Carlow manager Turlough O'Brien rued his side's missed goal chances as they slumped to a four point defeat against Laois in Sunday's Leinster SFC semi-final in Croke Park.
Championship wins over Louth and Kildare, along with promotion to Division 3 in the spring, had ignited the county and sparked hopes of reaching a first Leinster decider in 74 years.
But for the third time this season, they fell short against neighbours Laois, missing a host of goal-scoring chances in the process.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after the game, O'Brien said the loss was tough to take and cited missed opportunities as key to deciding the outcome.
"It's very disappointing to lose a Leinster semi-final. It's not too often you get the opportunity to get to a Leinster semi-final. Laois and ourselves are very keen rivals. They've had the upper hand in the league and again here today so that's very hard to take.
"But the lads fought right to the end. We had four or five goal chances in the game. Clear chances. We didn't take any of them. I don't think Laois had one goal chance.
"Again, there's a kick of a ball between the two teams. Laois have got over the line here today and I hope they go well in the Leinster final now.
"We were pushing on but unfortunately we fluffed a few chances. Even had we taken a point off one of those and it might have driven the game in our direction.
"But mistakes are made on the pitch and that's what happens. Laois capitalised then and went down the far end to put a bit of daylight between the sides.
"It's been a massive improvement for Carlow. It's nothing to be sniffed at"
"We were getting a lot of plaudits from the game against Kildare for (shooting) no wides. I said that was a freak statistic from the game but today we had a few chances that we should have converted had we been a bit more patient. Whether that's Croke Park or not, I'm not sure."
While disappointed by the defeat, O'Brien could take much from their year's efforts so far.
"Look, it's been a massive improvement for Carlow. It's nothing to be sniffed at. We were promoted from the league, we've got to a Leinster semi-final. We've had a great campaign. While we're very disappointed coming out of here, I think we've a lot to be proud of for the year."
