McCartan: We have won nothing yet
One of the few 100% Championship records was maintained by Down at Croke Park on Saturday, but their manager James McCartan was not getting carried away with his side's dethroning of defending All-Ireland champions Kerry.
Incredibly, Kerry have never beaten Down in Championship football. The weekend's 1-16 to 1-10 reversal represented their fifth loss to the Mourne men since 1960. McCartan said afterwards: "At the start of the year we wouldn't have dreamed of beating Kerry.
"But they were missing a couple of players and we just took advantage of it and it certainly is a big day for Down football.
"You have to be confident coming up (to Croke Park) or else there is no point in travelling. We knew that if we could play to our ability, we would be in with a chance.
"We did play somewhere close to our ability and we maybe caught Kerry off the boil.
"We got a great start (with Mark Poland's goal) and maybe that's what we needed. We went 1-3 to 0-0 up and that got the confidence going. When the pressure came on in the second half, thank God the boys kept going."
McCartan won two All-Irelands and two All-Stars during his playing career with Down, and that experience will help keep his current crop grounded and in the right frame of mind ahead of their semi-final encounter with Kildare on August 29.
"It would be disappointing to put in a good display and then the next day not kick on from it," he explained.
"The players realise they have put in a big performance at Croke Park, but we have won nothing yet.
"It is going to take another big performance to get to the final and then another one to win it.
"There is a long way to go and there are other sides thinking we've taken out one of the big teams on their behalf."
Down's roaming forward Martin Clarke picked up the man-of-the-match award, and expressed the side's steely determination to win silverware this season, especially after losing the NFL Division 2 title to Armagh.
"It was a great performance throughout," said the former Aussie Rules player.
"We just focused on getting a good start and going on from there. Kerry enjoyed a good patch in the first half but we weathered that and kicked on well.
"We'll enjoy beating Kerry but our focus is just on the semi-final."
Meanwhile, Kerry boss Jack O'Connor had to reflect on an off-colour display from the title holders. Not enough of his star names delivered, and Colm Cooper (0-7) almost single-handedly carried the green and gold attack.
"We got a bad start. We conceded a bad goal early on and a couple of quick points. We were struggling from the off," admitted O'Connor.
He felt that the game's turning point came in the 23rd minute when Kerry had a goal disallowed. Referee Joe McQuillan ruled that Donncha Walsh had made illegal handpass when setting up Killian Young for a fine finish to the net.
"We thought we fought back, and I think the disallowed goal was a critical call," added O'Connor.
"It came at a time when we had fought back particularly well, and I think that was a critical call.
"I emphasised it when that rule was brought in that some day it would cost a team big time. I'm not saying it cost us the game, but it was a crucial, crucial call at the time.
"It's just desperately disappointing, because we fought our way back into the game."
