The passion and pride which had been missing from Farney football for a decade and a half returned to lift Colm Coyle's side to new heights, and a shock four points win was no more than they deserved.

For Armagh, this preliminary round upset left nothing but devastation and despair, but they can still rescue their season through the All-Ireland Qualifies series.

And Monaghan pulled off this magnificent win with just 14 men, having lost attacker Damien Freeman to a second booking and automatic red 10 minutes into the second half.

A heroic midfield effort by Eoin Lennon and Jason Hughes snuffed out the threat of Paul McGrane and John Toal, and Paul Finlay marked his debut with eight sweet points, all from frees.

Monaghan made a confident start, easing ahead through Thomas Freeman and Nicholas Corrigan, before Armagh slowly arrived at the pace of the game.

They reeled off three points on the trot, two of them from Diarmuid Marsden, but squandered a goal chance when Steven McDonnell was guilty of an incredible miss after 20 minutes.

Paddy McKeever's long delivery was flicked into his path by Marsden, and the corner forward rounded goalkeeper Glenn Murphy to give himself the easiest of tap-in finishes to an empty net.

But he blasted the ball against an upright for what will be a candidate for miss of the season.

Monaghan expressed their relief in the most positive way possible, Kieran Finlay, Raymond Ronaghan and Michael Slowey all on target in the latter stages of the half.

The All-Ireland champions, looking sluggish and clearly suffering from the absence of inspirational skipper Kieran McGeeney, could manage just one point in the second quarter, a McDonnell free.

And having shot eight wides, they turned around with a 0-6 to 0-4 deficit to make up.

Armagh did close the gap to a single point through Tony McEntee, moments after Damien Freeman was sent off, but Monaghan managed to keep their shape, and Finlay drove over a succession of frees, two of them massive 50 metre efforts.

Panic was clearly evident in the Armagh approach with close on 20 minutes still to play, with Oisin McConville and Tony McEntee both going for goals, but their efforts were superbly saved by Glenn Murphy and defender JP Mone.

Substitute Philip Loughran did pull back two points, but they too were reduced to 14 men three minutes from the end when defender Andrew McCannn earned a second yellow.

And it was Finlay who clinched it for Monaghan with two late frees to bring his tally for the game to eight.