Caolan Mooney and Down have answered their critics in the best possible fashion.

Speaking ahead of today's Anglo Celt Cup showdown with Tyrone, the flying half-back revealed that the negative commentary that was aimed in their direction in recent years helped to fuel their wins over Armagh and Monaghan.

"We'd a lot to prove," he told The Irish Sun.

"We had a lot of fire in our bellies the last couple of years after all the negative comments said about us. You want to go out and prove to people we are good footballers and that we can compete with the best. We did that against Monaghan.

"We can only control what we can control. We can't control what other people write about us.

"They write whatever they want. But we have to do our talking on the pitch. There's no point talking about the fact that you are going to do something. You have to go and do it."

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