Brian Cody had no complaints in the aftermath of his Kilkenny side's All-Ireland hurling final defeat by Tipperary, insisting "the better team won".
The legendary Cats boss was on the losing side for the fourth time and offered no excuses after a second-half blitz saw Tipperary run away to a nine-point victory at Croke Park.
"There's no arguments about today, the better team won the match," Cody told The Sunday Game.
"It was comprehensive. We went in at half-time two points down, well in the game, and got a good start to the second half and got the goal.
"But they didn't blink, they came back at us and they got some terrific scores. We were outplayed throughout the second half and there's no argument that the better team won."
Cody also refused to focus on the absence of the injured Michael Fennelly, and was full of praise for Tipperary's team.
No arguments, the better team won, says Brian Cody https://t.co/uY4ycF623R
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) September 4, 2016
And the Cats boss refused to point the finger at his defenders, despite Tipp’s full-forward line of Seamus Callanan, John McGrath and John O’Dwyer scoring 2-21 between them.
“You look at everything and it’s not always about what’s happening in the full-back line when the full-forward line are on top,” explained the most successful manger in hurling history.
“It happens all over the field and no one is pointing the finger. It’s collective thing right throughout the field and on the sideline. We win together and we lose together and today we lost together.
“They did fight it out to the bitter end, but we weren’t narrowing the gap enough and as the minutes went on it was getting more and more difficult. A goal is a great score to get and we didn’t get that bounce. They came back, they were strong and they were resilient.”
