Monaghan held off a late Cavan surge to record a three point victory in the opening Lory Meagher cup fixture.
Two goals from Thomas Hughes and one from Mark Treanor helped Monaghan to the 3-9 to 2-9 victory in Inniskeen.
Fergal Rafter and Niall Garland exchanged points with Fiachra Hughes and Sean Keating before Mark Treanor found the Cavan net on 20 minutes.
Conor Gernon, Rafter (2) and Thomas Hughes helped Monaghan to a 1-6 to two point lead at half-time.
Garland found the first score of the second-half after four minutes with Hughes finding the net a minute later as Monaghan led 2-6 to 0-2.
Seven minutes into the second half, Thomas Leonard scored Cavan’s first point of the half with Canice Maher finding the Monaghan net five minutes later.
Maher, Mark Moffat brought it back to a two point game before Hughes grabbed his second goal of the game to put Monaghan eight points clear with nine minutes remaining.
Luke McKenna extended Monaghan’s lead with a point. Cavan found scores from Sean Keating (2), Emmet Magee and Sean Keathing along with a Fiarcha Hughes penalty brought Cavan back into it.
It wasn’t enough as Monaghan ran out three point winners 3-9 to 2-9.
