Brian Cody was pleased to reflect on the contrast between two hurling matches six days apart.

“The difference was that they ran through us the last day essentially. The reality was that we had a nine-point lead with six minutes to go. You’d be annoyed to lose that lead alright. But, no excuses, we dropped our guard and they ripped us apart.

“We went out with a real determination that that wouldn’t be repeated and our defence was very strong. The panel was strong. Men came in off the bench last Sunday; men came in tonight and were very, very important. A good night’s work.”

His counterpart Anthony Cunningham tried to put the best spin on a disappointing challenge.

“It was very hard luck halfway through the second-half to really have battled very, very close to them. It was a brilliant effort by us to get back into the game – we got it back to three points and I think their goal came against the run of play. Kilkenny are hard to beat, we know that. We’d be disappointed but we’ll have to bottle that hurt now for next weekend.”

“We are going to regroup during the week and then get back to Thurles next Saturday evening. We are fighting the same as Tipperary, so it is going to be a brilliant match.”