"Next Sunday is a must-win and that is the way it is. It is a very competitive league, but we will go to take on Tipperary next Sunday now and we will see what happens. We lost a couple of players during the game with injury which is unfortunate but overall it was a much improved performance."

There will be more than pride at stake when Brian Cody and Kilkenny lock horns with arch rivals Tipperary in Semple Stadium next Sunday.

"It's great to see Joe Canning back. Our forwards worked hard and Iarla Tannian ran himself into the ground so we're delighted with the work-rate, but we still have loads to build on."

Joe Canning's return was the icing on the cake for Anthony Cunningham and Galway.

"I thought we did pretty well. We tackled a lot better and did a lot of good things but some simple errors cost us. If you look at the possessions, we probably had as much or maybe more than Tipperary."

Clare were guilty of making too many mistakes according to Davy Fitzgerald.

"It's just a league match. You win some, you lose some. Take it for what it is but don't read too much into it, either for next Sunday or for three or six months time."

Eamonn O'Shea kept his feet firmly on the ground in Ennis.

"We've a lot of bad memories from Croke Park. Our performance against Tipp last year left a lot to be desired from us all. You'd have to say we're delighted with the players tonight. It's only a league game but we're delighted with the performance."

Jimmy Barry-Murphy couldn't hide his delight with his players following their emphatic victory over Dublin at headquarters.

"It was a very disappointing performance. It's hard to put a finger on it in relation to what was different from the Tipp match and the Kilkenny match, but I suppose we must give credit to Cork."

Ger Cunningham will conduct an in-depth analysis of the game to find out what went wrong for his team.

"When we went eight points down in the first half the lads battled back. It was similar in the second half going three points down after getting back level, before we eventually got the winning scores late on. These narrow wins are good for character. We had a huge effort and promotion is now possibly in our own hands."

TJ Ryan hailed Limerick's never-say-die-attitude following their last gasp victory over Wexford.

"Make mistakes at this level and one will be punished. We will take many positives, but we now must deliver big performances against Laois and Waterford. Promotion is now out of our hands."

Wexford manager Liam Dunne said they only have themselves to blame.

"Sometimes the body language can be poor when you are down that amount but I am just happy with the positivity of trying to stick to what we do. That mental toughness is something we have worked on."

Derek McGrath was happy with how his Waterford team reacted to falling seven points in arrears against Offaly.

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