Devlin proud of Louth resilience in dramatic win

Louth manager Gavin Devlin hailed his players who "didn't give up" when snatching a dramatic last-gasp winning goal against Armagh in Inniskeen.

With the hooter a matter of seconds away and trailing by two points, Sam Mulroy let fly with a shot from 45 metres that dipped and deceived Armagh goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty, ending up in the net as the Wee County claimed a dramatic win that secures their place in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals.

Devlin's side displayed fighting spirit throughout as they remained within striking distance and claimed yet another major win to reaffirm their credentials as a top level team.

"The most important thing for us is we have a fair feeling we're doing a lot of things right," Devlin told BBC Sport NI's Mark Sidebottom.

"To get that belief from the boys, you have to have some substance at the other end. That's where the angst and raw energy comes from, knowing you have to win games and get to these stages in the competitions.

"We asked 'why can't we win things?' and there's no reason why we can't but we had to suffer there today.

"The [Armagh] goal at the start of the second half rocked us a bit and it took us a while to get a rhythm, but the boys died with their boots on, fought for every inch and didn't give up."

Devlin won All-Ireland titles at senior, U21 and minor grades as a player with his native Tyrone but admits "the emotions you go through on the sideline, you can't prepare for it".

A former assistant to Mickey Harte during Tyrone's three-time All-Ireland senior-winning manager's term in Louth, Devlin stepped in to replace Ger Brennan this season after the former Dublin player returned to take over in his native county after guiding Louth to last year's Leinster title.

Managing and playing illicit different emotions and Devlin says his ambition is to make his players the best version of themselves.

"You're living each moment, kicking every ball with them and that was something else today," he added.

"In my playing days I was really successful, but have loads of regrets and mentioned to the boys this morning in Darver that it's not about winning or losing.

"I won All-Ireland titles [as a player], but it means very little to me. I played with the handbrake up, didn't invest in myself as I should and my own young boys and these boys, they've so much more.

"I wasn't the best version of myself as a player, but I try to make up for it in this arena although it's all about the players today, not about me."

Dara McDonnell was named man-of-the-match, chipping in with 1-3 from play and his goal came at a key time when Armagh were threatening to take over after a flying start to the second half.

The centre-back hailed the atmosphere created in the intimate surroundings of Inniskeen and feels "it's hard not to want to play here again" but their next destination may well be Croke Park for a quarter-final on the final weekend of June.

"It's more than dreams," McDonnell said of the dramatic nature of their win.

"This team has been in a quarter-final against Donegal - I was too young at the time. We're in a quarter-final now but we'll just look at one game at a time and won't get ahead of ourselves."