The Sunday Game panel of Henry Shefflin, Ken McGrath and Anthony Daly were in agreement that Kilkenny's more "composed approach" at the start of the second half was crucial in their 1-21 to 0-18 victory.
"Kilkenny knew they were in a dogfight at half-time and by the eight minute {of the second half} they had pushed five ahead and were probably saying to themselves that this is the time we can win it."
Daly also referenced Waterford's inability to find the back of the net.
"They needed that goal. In the Munster final they scored 16 points, today they got 18, but no goals in either game. Waterford need that bit more and it just didn't come and there was a lot of aimless ball in the second half.They'll work on that though; Derek [McGrath} is very clever and he'll know that they'll need to expand his team and his game for next year."
Former Cats star Henry Shefflin added that Kilkenny "saw more from their forwards in the second period" and highlighted the contribution of Ger Aylward, Richie Hogan, Cillian Buckley and Michael Fennelly.
"There was only winner in the second half," was how Ken McGrath saw it, while also bemoaning the fact that the game petered out for his native county in the final 10 minutes.
"It's another semi-final loss for Waterford and we lost it fairly poorly in the end," he concluded.
