"I went over to shake hands and said 'we will see you one of these days'. There was no comment from Davy or from anyone."

There were no complaints from Davy Fitzgerald according to Anthony Cunningham about claims that Galway changed sliotars before Jason Flynn scored his winning free at Pearse Stadium.

"It's a great start to the season. It gives us a big base to build on. But the ultimate challenge comes next week going down to Nowlan Park. We all saw what Kilkenny did last night. We're trying to build a fortress here. Hopefully this has sent out a message to the Dublin supporters to come and back the team."

Ger Cunningham wasn't getting carried away following his side's 2-20 to 0-14 victory over Tipperary.

"It's a competitive league. Any time you lose a game, you're under pressure. Dublin played really good hurling and we were the opposite. There's no point in saying anything different - you have to be realistic."

The pressure is on Eamon O'Shea and the Premier County.

"We don't have a team that's cast in stone - the Kilkenny senior team was playing tonight and that's it. There's no such thing as a fella guaranteed to play and the lads played with that kind of realisation, that there's a fierce opportunity there for them. It was a good performance."

The well-publicised retirements have given Brian Cody the opportunity to introduce new faces into the Cats set-up.

"I think on the overall balance of play we didn't deserve to win. I don't know. It's something we'll have to look at ourselves. We made too many mistakes. A lot of our players all over the field were beaten too many times to the ball."

Jimmy Barry-Murphy had no excuses following his side's 2-17 to 1-22 defeat.

"We went seven points clear in the second half and seemed to be cruising but all of a sudden the wheels came off but a couple of the newcomers came up trumps on the day, Paudie Foley, Daithi Waters and Kevin Foley, while Jack Guiney hurled superbly."

Liam Dunne watched his Wexford side make hard work of their win over Antrim.

"The second-half performance was encouraging. All around the pitch we won a lot of the battles. The disappointing thing was when we went ahead we'd like to have held on but everything is still in our hands, a bit like it was last year. I think there might be one or two more twists in this league yet. But we're still in control of our destiny."

Limerick and TJ Ryan still have their destiny in their own hands following their opening round draw with Waterford.

"Our aim is to get one of those top four spots in the League. If we can do that and get to a quarter-final, we'll be very very happy. The coffers might be suffering but we're not too hellbent on gaining promotion."

The Waterford county treasurer might not agree but Derek McGrath isn't hung up on securing promotion to Division 1A.

"Everyone has been knocking this Offaly team, and maybe the management as well, but the work-rate that has gone in this year has been fantastic. We've lads out there that want to hurl with Offaly. We've always said to them that we believe there are good hurlers in our squad, and I think we answered a lot of critics tonight."

Brian Whelahan was proud of his players' effort against Laois.

"I just felt in the first half Offaly seemed to be picking up an awful lot of breaking ball, particularly in the middle third. They were sweeping up a huge amount of breaking ball and we weren't quick enough to get in and mop that up."

The O'Moore County's Cheddar Plunkett on where it went wrong for his troops.

"Mickey just had a quiet word with us at half-time, told us to keep calm and keep picking off the scores. That calming influence that Mickey has, that's been the big difference this year. And those young boys coming through push you on because they're going to take your place some day."

Manager Mickey Moran has the midas touch according to Slaughtneil goalscorer Barry McGuigan.

"Shane has been a fantastic player for us all year and the wind down that side of the pitch was blowing right across into him."

Stephen Stack exonerated Shane Carroll - who was off target with a late free - of any blame for Austin Stacks semi-final loss.

"Relief, at this moment in time, but, and I don't want this to sound cocky, not surprised. I felt since I got involved with this group two years ago that there's huge talent in it, there's huge determination to get to this time of year, and I knew we had put in a lot of good work."

Corofin manager Stephen Rochford always believed in his players.

"Defeat can be hard to take but I think, on the day, Corofin were the better team. They're a fine side and they'll take a lot of stopping on St Patrick's Day."

St Vincent's Tommy Conroy was dignified in defeat.

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