Brian Dooher gets in ahead of Dublin's Coman Coggins

"It would have been very easy for us to throw in the towel," said Harte, whose team now face deadly Ulster rivals Armagh in next Sunday's semi-final.

"When you have a big lead that is quickly diminished to three points and it was obviously dangerous.

"It took composure for the boys to work their way out of that situation."

Harte admitted that Owen Mulligan's second goal in the 49th minute was important as Dublin reduced the leeway from eight points to three.

"That really put us back on line again," he said. "You could clip an odd point here and there, and so could they, but the goal gave us a bit of a cushion again.

"That three-pointer gave us the confidence," said Harte who admitted that he had to leave Peter Canavan on the bench after he picked up a stomach virus.

"He went out pre-match but he was just felt weak, so there was no option to start with Joe McMahon."

Harte also paid compliments to Dublin the way they made it a tremendously exciting quarter-final over the two games.

"While it was a great win, I have to give totally respect to Dublin who played a great game and contributed to the excitement.

"They certainly made us work hard over the two games."