Tipperary manager Eamon O'Shea admitted that his side were too reliant on star forward Seamus Callanan in their All-Ireland SHC semi-final defeat to Galway.
Callanan scored a sensational 3-09, 3-04 of which came from play, but it wasn't enough to stop Galway running out 0-26 to 3-16 victors and advancing to an All-Ireland final date with Kilkenny on 6 September.
"You'd have to look at it like that," O'Shea told RTÉ Sport. "Seamus is a fantastic player. We lacked a little bit of fluency in the forward line and we needed [more] support for him.
O'Shea was proud of his players efforts in what was a thrilling semi-final clash but rejected suggestions a draw would have been a fairer result, despite the single-point margin of defeat.
"I thought we fought to the end, even though we weren't playing as well as we wanted to," he said.
"The effort was huge from both sides. Certainly, in terms of excitement, it was a great game right to the finish.
"We fought to the finish but it wasn't to be our day. You don't 'deserve' anything, you accept the final the result and Galway won by a point.
"In fairness to Galway, they got their one-point win and I'd have nothing but credit for them for today's game. They had strong desire."
O'Shea's tenure as Tipperary manager has come to an end after three seasons in charge, which included an All-Ireland final appearance in 2014 and winning the Munster title this summer. Assistant manager Michael Ryan will replace him for next year.
O'Shea paid tribute to the Premier County players and insisted they will be back challenging for the Liam MacCarthy Cup in the future.
"I can't ask them for any more. They've given hugely to me over the last number of years," O'Shea said.
"We're really down but these lads will come again, it's not the end for them. There's a strong nucleus of a team there to be really competitive.
"It's not my day, it's their day. They're going to have more days and I'll be watching them. The future is theirs.
"You've just got to keep going. You get nothing [easy] in this life, you just have to keep working and hope the breaks come now and again.
"In fairness, we got our share of breaks over the years. These boys will keep going."
