Boss Ryan rues net loss

Michael Ryan was au fait enough with Waterford’s goal stats this year to know how much of a problem finding the net has been for his team.

Eoin McGrath, had he connected with the sliotar at the death, may have broken a duck that went back to their two-goal haul against Clare in the Munster semi-final.

In doing so, the substitute would have likely forced a replay but Ryan wasn’t making excuses.

“We scored six goals in eight games this year — that’s something we have to look at. It’s not good enough.”

The same fact wasn’t lost on Stephen Molumphy either. “We’re not conceding them, there was only one goal in the entire game but again goals win matches and I suppose in the end that could be the difference.”

Ryan, who described his players as “gutted”, believed John Mullane should have been awarded a close-range free late on in the game when he appeared to be upended by Brian Murphy off the ball.

But he fully appreciated Waterford had their opportunities to reach an All-Ireland semi-final in his first year in charge.

“There were two decisive stages in the game. Just before half time we’d come back to go a point up and conceded two points in a minute, and so they went in ahead.

“Then we were three points up in the second half, had a couple of good chances, didn’t take them.

“At the end of the day, they were that little bit better than us. They took their chances and seemed to get scores more easily than we did. Congratulations to them — they’re a fine side.”

Molumphy compared the atmosphere in the Waterford dressing room afterwards to a funeral.

“We missed our chances, they got theirs and in the end that was the difference,” he explained simply.

Ryan felt Waterford could have taken more of an advantage with the wind at their backs in the first half when they went in one behind at the break.

“We deliberately played with the wind but we didn’t get going early on. We were a bit sluggish. Then they got the goal and they had a bit of momentum.

“But having said that, we overcame that, battled our way back in and with 15 minutes to go, we were clipping points up. We had got over that bridge.”

Shane Walsh’s forced withdrawal with injury in the 58th minute was rued by the Waterford manager and he said Cork timed their recovery expertly.

“They had a very strong bench and were playing with the wind. It’s about momentum really — they hit the front at exactly the right stage in the game.

“Even after that we had a couple of chances and we hit the post. They hit the front with four of five minutes to go after going behind and it’s very hard to reel somebody in at that stage.”

Despite the defeat, Ryan believes the season has been a positive one for Waterford and confirmed he will be seeking the second of his two-year agreement as he aims to strengthen his panel.

“We started as a new management team to build a team and to introduce five or six new players. We’ve made progress but having said that, there’s still an awful lot of work to do.

“We couldn’t fault the lads for effort. But we could do with making a few goal chances and hopefully next year we’ll have the likes of Darragh [Fives], Shane O’Sullivan and Brian O’Sullivan.

“We’ll try to increase the strength of our panel and look for a few other guys. Overall I think they had a stronger bench than we had today.”