“I just said ‘I’ll hit it as hard as I can and if he saves it, fair play to him.”

Mullinalaghta hero Gary Rogers gave Kilmacud ‘keeper David Nestor no chance with the all-important penalty.

“For whatever reason we reverted back to type, which we had been doing for the last three (games), more of a defensive game, keep ball, go backwards with it. We reverted back to that for some strange reason and it caught us. To be fair, Mullinalaghta probably deserved to win.”

Kilmacud Crokes joint-manager Robbie Brennan was left scratching his head after the final whistle.

“There is going to be one hell of a party in Mullinalaghta for the next week, and up to Christmas because what this club has done is a fairytale.”

Christmas came early for Mickey Graham and Mullinalaghta.

“When Mickey Graham came three years ago we were just hoping to win one (Longford title). To be here wasn't in our wildest dreams. We've put in some work over the last three years. It's amazing. We always believed.”

Full-back Patrick Fox delivered a ‘man-of-the-match’ performance for the Longford underdogs.

“I don’t think it’s a better spectacle when the ball is being kicked away like that. No-one wants to see that.”

Carlow boss Turlough O'Brien isn’t a fan of the new three hand pass rule.

“I don’t think there’s an awful lot wrong with the game as it is. It’s played at a good intensity, we should just sit back and review it again after today and see what it’s like.”

O’Brien’s Westmeath counterpart Jack Cooney is adopting a wait-and-see approach on the new rules.

“I don’t agree with the rules at all, and we were done a couple of times with the handpass rule. The lads are still learning and we obviously have a lot of work to do.”

New Louth manager Wayne Kierans didn’t mince his words.

“It makes an experiment out of the league and the league is too important to be an experiment. It’s the bread and butter for the vast majority of county teams. It’s a great competition, seven games in nine weeks, a fantastic competition and now you’re experimenting with it. I don’t think that’s a fair thing to do.”

The experimental rules shouldn’t be trialled in the league, according to Meath's Andy McEntee.

“At the end of the day it’s a Walsh Cup match and there’s bigger matches coming, the Joe McDonagh is what we’re all focussed on. But in the here and now, I’m pleased with how they went there today.”

Eddie Brennan enjoyed a winning start as Laois senior hurling manager against Offaly in the Walsh Cup.

“They performed to their potential today. We said if we got a performance out of them we’d win. That’s what they focused on. We didn’t focus about winning, we didn’t think about the result. If we performed, we’d get the outcome we want.”

Shane Ronayne.guided Mourneabbey to All-Ireland glory on Saturday.

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