“I heard this rubbish on the radio last night. And it’s saying I’m mad to win the League. I couldn’t give a f**k right? I just want to win every game I can right? If we happen to win stuff, fine.”

Winning games is all that matters to Davy Fitzgerald.

“What I saw really was the referee blew the whistle for a free, turned around and walked back up the field. The crowd shouted, he turned around and gave a man a red card. That’s what confused me.”

The decision of eferee Alan Kelly to dismiss Conor Delaney at Innovate Wexford Park was criticised by Brian Cody.

“I thought we had some nice passages of play. Disappointed with some of our finishing up there, we did get a bit sloppy so we’re still walking away from Pairc Ui Rinn with loads to work on. But, overall, we’re happy with the result.”

An impressive team performance against Cork saw Liam Sheedy and Tipperary through to the last eight of the league.

“We felt if we could get a few scores early in the second half it would get us back into the game but it was Tipperary who drove on.”

Sheedy’s Cork counterpart John Meyler had no complaints at the final whistle in Pairc Ui Rinn.

“You can see the value of the home matches last year. Today we managed to etch out a home win, the crowd helped us a lot.”

Paraic Fanning and the Deise made home advantage count against Galway.

“They worked to the death and it was unfortunate that we conceded late on.”

Micheal Donoghue couldn’t fault the effort of his players in Walsh Park.   

“The good, the bad, the ugly really. There was a lot of very good stuff up to maybe the 52nd minute. We found it hard then to keep a rhythm in the game. I think we only scored two points in the last 15, 20 minutes. I wouldn’t be very happy with the last quarter, first three quarters I’d be happy enough with.”

Limerick await the winners of Dublin v Tipperary in the last four of the league and John Kiely has identified areas for improvement from the All-Ireland champions.

“There is a gap there; they are a top tier team – simple as that.”

Laois’ struggles against the Liam MacCarthy Cup holders came as no surprise to their manager Eddie Brennan.

“It's nearly surpassed anything like we've done so far. From winning the Christy Ring to the Joe McDonagh and the Division 2 league. And this is really like a promotion to a new Division 1.”

Colm Bonnar and Carlow retained their seat at the top table thanks to a spirited second-half comeback against Offaly.

“Today is very hard to take, but it is what it is. We tried but we got turned over.”

Division 2A beckons for Kevin Martin and the Faithful County.

“The trophy and medals for this isn’t what it’s about. It’s about Westmeath coming out of the hat next year in Division 1.”

Joe Quaid’s Westmeath will replace the Faithful County in the top flight.

“Westmeath set up well and marshalled Shane Conway. At times he wasn’t given the protection as he could have been in the first half. I didn’t appreciate the way he was singled out coming up to the game either.”

Kerry boss Fintan O’Connor believes his star forward could have received more protection from the man in the middle.

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