"Look, there's always relief when you achieve something that you know you're going to have to work very hard for and at the same time that's the same for every game, so it's nothing that's massively different, we just have to learn ourselves."

Galway boss Kevin Walsh masterminded a third Connacht SFC victory in-a-row over arch rivals Mayo.

"Put it down to six minutes of injury-time and they score a goal. Put it down to a couple of good scoring opportunities we didn't execute. The sending off. In such a tight margin of a game you can look for multiple reasons, but they will only be excuses this evening. We didn't win and we now prepare for the month of June."

The qualifiers beckon for Stephen Rochford and Mayo.

"It's probably not similar to an Ulster championship match, but, in fairness to Cavan, they came to play football. They were without one or two key players."

Donegal finished with eight points to spare over Cavan and Declan Bonner acknowledged that the Breffni County struggled to cope minus the services of their captain Dara McVeety.

"This time last year when we went into the back door, our performances dropped off. That can't happen now. It will be a huge test of this football team, can we take the learning of today and go into the back door."

Can Cavan get their season back on track in the qualifiers? Mattie McGleenan hopes so.

"It was a really, really substandard and poor performance at this level of football for a team to play as badly in the second half."

Pete McGrath was left scratching his head after watching his Louth troops surrender by 11 points to Carlow.

"We're headed for the Super 8s lads!"

The sky is the limit for Turlough O'Brien and the Barrowsiders.

"We're coming from a low base. We really have to turn up every day. Unfortunately we didn't in the first-half. It looked curtain for us when Wexford got the penalty in injury-time"

John Sugrue and the O'Moore County played their get out of jail card in Wexford Park on Saturday night.

"We're definitely making progress, but it's a real hard one to take because we had a few of these in the league as well."

The extra-time defeat was a bitter pill for Paul McLoughlin and the Model County to swallow.

"I've only one thing to say - if Dublin want to beat us by 10, 20, 30 or 40 points they can do that, but we'll play our football and we'll develop our football over the next three years and that's what I'm looking at. Not only one game."

It's the All-Ireland champions up next for John Evans and Wicklow following their morale boosting extra-time win over Offaly.

"It's the biggest game of their lives probably, in front of the biggest crowd they've ever played in front of, and sure isn't that what football is all about."

Former Garden County star and current selector Leighton Glynn is looking forward to the occasion.

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