"We said from the start we'd keep everything in context. It's still the league, we did well in the Munster league, that's over, we're second in the league, that's satisfying. The nature of the victory was good."

Cork selector Pat Hartnett wasn't getting carried away following their fine win over Tipperary.

"We don't like losing, let's be clear about that, but the important thing here is that we got a really good workout, and I think a forewarning that this Cork side are exactly as good as what I've been saying they are for a very long time."

There's no danger of Michael Ryan and the Premier County taking the Rebels for granted ahead of their Munster SHC quarter-final meeting on June 21.

"I've been saying it religiously over the last two or three years that these lads have real character. They have a lot of guts and they stood up tall in the second-half when they had to."

Derek McGrath's Waterford players delivered a huge win over Clare.

"We're going to have to sit down and look at the video to see exactly where it went wrong. That's hurling - some days it goes for you, some days it doesn't."

Banner joint-manager Gerry O'Connor was left scratching his head.

"They've won a fantastic competition. It's time now for them to move on and start integrating back in with us as well. You know, kind of playing their second team. They've two masters to serve really, so it was a big focus for them all year."

Ger Cunningham is hoping that the Cuala contingent can boost Dublin's survival prospects ahead of next weekend's play-off with Clare.

"It was seriously competitive, non-stop stuff. Obviously, they were down a player for a lot of hte game, but it was only in the last six or seven minutes that we started to pull away a small bit."

Brian Cody and the Cats didn't have it all their own way against the metropolitans.

"The way the fixtures fell for us, we knew today it was going to be competitive. It gives us a taste of what's to come."

Galway put Limerick to the sword and Micheal Donoghue now switches his attention to a quarter-final clash with Waterford.

"The performance was abysmal in the second-half and it has to be fixed, simple as that."

The Treaty County's John Kiely didn't mince his words following their three point defeat.

"We must learn to put these chances away. The stats will show the number of wides, we must have had double the wide count compared to Laois. There is no doubt there is room for improvement ahead of the quarter-final."

Davy Fitzgerald and the Model County face a trip to Nowlan Park to take on the Cats in the last eight.

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