"They can shout year in, year out about Limerick this and Limerick that and they can tweet all they like and they can abuse all the players they like. I've said it last year, I've said it the year before, but it's not working and the sooner they row in behind us the better for them."

Top scorer Shane Dowling and Limerick answered their critics in the best possible fashion.

"The players thought four and I thought four. That's why I wasn't worried. I thought we'd definitely get a leveller."

Davy Fitzgerald highlighted the confusion surrounding the amount of injury-time to be played in Semple Stadium.

"I thought it was a great end, winning by a point. I'll take that any day. I turned to Mike [O'Riordan] and he said there was a minute of injury time, I did see four on the board. I'd say there was a bit of confusion for everybody when he blew up a minute and a half into it."

Fitzgerald's Limerick counterpart TJ Ryan also expected four extra minutes to be played.

"A lot of those fellas have played in a lot of championship games. They've been in that position a lot of times before and I suppose that as much as anything else told."

Experience was key for Malachy O'Rourke and the Farney County in Kingspan Breffni Park.

"Probably somewhere around the middle of the second half we lost it a bit. Maybe we backed off a bit and allowed them to get scores from outside the zone."

Terry Hyland was left to ponder what might have been.

"I said on numerous occasions I didn't mind who we played, whether it was going to be Wexford or whether it was going to be Offaly. It didn't make any difference. Those teams are fantastic teams."

Laois hurling boss Cheddar Plunkett now has Offaly in his sights in the last eight of the Leinster SHC.

"Wexford are a very formidable side. I saw them playing a challenge game against Limerick about 10 days ago. They'll be very difficult to beat but we'll be difficult to beat as well."

Michael Ryan and Westmeath have a quarter-final date against Wexford to look forward to.

"We went in with a comfortable lead but Limerick showed great spirit and came right back at us. The overall thing from the Clare players' point of view that it was tremendous to dig out a result."

Banner football boss Colm Collins hailed his side's character after they survived a second-half comeback by Limerick.

"We just didn't perform in the first half but the second half was very encouraging. We played to the level we wanted to play."

Limerick's John Brudair focussed on the positives following the final whistle in Ennis.

"We won't be red-hot favourites going in against Sligo. Absolutely not. It is a 50-50 game. It will be a tough game. In actual fact I will say that Markievicz Park will be a real tough one for us to get out of."

After seeing off London, Roscommon will be red-hot favourites against Sligo but John Evans doesn't see it that way.

"I felt it was a very good performance. The effort and energy and discipline was there. We were given no chance whatsoever. We weren't even a banana skin. It should have been a lot closer. We missed our chances."

Paul Coggins and the Exiles were left to rue a number of missed scoring opportunities.

"We are devastated. We created a lot of chances, but did not take them. When Carlow got their goal, they got a strong grip and were not letting it go."

It has been a year to forget for Antrim hurling and Kevin Ryan.

"After the opening 10 minutes, we started using the ball and our game started coming together. We had to win and we did win."

Although they missed out on the championship proper, Pat English was proud of Carlow's effort against the Saffrons.

"Some people have said that Cavan football is as ugly as Marty Morrissey. I should apologise ... to the people of Cavan for that."

RTE pundit Joe Brolly crossed the line and later apologised.

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