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By Cian O'Connell
Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng felt his team weren't clinical enough in the first half of a gripping All-Ireland SHC Semi-Final at Croke Park.
Lyng's outfit led 1-10 to 0-8 at the interval, but a storming Clare finish proved decisive.
The Kilkenny boss reckoned the striped outfit should have been further ahead at the turnaround.
"Yeah," Lyng responded when asked in the post match briefing under the Hogan Stand. "When you're on top, you have to be scoring, you have to take your chances. We had our spell when we were dominant.
"The last day we were very efficient, whereas today we probably weren't as efficient. I'm not sure of the stats. but in the second half you know Clare are going to come at you.
"It's always been the same. They come at you and they obviously got more points on the board today. Another couple of points obviously would have been a big help going in and at the end as well."
The Banner rifled over sixth points without reply in the closing stages as Kilkenny didn't register a score after the 58th minute. "We probably had a couple of chances that we didn't take," Lyng reflected.
"But that's also down to the pressure that Clare were putting on us. I suppose we tried to kind of move things around just to get lads into the game, bringing others on to bring energy to it. But I have to credit Clare. They were winning most of the battles and the credit goes to them."
Lyng praised the character Clare demonstrated in the second period. "I thought we were well on top in the first half," Lyng remarked.
"We looked very strong. Look, you have to credit Clare as well. They forced their way into the game. From their point of view, they had a difficult start and we were on top. But as the game wore on, they probably got the better of us.
"Not only that, I thought it was all over the pitch, in lots of places. It wasn't just their forwards. We found it hard to stop that momentum. They're a top-class team. From our own point of view, we're just disappointed because I felt we didn't show our best form today."
