I never really saw us winning the championship, but I think we've done enough this year to convince people that we are a good side and there will be a lot of teams that won't relish the prospect of playing us in future.

We believe we have a very good chance of winning this weekend. What's important to me is that the many thousands of Scots' fans traveling to Dublin do so not just in hope but with a genuine expectation of us doing something special again.

Italy have made so much progress this year and, to be honest, I think they have played better than us in this championship.

There is no bad feeling towards Liverpool from us. Winning the Champions League was a fantastic achievement and we respect them for that. I just hope they respect us a bit now.

We knew all along that we were capable of winning district. I think a lot of people sold us short at the beginning. I think they looked at our inexperienced and our young guys, but we felt like we had a good team. We accomplished three major goals tonight with this win. A 20-win season, going undefeated at home, and winning district. Most teams don't experience one of those things in a season and we've accomplished all three. That says a lot for this team and it's something they should be proud of.

I think winning states had a lot to do with it. The further we went, the more people saw us play and saw me.