Former Waterford star John Mullane says the Déise will learn from defeat and return to challenge again.
The RTÉ analyst had famously promised to ride naked on a horse down the Waterford quays had his old team managed to get over the line but, having been spared his blushes, was magnanimous in defeat.
Speaking on RTÉ's Sunday Sport, an emotional Mullane said: "It’s devastating for the lads, we’ll be back.
"I think Kevin [Moran] missed a chance to put us two points ahead. We had opportunities but they got the margin.
"I’m an emotional wreck here at the moment. I’m in tears for my own county but look if we weren’t to win it, I had one of the best nights of my life last night with an awful lot of Galway people.
"And if we weren’t going to win it fair dues to Galway.
"If anyone deserves this it’s Galway, we will be back, we’ll learn from this, we’ll bottle this.
"Sometimes you have to lose one to win one. We’re a fantastic county.
"I’m proud of the lads. I’m proud of Derek [McGrath], I’m proud of the management.
"It’s Galway’s day. It was written in the stars this year when Tony Keady passed away a month ago.
"When you lose a legend like that it puts everything into perspective.
"We’ve [only] lost a match, we’ve [only] lost an All-Ireland."
