Cork manager Kieran Kingston accentuated the positives despite his side's defeat to Waterford in the opening round of the Allianz Hurling League.
The Rebel county lost by a narrow 1-24 to 3-17 margin as Division 1A action got underway.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport in the aftermath, Kingston first expressed disappointment at the result.
"It was disappointing to lose the game. Any time you lose a game it's disappointing and particularly when we had a couple of chances to at least get a draw - whether it might have been fair on either team," he said.
"But at the same time, it's disappointing to lose because we came down here to win."
But the Cork hurling manager saw the way his team started as an upside.
"We got a great start. It was something we'd kind of said we'd get at it from the start, especially against the breeze," he said.
"It gave us a great platform and we maybe got a bit complacent for the next ten minutes or so.
"We made some poor mistakes and conceded frees which we were disappointed with and had some wides.
"But the pleasing thing for us is we created a lot of goalscoring opportunities over the course of the game.
"We took three and could have had another one or two which was positive and we never gave up in the end.
"We came back at it even though we didn't get a draw."
He added that his players showed "good heart" in the closing stages.
Kingston also acknowledged that part of the process in the league will be to rotate the squad with the summer's Championship in mind.
"Part of what we're trying to do during the league is rotate the squad a little bit and particularly in the next couple of weeks when you have a lot of guys involved in college hurling," he said.
"That's what you'll need when it comes to Championship. You've got a very tight schedule in Championship so it's good to get guys game-time at this level."
