"If I'm honest, I thought the goalkeeper touched the ball and hit the ball away. Of course, I wasn't going to run in and tell the referee that. Just delighted to get it."

Monaghan manager Malachy O'Rourke admitted he thought referee Cormac Reilly got the 21st minute penalty call wrong in Inniskeen.

"I've given up questioning referees a long time ago."

O'Rourke's Kerry counterpart Eamonn Fitzmaurice remained tight-lipped.

"Probably people looked at us in the McKenna Cup and thought, 'where are they going or what are they doing?'. But training was geared towards the end of January, to hit this National League and to hit it in a good vein of form."

Under Mattie McGleenan, Cavan have turned their early season form around.

"If you're not in the right frame of mind and not on top of your game, you're going to get beaten."

Meath manager Andy McEntee had no excuses.

"We knew that it was a big game coming in to it, but the whole thing is a work in progress. Last week, the week before, it is all about progressing. We are working to try and get things together but it's great to get off the mark."

Derry have their first Division 3 points in the bag and Damian McErlain is now targeting a win against Fermanagh next weekend.

"It was a massive improvement and I am proud of them for sticking at I t but, we have to start better or we will lose a lot more games than we win."

Offaly manager Stephen Wallace took some positives from their performance in Celtic Park.

"Getting the win is nice, but I wouldn't overstate it. Still, it's better to be facing up to Drogheda with a win, and it was against Galway - a team we're trying to measure ourselves against."

A one-point FBD final win over Galway is a timely boost for Kevin McStay and the Rossies.

"We showed good character and that was pleasing. Tyrone came back at us hard a number of times and in the first-half we went five or six ahead, but Tyrone came back to level at one stage in the second-half. We kicked on again and finished the game out well."

Declan Bonner and Donegal brought Tyrone's reign as Dr McKenna Cup champions to an end.

"They are big calls and it is disappointing to get them wrong. I feel sorry for Martin, he is a fella who has a lot of work put it. He was injured last year and came back."

Manager Kevin O'Brien and Corofin are likely to appeal Martin Farragher's controversial red card in Saturday's semi-final win over Moorefield.

"The players love it - the effort was savage out there. They all want to participate, they all want to win. I hope the GAA learn from the debacle in the last few weeks. Don't start talking about it, just bring us into a room and maybe listen to the people who are at the coalface and start taking decisions from the ground up."

Sigerson Cup winning UCD boss John Divilly wasn't happy with the predicament that Corofin duo Kieran Molloy and Liam Silke found themselves in on Saturday.

 "It's obscene. We've got guys who are involved in National League games tomorrow. It's absolutely horrendous."

Maurice Sheridan of NUIG echoed Divilly's sentiments.

Tweet

Most Read Stories