Try telling Mickey Moran this game is not important, that it doesn't consume the lives of those who play it, that failure doesn't hurt, and that success doesn't put a warm glow into the soul.

Deep under the Cusack Stand on Saturday, Moran spoke of Derry's remarkable turnaround, how they came back from a crushing 11-point defeat to Tyrone in May and now face Kerry in an All-Ireland semi-final. Time to look forward.

"That's gone," he said of the Tyrone match. "In there (nodding toward the dressing-room) are a bunch of young fellas that have given everything and they have conducted themselves with dignity and pride. The way back was to work hard and go out on a Gaelic pitch - which is a real Irish traditional game where the spirit of this land lies - and they showed some spirit there. They deserve all the praise.

"I'm so proud to help them in any way through this journey and we have one more date out, at least. There are a few of those youngsters that have never played (in Croke Park) before and those were the ones that dug deep and that's the measure of them. We just said we were going to go out there and just go to the end, leave our hearts on that pitch."

Moran went on to dedicate the victory to the Loup's Ronan Rock, absent from the panel because of illness.

"In the second half, when Westmeath went ahead, that's when we saw the wee bit of character. Paddy Bradley said at half-time of extra time in the Cavan game we have to put them to bed. That's what shone through again, right through to Eamon Burke's point to Patrick Bradley's block - the character."

When Moran talked about character he must surely have had his captain at the top of the list. Seán Marty Lockhart has been laid low with a leg infection for most of the summer. On Saturday he contained Dessie Dolan, despite being a few weeks off his best.

"Very tough game. We came in as underdogs. All the media had gone with Westmeath. We didn't mind that. Tyrone beat us convincingly back in May and that (forced us) to ask ourselves a lot of questions. I think today we answered those questions.

"There are good footballers in this county. I'm not talking about (winning) All-Irelands, I'm just talking about taking it one game at a time. We took today and I think it showed we can play with the big boys.

"We were wrecked but the boys found that extra gear. We knew we were as good as Westmeath. We weren't saying we were going to win All-Irelands but we were saying we were as good as Westmeath and I think last week proved that if you apply yourself on the day anything can happen."

He praised his whole team but the reference to stand-in captain Paddy Bradley gave an insight into their change in attitude.

"Listen, Paddy Bradley was playing at 50 per cent today because he was injured. He played with an injection in his foot (ankle). In years gone by Paddy would have dropped the head but today he stuck at it."

Páidí Ó Sé was asked was this a match that slipped from Westmeath's grasp? "We had the winning of it when we went a point ahead but we were playing catch-up football once they got the first goal. We had four points to catch up in the second half. We battled very well all through the game. So much so, that we salvaged the lead back and we actually jumped ahead by a point.

"Now, had we managed to maybe get possession at that critical time, when we did go the point ahead . . . but they replied to us very quickly so they kept their momentum."