Defiant Galway manager Anthony Cunningham claimed his players will keep going until they finally end the county's wait for another All-Ireland title.
Galway succumbed to an explosive Kilkenny performance in the second half of the All-Ireland SHC final at Croke Park after a strong opening period had them three points in the ascendancy.
Cunningham admitted the Cats were simply too string for his side on the day, but backed his men to come back stronger for the 1-22 to 1-18 defeat.
"These guys will stay going until they win an All-Ireland, it’s in them, the hurling is there and it’s just a matter of patience," Cunningham told RTÉ Sport.
“Unfortunately we came out second best in the second half. Congratulations to Kilkenny, they were the better team in the second half, we just had a few unforced errors, only returned 1-4 in the second half, but no fault to any of our players.
"They gave some effort. Maybe a couple of decisions went against us at the start of the second half and Kilkenny, with all their experience and guile and craft, punished us."
Cunningham is now looking for the Tribesmen to raise the bar once again and learn from the heartached of the four-point loss.
“We had a couple of chances and maybe on another day they’d have gone over, but overall Kilkenny really upped their game and we weren’t able to match it in the second half. But we tried our damnedest there and you’ve got to stay in the game.
"We gave everything, we’ve had a super year and we live to fight another day. I just feel so sorry for our players and our supporters who’ve come from all over the world.
"It’s so hard to take but that’s sport. We do need to up it another notch or two."
