"Any time you come to Nowlan Park and get a victory is pleasing. I am very happy with a lot of the performances. The last 10 minutes were a bit panicky - Kilkenny finished with two goals and it was a bit more tight at the end than it should have been but overall I am pleased."

It doesn't get much better than this ... Dublin have claimed the scalps of Tipperary and Kilkenny in their first two league games under Ger Cunningham.

"I'll let ye decide that, lads. I won't talk about referees. I don't know why he was sent off. The referee made a decision and that was it. He was going well, causing Dublin lots of problems. He was a big loss."

Jonjo Farrell's 24th minute dismissal left Kilkenny fighting an uphill battle against Dublin but Brian Cody adopted a diplomatic stance on referee Colm Lyons' decision.

"We were very disappointed, ourselves and the players, with the performance last week. From that point of view we were looking for a reaction. I'm thrilled with the way they played. I couldn't be happier."

Jimmy Barry-Murphy demanded a response form his Cork players following their opening round defeat to the Cats and he got one against Clare.

"If we don't win the Tipp game we are going to be fighting relegation. We know that. That's going to be a massive game in Ennis. I'm disappointed for some of the crowd that travelled down. We really wanted to play well and we didn't so I'm disappointed. We're a bit off the track at the moment."

It's backs against the wall time for Davy Fitzgerald and the Banner County.

"Make no judgments until the ball speeds up. Then make all the judgements you want. I'm not too worked up about them but you like your league games to reflect something, you think you're doing right. I think we're doing things okay. When it doesn't reflect it, you get down. That's what bothers you rather than the result because those games could go either way."

Tipperary got their first points on the board at the expense of Galway but manager Eamon O'Shea isn't going to get carried away with results at this time of year.

"The defence from midfield back have to put their hand up and say those two goals can't happen."

Anthony Cunningham wasn't happy with his side's defending for Tipp's two goals.

"You'd have to be happy any time you come away from Tullamore with a nine-point victory. We haven't come away from Tullamore or Birr with a victory too often in the past so we're pleased. We've a lot of things to work on. To be fair, Offaly were down to 14 men in the second half, and we had a strong breeze as well, but I think the winning of the game was in the first half."

Liam Dunne and Wexford celebrated a first league win on Offaly soil since 1973.

"It definitely was a big factor coming into the last seven or eight minutes. We had a lot of tired bodies out on the field trying to make up ground. We still remained very positive with regard to the type of game we wanted to play but when we went down to 14 men, it was going to be very tough. I have to commend the lads for the way they kept hurling and kept fighting."

Brian Whelahan was proud of his players' efforts following the 38th minute sending-off of Cillian Kiley.

"Everyone says we need to get goals, I certainly don't say it because if you over-say things they become like an obsession, which kind of hinders any natural flow. We work on it in training, every facet of the game is worked on in training - if anything we over-analyse it maybe, but it was nice to see a natural flow though that was probably as much due to the space being created by the (Laois) sweeper not being there at that stage."

Derek McGrath watched his young Waterford side raise three green flags against Laois.

"Hurling is a very dynamic game and when a good quality team gets a run on you they can get a lot of scores up quickly. You just take it on the chin."

It was a bad day at the office for Cheddar Plunkett and the O'Moore County.

"Twenty-three points any day you go out is a good score. We would have been happy with that. Apart from the goal we conceded straight after half-time, we would have to be very happy."

TJ Ryan and Limerick finished with eight points to spare over Antrim.

"I don't know if I can take much credit, they're just a great set of lads who dig deep. I wouldn't want to be in a dressing room with a better set of human beings and characters and they showed that in spades today."

Niall Moyna was generous in his praise of his DCU students following their Sigerson success over UCC.

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