able to stop him. Derry three ahead after 11 minutes.

Shane McGuigan extends Derry's lead with a typically composed finish. Following the kickout, Monaghan are awarded what looks like a soft free and Rory Gallagher picks up a yellow card from Sean Hurson following his rather vocal protests.

There have been a few murmurs suggesting Odhran Lynch is a little uncomfortable under the high ball and he was very nearly caught up by a high ball from Karl O'Connor into the square before gathering at the second attempt.

Paul Cassidy is having a sensational season for Derry and he has just restored the Oak Leafers' lead.

Rory Beggan levels from a long-distance free in the third minute with his kick definitely aided by the elements.

As Derry attacked there, Conor McManus did stay upfield and Chrissy McKaigue remained back to keep an eye on him. Interesting. Conor McCluskey is on Jack McCarron with Kieran Duffy on Shane McGuigan at the other end.

Maybe that wind is not much of a factor because Conor Glass has just swung over a lovely point from about 35 metres that sailed way over the bar. That was after 58 seconds.

Tyrone referee Sean Hurson throws in the ball at Healy Park. It's a few minutes after the re-scheduled start time of 17:05 after Monaghan's traffic difficulties but we're up and running. Derry won the toss and have elected to play against the wind - perhaps surprisingly. Hold on to your hats.

The man in the middle. Literally...

Orla Bannon
BBC Sport Northern Ireland in Omagh

Traffic has been very heavy on the way to Omagh today and we're told that the match has been delayed by five minutes because of the late arrival of Monaghan's team bus.

But despite the tail backs, there is a huge crowd filtering into Healy Park.

Both sets of supporters have happy memories of this place. Monaghan stunned Tyrone a fortnight ago with a late goal to advance to the semi-final, while Derry came to Omagh last year and trounced Tyrone in the first round.

So it's a venue both camps will be happy with and after a serious downpour an hour ago, the sun is out and there's a real Ulster Championship buzz.

One late change and it's on the Monaghan team. No surprise that Karl O'Connell is a late inclusion given how well he played here against Tyrone two weeks ago. Thomas McPhillips drops out of the starting fifteen named in the programme.

Derry: O Lynch; C McKaigue, E McEvoy, C McCluskey; C Doherty, G McKinless, P McGrogan; C Glass, B Rogers; Padraig Cassidy, Paul Cassidy, E Doherty; N Toner, S McGuigan, N Loughlin.

Subs: R Scullion, D Cassidy, C McFaul, S Downey, L Murray, B McCarron, P McNeil, B Heron, C McGuckian, D Baker, O McWilliams.

Monaghan: R Beggan; K O'Connell, K Duffy, R Wylie; C Boyle, D Ward, R O’Toole; D Hughes, K Lavelle; S O’Hanlon, M Bannigan, C McCarthy; J McCarron, K Gallagher, C McManus.

Subs: D McDonnell, S Jones, G Mohan, S Carey, T McPhillips, F Kelly, C Leonard, K Hughes, D McElearney, F Hughes, C Lennon.

Donegal legend Michael Murphy has had his say on today's game between Derry and Monaghan:

"It's the question every team that plays Rory Gallagher's side has to deal with these days - do we mirror them by pulling all 15 men behind the ball when Derry have possession?

"Monaghan tried to play their normal way against the Oak Leafers at the same provincial semi-final stage last year by leaving Conor McManus and Jack McCarron up top and it rebounded on them as Derry's marauding backs bombed forward at every opportunity to leave the Farney men badly outnumbered in defence in the match-defining first half.

"And while it's not the natural game of McManus and McCarron to be back helping out their defence, I just don't think Monaghan have any great option but to match Derry's 15 attacking players - including goalkeeper Odhran Lynch - with 15 defenders of their own.

"I mean even Dublin had Con O'Callaghan and Dean Rock back in their own half in both games against Derry at Celtic Park and Croke Park during this year's National League.

"When the supposedly most flamboyant and attack-minded team in the country feels the needs to play that way against Derry, that tells you something."

Read his full column here.

Image source, Getty Images

We really are getting to the business end of the Football Ulster Championship now as holders Derry face Monaghan in the first provincial semi-final.

The Oak Leafers seemed to catch the Farney unawares at the corresponding stage 12 months when a first-half blitz had the game effectively won by half-time.

Some pundits described Monaghan's approach that day as "naive" as they didn't seem to have taken on board Derry's playing style when they had shocked Tyrone a couple of weeks earlier.

Surely Monaghan will be more streetwise today as they look to secure another huge win following their dramatic late triumph over Tyrone a fortnight ago.

Monaghan's mantra has got to be to keep the game alive in the first half because we know that Rory Gallagher's Derry are very adept at holding on to leads if they get them.

This Derry side are so efficient that we could be wondering at the finish how we believed that Monaghan truly had a chance.

But the Farney men surely go into today feeling that revenge can be theirs.

This is going to be absolutely fascinating.

Image source, Inpho