Benny Coulter has praised James McCartan for picking the Down players off the floor so quickly after their heavy Ulster final defeat to Donegal.

The Mournemen succeeded where so many others have failed by winning a fourth round qualifier just six days after losing a provincial final when they overcame Tipperary on Saturday.

"James kept us in the Canal Court (Hotel) on Sunday night. We did a session on Monday and had a chat at dinner," explained Coulter, whose 1-2 helped Down to an All-Ireland quarter-final meeting with Mayo next Saturday.

"He told us we weren't that bad against Donegal. We stayed with them for 50-55 minutes. We went to pieces in the last 15 minutes or so, but we knew we'd played rightly up until the last 15 minutes or so. We went home on Monday afternoon and were back at it on Tuesday. So we got everything out of the way on Monday morning."

He continued: "I suppose in years gone by I've been involved in qualifying games and went for a piss-up and messed the whole lot up. So fair play to James, Aidan (O'Rourke) and Jerome (Johnston), they helped get it out of our system on Sunday night.

"Straight after the Donegal game, you were dreading the bus journey home and going to the Canal Court. All you wanted to do was go home, but we realised it wasn't an 11-point game. It was heart-wrenching. But we're back in the same position as Donegal now."