Mickey Graham is much too gregarious a figure to embark upon a ‘youse all writ us off’ speech, but he was still grateful to the reporter who asked him how his mood has changed with this, their third win in a row, after their opening round 12-point loss to Armagh that had many seeing his Cavan side as relegation candidates.

Westmeath manager Jack Cooney praised his side's character after they played over 25 minutes with just 14 players and still managed to defeat Fermanagh.