Clare manager Colm Collins was fulsome in his praise for Derry in the wake of their demolition of his side in Saturday's All-Ireland quarter-final.
And the longest serving manager in the inter-county game passed up the chance to tell the assembled reporters whether he was calling it a day.
"First of all, full credit to Derry, a clinical display, fantastic finishing, especially in the area of goals. A fantastic display all around the pitch," Collins told reporters afterwards.
"To match that, things needed to go really right for us and I don't think they did. I don't think we played particularly well in a lot of aspects of our game. And we were punished.
"It was a bit of a mountain alright. Conceding those early goals is exactly what you don't do. And anytime we made a break to get back at them, they answered immediately with a goal.
"That goal before half-time was a killer, we had got it down to six at that point. Listen, you can go on and on and on about Clare but you've got to give credit to Derry. It was a fine display and (Rory Gallagher) has a fine team.
"One of the things about being in the same division as Derry, you're aware of their personnel and what they can do. There was no surprises. That's as clinical as they've ever been in front of goal, though (laughs)."
While Collins was minded to shift the conversation towards Derry's quality rather than his own team's failings, the Clare boss did rue the opening half bout of shooting yips and, in particular, the mistake which led to the first goal, when goalkeeper Tristan O'Callaghan dinked his kickout down the throat of Ethan Doherty.
"If you took only an U12 team you had and you took them out and they didn't perform, you'd be cheesed (off) afterwards. But you're as good as you're allowed to play and I would in no way take away from Derry's performance.
"One of the key things about the top teams, and I would rate Derry as that, is that you don't give away silly goals like that (first one). If you're on the back foot then, things change. I thought we were doing well up to then. That was a killer.
"It wasn't a great display by us, you'd be disappointed with that. If you'd gone out and performed well and got beaten, then fair enough. But as I said, you're as good as you're allowed to play.
"It's good for development and it's nice to see Clare football teams playing in Croke Park, our hurlers have been there a good bit. But today, it's hard to focus in on that part of it..."
Collins has been in situ in Clare since 2013, with some pondering that reaching an All-Ireland quarter-final for the second time might mark a natural end to his long tenure.
In playful mood, Collins said he wasn't minded to let the media know before everyone else.
"Much as I appreciate all the marvellous work ye guys do promoting Gaelic Games and much as I respect every one of ye, ye are not going to be the first people to know when I'm gone," he quipped.
"My family might be first, the players might be second, the backroom team might be third and the county board might be fourth. But it's something we've got to think about anyway."
