Allen lauds talisman Corcoran
"It was the turning point, even though Sean Óg's score was inspiring," he said.
"It reminded me of the two goals he got against Antrim last year. You'd have to be a hurling person to appreciate them. They were both different shots and not many fellows have those shots in their armoury.
"I don't think you could over-estimate his value to the team as a leader, on or off the field. He is a player who says very little, but his hurling does all the talking."
Allen accepts his team needs a better return from the half-forwards in their next outing. At the same time, he wonders if the public are expecting too much of his players.
"Is everybody looking at them with rose-tinted glasses after last year? There aren't too many teams that can go out and perform to the same high standard game after game. If you look at Kilkenny's form over the last two years, they gave one or two of what you might describe as awesome displays. But when you get to this level, teams are going to be fairly evenly matched.
"And there was never going to be much between ourselves and Waterford. You're not going to dominate the game for 70 minutes."
What pleased him on Sunday was the excellence of the full-back line, saying that for him Pat Mulcahy has been the most consistent over the three games "without too much being said (in praise) about him".
Allen was surprised when he learned (on the train home from Dublin) that they would be meeting Clare in the All-Ireland semi-final.
"They seem to be changing the goalposts willy-nilly. I was told when the last fixtures were made it would be decided in a draw. But it's the fairest draw. It wouldn't make sense for us to meet Tipp again to end up playing four matches against two teams."
His approach to the Clare game will be the same as usual.
"We will play to our own strengths, but obviously we'll watch the game and see how Clare did play.
"We don't go in with our eyes shut."
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