"I've just come back to the dressing-room after speaking to you and I see the doctor dealing with his (Mickey Burke's) finger. He's gone to the Dublin dressing-room to talk to the Dublin doctor because there's a protocol to deal with in terms of a bite, in terms of blood transferring from one person to another. Extremely disappointed."

Meath boss Mick O'Dowd claimed that substitute Mickey Burke was the victim of a 'bite' from a Dublin opponent.

"This game? Well I don't know anything about that. That's news to me!"

Jim Gavin was unaware of Meath's 'bite' allegations.

"We knew the challenge Meath would pose. Dublin-Meath games are traditionally really intense encounters. We've seen how Meath can get goal chances and create them against Carlow and Kildare so we knew if we didn't bring an intensity to the game, they would have exploited us in the back line."

Dublin and Gavin had their homework done ahead of the Leinster SFC final.

"If your character is questioned it's a very important thing to any person in any walk of life. From when we went back training in the depths of winter, today was a long, long way away for players who have been around the block. They had to go back and they had to do it and believe they're good enough and get over the line. That's why I'm very proud of them. That makes it our best ever."

Jim McGuinness says his Donegal players answered their critics in the best possible fashion.

"It didn't happen for us today, but you just don't forget about the year and forget about the work you have already done. So we will regroup and try and move forward and put our best foot forward in it."

Monaghan and Malachy O'Rourke must turn their attention to a qualifier clash against Kildare.

"It's another learning experience for the guys and I'm really proud of them today. They believed in themselves, they wanted to win and they stuck at it. They believed they were going to get score after score and they did that."

Lilywhites boss Jason Ryan saw his side dig out the win against Clare.

"The post-mortem of a game is always so severe because you can blame or do a hundred things. But over the course of the game I would be very proud of how the lads played and I wouldn't have any fault with any of them."

A disappointed Colm Collins was proud of his Clare players' effort.

"I haven't made up my mind as yet. Look that's for another day, I've done a two-year term, that's now ended and we'll see where it takes us. We have won 10 out of 13 matches, we have made progress but we thought we might be able to do a bit better but you just can't put old heads on young shoulders."

John Evans will take time to decide on his future after his two-year term as Roscommon football manager came to an end in Dr Hyde Park on Saturday.

"We have a tight group, all the clubs in the county are behind us and this is a big win for us. It was just so important for us to put performances back-to-back as this puts us back in the top tier in the country."

Following their second successive qualifier victory, Paul Grimley says Armagh are on the rise again.

"It's absolutely unbelievable just like it was in Wexford Park last week. They're the best fans in the country, as far as I'm concerned, and to hear that roar when we got on top really drove us on."

Wexford full-back Matthew O'Hanlon paid tribute to the county's supporters.

"I'd imagine it was an exciting game for the neutral to look at as well. When it counted we came up with the goods and got the goals, but you have to give Waterford great credit as well. They have been waiting for a game since the Laois game whereas we had Clare. But I suppose it's our night tonight and we'll take it."

The two games against Clare stood to Wexford according to Liam Dunne.

"We're acutely aware that moral victories have no place in Waterford hurling but, at the same time, we had seven or eight fellas that made their championship debuts this year, so I think mad and all as it might make the Waterford people, we think we're building towards something over the three-year plan."

Deise manager Derek McGrath is looking ahead to next year. Tweet

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