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.

Monaghan squeezed through to the second round of the All-Ireland SFC Qualifier series with a nervy four-point win over a dogged Fermanagh side at Clones.

Donegal wriggled free of Fermanagh’s blanket of stubborn defensive resistance to find the spaces at a claustrophobic Brewster Park and pick off sublime second half scores on their way to the Ulster SFC semi-finals.