Kieran Kingston revealed that his ‘greedy’ Cork players wanted more than they got from this year and says this is a sign of just how far they have travelled during the season.
The Rebels lost their All-Ireland semi-final to Waterford by eleven points, but the game was in the melting pot until the final quarter when full-back Damien Cahalane was sent off and the Deise struck for two quick goals.
Kingston’s side weren’t rated amongst the serious contenders for silverware in 2017, yet they won the Munster championship and the manager says they badly wanted more.
"We’re greedy, we’re ambitious, we want to do more than that," he said in the wake of the 4-19 to 0-20 reverse at Croke Park, which sends Waterford through to an All-Ireland final showdown with Galway on 3 September.
"We’d a right chance of doing it. We were going in at half-time and we had mastered the breeze that was there. We were a point down, hadn’t hurled fantastically, weren’t allowed hurl fantastically, but still, the game was there to be won.
"Then we kick on and we go two points up so we’re ambitious, we’re greedy, we’re not in any way arrogant like that, we’re confident in the group we have and we felt that we could go and win this game.
"It does reflect on the progress and the transition to a degree but, as I said, that doesn’t make the day any easier."
No excuse from Kieran Kingston as his @corkgaa side exit at the semi-final stage pic.twitter.com/9nUnQ5Eh8o
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 13, 2017
Kingston, who was a Cork selector under Jimmy Barry Murphy when the Rebels lost the 2013 All-Ireland final to Clare after a replay and is in his second season in charge, was full of praise for his players.
"At the start of the year we were totally written off," he said. "We won a Munster League, we won a Munster Championship, had a good League campaign. That’s not where we felt we wanted to stop. We wanted to go on and we’re hugely disappointed we didn’t.
"That Cork bunch of players have been fantastic all year. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them for and we asked them to change a lot. We asked them at the end of last year, the start of this year, to make a lot of changes.
"We asked them to change a huge number of things and the culture of the way we do things in many ways and they bought into that.
"Without a question, every single one bought into that and they’ve got the whole of Cork behind them and you can see that from support we got in games right through the year."
Before he finished, Kingston paused from talk of the game to mention the name of Galway great Tony Keady, who died last Wednesday, and pass on the condolences of Cork GAA to his family and loved ones.
He said: "That puts sport in perspective. I think it’d be remiss of us not to acknowledge that with the day that’s in it."
