The bare facts don't tell the whole story.
For the third successive year, the Kerry hurlers have came up second best in the Joe McDonagh final.
With the Kingdom trailing at one stage by a dozen points in the first half, it looked a damage limitation exercise for the Munster men, but they rallied and Padraig Boyle's 77th minute goal left just one in it but Kerry simply ran out of time.
That’s how the game finished, but for manager Stephen Molumphy, there was more to this than simply another loss on the big stage.
In charge for just six months, he has blooded 18 new players onto the panel and their resilience was tested to the max in GAA HQ.
"Kerry hurlers are here to stay. The performance in the second half, it typified our performances throughout the year," he told RTÉ Sport.
"The first half (against Antrim) we didn’t put in the same work ethic we normally do. The lads themselves called it out at half-time. There are a lot of leaders in that team.
"We had a chance to nab it at the end, but I'm extremely proud."
The former Waterford hurler admitted that the Saffrons were more ruthless in the opening 35 minutes, but feels the new Kerry crop are on the right path, with a preliminary quarter-final tie at home to Wexford next weekend to look forward to.
"It’s a massive transition, but things are very positive. A lot of these guys are 18, their first time up here.
"Kerry hurling is on the way up. We’ve been in the final three times. It’s a common thing now. We need to build on that.
"Next week is great, we will focus and get ready and give it everything."
The final also highlighted the unfair conditions Kerry face in attempting to progress.
Antrim’s reward for the narrow victory was promotion to Leinster, replacing Laois for 2023. However, if the Kingdom had prevailed, they would have had to face Tipperary in a promotion/relegation play-off for the right to play in the Munster Championship.
Very few have offered sound reason why this is the case and Molumphy feels that the winds of change are beginning to blow at the higher echelons of the association.
"I think it will happen. You look at the likes of Carlow, Antrim, Westmeath, Laois, they are up and down, but it brings them on, it improves them.
"I think the same will happen in Munster."
