Anyone who thought Mick O'Dwyer would blow us kisses and say farewell to Croke Park will be glad to know he's not done yet. Probably not, anyway. Laois have said goodbye to this year's championship, and that has at least ended O'Dwyer's days as their manager - and yet he seems no closer to cutting his ties with management.

O'Dwyer said what he had to say about Mayo: how they ran so impressively, made his team look so tired. But what would he say about his own future?

"Ah sure, you never know," smiled the 70-year-old, with that old, roguish glint still clear in the eyes.

That question came at the end, by the way. O'Dwyer was typically frank about what went right and wrong on the day - and how Mayo couldn't be disputed as deserving winners.

"I suppose I'd have to be a little disappointed alright. We got some wonderful chances at the start of the game, and of course Noel Garvan's punched shot there at the end could have gone in. We just weren't sharp enough to put those few goal chances away. Maybe we were a little bit tired. Maybe four games in five weeks is too much for a team like Laois.

"But we had a great run, we enjoyed the run. And they've nothing at all to be ashamed of. They fought to the end out there - and we were just pipped by three points in the end.

"In fairness to Mayo, I think they'll make it hard for any team that's left in the championship. But sure, defeat, you have to accept it when it happens. I thought we had a good chance this year, and we played some good football right through the championship."

With the talk of O'Dwyer's future out of the way, the attention shifted to Mayo - who get to play Dublin in a sold-out Croke Park in seven days' time. Mickey Moran didn't need to be warmed up.

"We're proud and delighted to be in the semi-final," he said. "I thought we played quite well in the first half out there, but still kicked something like seven balls either wide or into the keeper's hands. So we could have been more ahead. We had a couple of wee injuries - Billy Joe (Padden) and that - which threw us out of kilter a bit. David Heaney had to come off a couple of times so we lost the momentum.

"But we just said at half-time that we'd stay ahead, no matter what it takes. But look, there were two teams out there, and each one has put in the same effort. We knew Laois would come back at us, and in fairness they did. But to give our lads credit, we started to break the gain line again and run at them again. We just said it's not enough to stop the other team, and not be looking for frees and things like that. You have to win the game on your own merits."

Like us, Moran obviously had Dublin on his mind.

"It's going to be a tough ask," he added, unprompted. "As far as I know it's already a Dublin-Kerry final. But we'll show up next week, and glad to be there. And we believe in ourselves.

"Dublin have to be joint favourites to win the thing, along with Kerry. But we've got 30 lads who've trained hard all year. And there's a great honesty to them. I promised the people of Mayo at the beginning of the year one thing: I didn't promise an All-Ireland; I promised a family for a team."

Moran's sidekick, the highly charged John Morrison, was equally excited about having a crack at Dublin: "If we're coming back to make up the numbers, very well. But to be honest we don't have to think about the other team. It's the prize ahead of us that matters. And we'll be sharp, we'll be fresh, and we'll come up with another game plan.

"But I'd imagine most of the pressure is off us now. It's all on Dublin. You'll have 80,000 that nearly all want an All-Ireland for Dublin. But I've a very close relationship with Paul Caffrey - I just hugged him out on the field - so there'll be no rancour. And I know a lot of the Dublin boys. I did a summer course here with six of them. I think we can all look forward to a good game of football."