O'Grady: confidence fell after missed chances

CORK coach Donal O'Grady tried to put a brave face [[[[]]]] but he was clearly hurting at the number of chances his side wasted, particularly in the first-half which ultimately cost the Munster champions what would have been their 29th All-Ireland senior hurling title.

"We simply didn't play well enough in the first half to win it," said O'Grady. "We had 11 wides, a number of them from good scoring positions, and didn't take them. When you miss chances like that, it's very hard to win an All-Ireland.

"Some days the shots go over the bar, others they don't. Unlike in the second half of the Munster final against Waterford, where everything went over the bar for us, today it didn't happen. As a result, confidence began to drift away from a number of players. Perhaps there wasn't enough conviction in the shots they hit, but that's the way things go. Those misses put us under enormous pressure. Having said that, the lads put in a tremendous second half to take the lead but again, we wasted chances to go three points clear as our finish continued to leave us down.