"Ah lads," said Brian Talty as he passed the solemn and dignified array of journalists waiting outside the Dublin dressingroom, "Cheer up, nobody died." The Dublin selector was right of course. There was nothing terminal except the prognosis. Play like that in three weeks and you'll be seeing whether it's purgatory or hell's waiting-room lying behind the back door. Nobody died but the fourth estate felt inclined to tread carefully or at least to tiptoe respectfully.

Pillar Caffrey drew a knot of concerned faces towards him when he emerged. Sorry for your troubles Pillar.

" Ah. We didn't expect anything different coming down here lads. Everybody underplays the role of the underdog but sport is all about people that live the dream and Longford very nearly lived the dream today. All the plaudits go to Longford. They put up a fantastic show, they were five points to one up after about 20 minutes, playing all the football. We had to dig awful deep today. It wasn't a good Dublin performance. We're through to a semi-final and that's the big positive we'll take out of today. I was anxious all through. Longford played some fantastic football. We had to adjust things on the pitch. That's what you do."

Consolation? It was all more beneficial perhaps than last year's 19-point stroll.

"In fairness to Longford, Luke played a great game saying this was the game they dreaded but anyone around management knew it was going to be very easy for Longford to get themselves up for this. I think they did the county great credit. I compliment them and the Longford County Board for the job they did here today."

Longford manager Luke Dempsey stood in the darkness of the tunnel with his back to the sunlit oblong of the doorframe. A chance left behind.

"We had a right good rattle at it." said Luke. "We had no injuries unlike last year. It was a real chance to have a go at Dublin. Two points and you saw a free kicked wide, a 50 kicked wide and two goal chances that could have been fisted over the bar. The goal conceded in the first half was a terrible soft goal as well. Utter disappointment. To lose the under-21 Leinster final was a huge disappointment. Today is similar."

Coming off beaten when the smell of victory was in the nostrils is a little difficult but there were plenty of consolations in Longford's display. They are a county on the move. Yesterday when Dublin had pulled ahead before the break we feared for them. No need. "I was delighted with the lads that they didn't allow that predictable pull away to happen in the second half. On the one hand I'm so disappointed, on the other I'm delighted this group is at least on an upward curve and we hope to bring them to the stage where they will have the confidence to finish off a game. That's what it sometimes boils down to, heavy defeats over the last eight or nine years and sometimes in the last 10 minutes of a game that can come back to haunt you."

For a long time yesterday that legacy of bad defeats was forgotten. Longford played the better football and deserved more. A small error changed it. "Championship matches are turned around sometimes by one moment and that goal, I can still see it, it was just a simple ball in the air and the game, well it didn't turn because we had chances afterward but it was a key moment. We have changed our game though to the point where we need to make a breakthrough at some level. I hope we are going in the right direction."

And with that Dempsey was gone. Off to plan for the road ahead.