**By Cian O'Connell **

Dr Crokes selector Harry O'Neill hailed the 'character' his team demonstrated under pressure to secure a first AIB All Ireland SFC title in 25 years.

Speaking moments after the decider O'Neill was content with how Crokes performed against Slaughtneil at GAA headquarters.

"Finally, that was a tough battle outside there today," O'Neill remarked. "We knew it was going to be like that. The lads showed an awful lot of character.

"They had to dig very, very deep even though Slaughtneil were down to 14 men for the second half. We knew that was the calibre of team we were going to come up against and we knew we would have to fight until the bitter end to win that game."

O'Neill was delighted with how Crokes responded following a shaky start. "We were four points down midway through the first half,” O’Neill reflected.

“Slaughtneil are the experts at holding on to that sort of stuff. I think our lads picked it up, we probably didn't get a great start, but we got a goal and a point at the right time. Daithi (Casey) made a great run through and slipped it to Colm (Cooper) for a goal and then he kicked a great point after that himself. It got us back into the game again and it gave us something to play for. I think we just showed a lot of character after that, they make you work hard, but thankfully our lads worked hard as well.

O'Neill didn't feel that Crokes were overly defensive during a tight and tense encounter. "We are playing against Slaughtneil, they play man for man, that is the way we try to play as well. They hold on to the ball, what happens then is players are going to get behind the ball, it looks defensive, but it is not put in there, it is just the way the game develops. That is the way it happens."