Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng, left, and Dublin manager Micheál Donoghue shake hands after the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship final match between Dublin and Kilkenny at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Dublin manager Micheál Donoghue hopes his team will have learned some painful lessons from today’s Leinster SHC Final defeat.
His team was comprehensively out-hurled by a rampant Kilkenny and he was at a loss explain why they suffered such a total systems failure.
"I don't know, maybe you have to look at the occasion,” said Donoghue. “I thought our preparation all week was good.
“Their attitude and application this morning and everything was as it has been over the last number of weeks. We didn't start well and we were punished severely for it."
"They are a lot better (than this). But they're a young team and they're on a journey. You have to take the good with the bad. We struggled to get into the game.
“Everything that was really positive for us over the last number of weeks, we didn't get to implement that. That's what we wanted to do but when it doesn't happen, it's disappointing. Against a top team like Kilkenny, if you don't do it then you're going to get punished."
Dublin couldn’t handle the movement of the Dublin forwards, especially Adrian Mullen, who scored seven points from play and hurled a world of ball.
"I think you have to tip your hat to Kilkenny, particularly Adrian Mullen,” said Donoghue.
“He dropped really, really deep and he was really hurting us. I think he was going all over the pitch and it's very hard then. You're trying to hold your shape and you're trying to stay as zonal as you can.
“But when we fell behind as much as we did early on, we were chasing it. Obviously we changed to go to a plus-one but the second goal was a killer. Look, they're a top team and we just have to learn from it.
“This is going to hurt, I'm not going to hide behind that, but the fact of the matter is that we have a game again in two weeks' time so we have to dust ourselves down and prepare for that."
