"There's some people who will use it for personal steps but we're not too far away. From my own point of view, I thought six points would have kept us up in Division 2 and give us something to hold on to with those younger fellas, but it didn't and today? We'll need a run this summer."

The pressure is on Kieran McGeeney and the Orchard County as they turn their attention to the qualifiers

"The penalty on our side give us the chance to kick on and keep the scoreboard ticking over. The save then, it would have been a three-point game and given them an advantage at that stage. But look, that's what they are there for, they are there to be saved."

Goalkeeper Raymond Galligan came in for praise from his manager Terry Hyland.

"It won't be enough to win in three weeks' time and we're playing the second best team in the country at the minute, a team hell bent on winning an Ulster championship. We have to try and close that gap in the next three weeks."

The Breffni County's seven point hero Seanie Johnston accepts that Tyrone will be an entirely different proposition in the semi-final.

"Well, in any Championship game, when you come out with a win, you can look at it as job done and move on. We took the game quite seriously and at times we played well. Our execution, though, was nowhere where we expected it to be and nowhere near where it will be needed further on."

Stephen Rochford and Mayo have work to do ahead of their last four clash with arch rivals Galway.

"We made it difficult for them. I'm very happy with my lads, very proud of my players in that after those two goals, our lads never let it actually get to them. They never died."

London boss Ciaran Deely was proud his players' effort against the Connacht champions.

"If we bring that sort of display to Killarney, it's not going to be pretty. We have to up our game big time. It was a flat performance by us and hopefully we've got it out of our system and we can go to Killarney and express ourselves."

Clare were far from impressive in their three point win over Limerick and Colm Collins will demand improvement against the Kingdom.

"There hasn't been any problem in getting focused to date. We're just looking for the same response over the next few weeks."

Limerick manager John Brudair is aiming to give the qualifiers a good rattle.

"We got some good scores so I'd be happy with that side of it but the intensity and workrate and all of that won't do against Cork - we will have to find another level than that and we have only two weeks to do it."

It was a case of mission accomplished for Liam Kearns and Tipperary in Dungarvan.

"We lost by 22 points last year, we lost by eight here. We had something like 14 wides. Tipperary got a freak goal. I am not saying they weren't the better team, but I think the stats will show it was even enough. They were more clinical with their chances. We brought back credibility to the jersey. Eight points in the end, though, is still very hard to take. But there are a lot of positives to take from it."

Kearns' Deise counterpart Tom McGlinchey focussed on the positives.

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