On the evidence of the scene in the Down dressing-room after Saturday's All-Ireland hurling quarterfinal, it would seem that hurling is in good hands. A disappointed group of players and mentors listened intently to Martin Mallon, the team captain, as he tried to lift sagging spirits. "We gave nothing away today to one of the best teams in the country with years of hurling history behind them. They know now that they were in a real game here and they will feel relieved to be going home with a win.

"We in Down will always put that same effort together. We have a long road to travel but, so long as we stick together and continue to put in the effort that is needed we will never be a push-over for anybody," he said.

His optimism was inspiring and was recognised by the Tipperary team manager, Len Gaynor. "They gave us a lot to think about early on but our early goal took the sting out of their effort. I am happy enough with our performance. We slackened off towards the end and gave away three goals which we should not have done.

"That is something we will not be able to afford in the semi-final and our defenders will have to tighten up but the outing was well worth the effort. Down have some very good players but they were unable to match us when the pressure was put on in the second quarter of the match." "We will have to raise our game if we are to match Wexford. That will be the real test of the side," he said.

Noel Sheehy, the Tipperary full back, was not looking forward to the next training session: "I can see Len now giving out about those three goals but it is difficult to concentrate when you are so far ahead. Just the same you cannot afford to relax as we did and against a team like Wexford we would be slaughtered if we gave them that amount of space.

"It was a good loosener-up after being beaten in Munster and it means that we have restored a bit of confidence in ourselves. Now we are meeting the All-Ireland champions and that is a tremendous challenge," he said.

Back in the Down dressing-room Noel Sands was philosophical about the outcome. "When you come up against a team like Tipperary at this level you can only expect to put up a good performance. We should have been closer to them at half-time but we gave away some easy scores and you can't afford to do that at this level. To get three goals and eight points against them is a bit of a feat and we need to get more high class competition if we are to improve," he said.