Kernan has words for his critics

Do you believe us now, do you? Now that we've played the best football seen in Croke Park this summer, destroyed that fancied Laois team and extended our unbeaten run to 15 games, and are counting down the two weeks to an All-Ireland semi-final.

Joe Kernan has these thoughts running through his head as he's pinned to the wall of the Hogan Stand tunnel. What did you think, Joe, and all the Armagh manager sees are the doubters.

"I think we've answered those critics who said we couldn't play football. I've been saying all along that when you play local rivals, like Dublin against Meath and Cork against Kerry, it's always going to be a tight, tough match. Then when you meet teams you don't play that often, it's more open. And that's what we got here. But still, if we can win the All-Ireland now with two bad matches I'll take them.

"But it was very comfortable in the finish. We had some problems in the first half, and for once I think we panicked. We just stopped using the ball properly. Once we rectified that and used the ball better we did collect some good scores. So it's nice to be in this position, but there's no point in doing all we've done if we can't win the next match."

And, of course, the one after.

Kieran McGeeney sat out the game after sustaining a slight hamstring strain (a precaution, said Kernan) and will be back for the semi-final. So McGeeney was able to enjoy every kick of the ball from the sideline - and think of the unbelievers.

"We don't feel we have to show anything to anybody," he says, "because we've been doing what we're doing for long enough. We could go out the next day and get beaten by 10 points, and a lot of people doing the talk will say they were proven right.

"But for the past five or six years we've gone out every Sunday to play football. And I think we're the fairest team out there. We do what we're asked. And we do play hard. But that's part of the game. We get hit hard as well. So it's not about trying to prove anybody wrong. But look, we won't be getting carried away after this. Quarter-finals are hard to win, semi-finals are harder, and the final is harder again."

Still, a nice day for Armagh football. Dublin and Tyrone won't be sleeping easy next Saturday no matter what happens in their quarter-final replay. It's all uphill from here.

"Well," adds McGeeney, "if people want to hype us up after this we'll just temper it with some of the stuff that was written the week before. It will go from one extreme to the other. But some people write what they want anyway, and obviously have in the past - complete with some cheap shots.

"We got our scores today, and for the first time in a while all our forwards clicked. And I have to say Aidan O'Rourke did a great job filling my shoes. But then I think all our defenders are great players."

That gloating mood changes after one glance at Mick O'Dwyer. His face reveals the extent of his disappointment. He has the look of a man let down by a heavy investment. He goes through the motions and says Laois are a young team and they'll be back, but he fails to mention if he'll be with them.

"One of those days, I suppose," says O'Dwyer. "They come to every team from time to time. For about 30 minutes we looked pretty good, but then a few scoring chances and we didn't put over the frees.

"But then that's a very good Armagh team. The four weeks did them a lot of good, because they were very fresh, and they'll take a lot of beating now. It will take a damn good team to beat them. But we've no complaints. We'd worked on our start, got that right, but then we finished badly. So where do you go from there?"

He heads back to his team, perhaps for the last time. The word is Limerick are looking for his services. One thing is for sure then, we haven't seen the last of O'Dwyer.