Caffrey points to a lack of consistency

For the majority of people in Croke Park on Saturday, and Dubliners were definitely the majority, it wasn't supposed to end like this. So it didn't take long at all for the 81,882 to file out into the city streets, leaving an unusual calm in the tunnel of the Hogan Stand.

At one end the Tyrone players were lined up along the walls, happily giving their thoughts on an exceptional performance, while at the other end Paul Caffrey stood stone-faced outside the Dublin dressingroom.

"At the start of the year I said there was a consistency at this end of the championship that you need to get at," said the Dublin manager. "That what we aspired to do, but we didn't quite get there. But we'll go back and regroup. And the planning for next year starts tomorrow.

"I'm not going to lie against this wall and make any excuses. And it's not a day for any cold analysis. Tyrone just proved once again how good a team they are, and that's the level we will still aspire to get to."

Yet, once Dublin bravely reduced the deficit to three points, with over 20 minutes still to play, the majority of Croke Park sensed a comeback story to tell the grandchildren. Caffrey, though, never went there.

"No, I really didn't. We needed to get back level and then get ahead before you start entertaining them thoughts. So heartiest congratulations to Tyrone, because I thought they put on a fantastic display of football out there. And they'll be carrying the wishes of the Dublin camp forward."

Tyrone's future is focused entirely on next Sunday - and their third date of the summer with the old enemy Armagh. That was the inevitable question to the players as well as manager Mickey Harte, and even with the hectic countdown, it's a game they're clearly relishing.

"To be honest I'd prefer more than eight days to prepare for an All-Ireland semi-final," said Harte. "But there doesn't seem to be any option now. And it's a nice problem to have. Winning a game of that tempo certainly drains players, and we'll be very careful about our approach over the next eight days.

"But we have a quality side and believe that. Maybe we haven't been firing on all cylinders since 2003, and we're not the finished product yet either, but I think in the last few games we have performed in the way people expect us to and the way we expect to as well.

"Armagh showed what they can do out here last week. But there was always going to be that quality around at this stage."

Harte then turned his thoughts to his players, first to Owen Mulligan, his star of the day - and his absent star, Peter Canavan.

"Those people who castigate players for dying their hair and other things like that should take a step back now and allow them to have their individuality. And appreciate it, because talent like Owen Mulligan should not be scorned by anyone.

"Peter was sick just before the game. He was due to play, and it wasn't any smart-tricks game. We wanted him to play. But he got some sort of stomach bug and was very sick there just before the game, so we had to do without him."

Mulligan himself started some of the tributes to Dublin: "Yeah, they were definitely up for it,

and it was hard to keep counteracting that.

"We knew they had good speed, but we just tried to do what we do best. It was a good performance, but we're not getting over-excited about it."