He was, however, still bitterly disappointed.

    “It is hard to put your finger on it. The most disappointing thing about the the game was that it was a complete case of power failure, there was no spark anywhere in the team,” admitted Dom before adding.

    “We struggled to keep up with their power and pace. Tyrone’s support play on and off the ball was different class and they were simply in a different league to us on Sunday. Sunday’s game has shown us that we have to raise the bar again and we will have to look at ways that we will be able to raise that bar. I feel that we have made real progress this year but there is much work still to be done. Tyrone played with great pace and mobility and that is something that we will have to look at.”

    Dom also had great praise for his players and refuted any suggestion that they lacked heart on Sunday.

    “I have total faith in this team, they are good honest, hard working players and they are the people who will be hurting most from this display. They have bounced back from the opening two defeats in the league, from the defeat to Tyrone in the league semifinal and from the defeat to Down and they will bounce back again. They will be stronger for the experience and I definitely disagree with assessment that these players have no heart.

    “On occasion you have days in sport when there is complete power failure. It has happened to other teams in Croke Park such as Kerry to Meath a couple of years ago and Meath to Galway. It happens but you will not get Dom Corrigan to concur that these boys have no heart. They have bounced back before and will do again,” said a defiant Corrigan.

    Dom is also keen that the progress of this season is not negated by this last defeat.

    “We have been to Croke Park twice in 13 weeks and we have established ourselves in the second tier of teams in the country. There are four or five teams who are a step ahead and Sunday highlighted how far ahead they are. The challenge for everybody is to get into the elite group and we are no different. Teams like Derry, Tyrone and Armagh have all suffered hammerings in Croke Park on their first ventures there, so we will have to keep some perspective on our progress throughout the season as a whole and learn from these Croke Park experiences. We cannot lose sight of what this team has achieved.”

    Dom’s last word was for the supporters whom he had no problem classing in the top bracket in Ireland.

    He enthused: “This team may be in the top eight in Ireland but our supporters are in number one spot and have no rivals. On behalf of the team, we are so proud and thankful for the support in Croke Park on Sunday. Sunday was disappointing and I feel for the fans but we are detemined that on the next occasion we will give them more to cheer about.”

    Dom admits that he will start to live life in the other lane for a while now, taking in a holiday but he says it is hard to get away from thinking how and where improvements can be made.