Dublin manager Ger Cunningham admits he was shocked by the manner in which Galway "blitzed" his team in Saturday's Leinster SHC quarter-final replay in Tullamore.
The Tribesmen were 18 points ahead after as many minutes, with 20-year-old Cathal Mannion scoring a hat-trick in the first ten minutes.
Cunningham said that his team had been disappointed not to win the drawn game at Croke Park and that he had expected them to improve for the rematch in O'Connor Park rather than suffer a heavy defeat.
"I didn’t see it [coming]," he told RTÉ Sport. "I was probably a bit disappointed with our display in Croke Park. I felt we could have played a bit better.
"You do need to take a step up from league to championship. We stepped it up a bit, but not as much as we needed to, and last Saturday we weren’t able to match Galway’s intensity.
"They were extremely sharp and had a hunger for the ball. At different stages all through the match there were two or three Galway fellas to one Dublin fella.
"I think it helps if you get a start and take off - you’re eight or nine points up after 10 minutes; it allows you that extra bit of freedom."
"We were just blown away in the first part of the game and left with a mountain to climb"
Cunningham accepted that letting Galway snatch a replay late on in the first game could have affected the Dublin players and rued the fact that his under-21 stars were also forced to play in a midweek defeat to Kilkenny, but he accepted that it was ultimately that disastrous opening that cost them a place in the Leinster semi-final.
"Maybe it [the draw] was a factor," he said. "I think we went to win in Croke Park. We prepared well and everyone was ready for it.
"We possibly could have closed it out and we didn’t so maybe there was a bit of disappointment lingering there.
"It was disappointing that the under-21 game was played, particularly as Kilkenny agreed the match could go off. Asking guys to play three matches in six days, particularly just after exams, was crazy stuff, really.
"But we prepared well, there was good recovery there, was good focus.
"It was just the start. If you look at the second 45 minutes I think we outscored them. But the game is over 70 minutes and, unfortunately, we were just blown away in the first part of the game and left with a mountain to climb.
"The one thing we've been trying to do all year is trying to be consistent and be competitive in all the matches. To not have those swings and not have those situations where you're up one day and down the next day.
"I think we've been successful enough all year in relation to that concept, just the first 20 minutes we were just blitzed."
Cunningham said that the team and management had reflected on the nature of the defeat, but that Galway's early goals made their tactical planning redundant.
“There's reflection all round," he said. "It's a collective, it's not just about the players. We've to look at ourselves as well.
"We have to look at how the whole thing panned out in relation to the performance. Some players will prefer to reflect and think about it and feel the pain, other players will prefer to forget about it and move on fairly quickly.
"Hindsight is a great thing. We had a planned move, which we did, after five minutes, but we didn't expect to be eight or nine points down at that stage.
"Maybe from the start, from the throw-in, we should have been looking at it [their strategy]. But, at the same time, you need to see how the game pans out as well. If we had got a goal in the first minute you'd look on things differently.
"From our point of view, we've played the same system all through the league and all through the matches. Maybe lessons were learned and if it's something that happens again we might look at it.
"I think if we'd got the penalty, if Dave [Treacy] had got that it might have settled us a bit, it would have been a lift for everybody and brought us back to five points but, again, it's ifs and buts."
The Cork native emphasised that Dublin now needed to refocus for the challenge of the the All-Ireland qualifiers, where they could face Cork, Clare or the losers of Limerick v Tipperary, all of whom were All-Ireland semi-finalists in 2013.
"Your focus all year has been on the championship, 31 May and the replay, so I think it's no harm to sit back for a couple of days and think about it, and try to find reasons why we performed the way we did. We'll try to get back to the training ground and take the lessons from it.
"At the same time, you've got to move on as well. One championship is over and we're into another championship in four weeks' time.
"We still don't know who we're going to be playing. We know some of the Munster teams and the third one’s going to be Limerick or Tipp. It’s as tough as you’re going to get.
"It’s a direction we hadn’t planned on going. We hoped to get to a Leinster final and try and win that and go through the front door. But we are where we are and we have to accept that’s the way it’s going to be."
"You would hope that there will be a reaction from us as a group"
"We’ve three and a half weeks to pick it up and get ready for whoever we’re going to play. Sometimes if you can get a victory in the first round it leads to a bit of momentum and that can build."
Regardless of who they face, Cunningham expects a backlash to the Galway thrashing from his players.
"You would hope that there will be a reaction from us as a group," he said.
"Lads need to react themselves on how they performed and why. We'll look from our point of view to see how to help them achieve their potential.
"It’s a collective thing from Saturday. There is no blame on any one, it's all of us together. We have to regroup and get the spirit back, get the focus and motivation back and take it forward."
Dublin defender Michael Carton said the players had let everyone down and were now determined to make amends.
"We let Ger down but we also let ourselves down on the day and all the supporters. No one wants to see us play like that, especially us," he said.
"You don’t see it coming but you try not to let the heads drop, have some pride in the jersey and fight back. But there wasn't too much fight in us.
"I suppose we’ll see what the team’s made of now. We’ve four weeks to see what Dublin hurling is about so we’ll find out now in four weeks' time."
Ger Cunningham and Michael Carton were speaking at the launch of Toyota's Summer Showtime promotion
