Derek Lyng praised his side's spirit as they snatched a late victory over Galway at Croke Park to land Leinster title number 75.
The Tribesmen looked like they had done enough to withstand a couple of purple patches for the Cats when they established a two-point lead deep into second-half stoppage time.
But they failed to clear the ball on a number of occasions before Padraic Mannion's hack away with the boot saw the ball land in Cillian Buckley's hand.
The Dicksboro man made no mistake, rounding a defender before smashing the ball into the right corner.
A fourth provincial title on the spin sends Kilkenny into the semi-final, and means they can't meet defending champions Limerick until the All-Ireland final.
"We made it a bit hard on ourselves, the way we did it," Lyng said on RTÉ's Sunday Game afterwards.
"Huge spirit from the team and we kept going. I'm just delighted for them today, I thought their effort was outstanding.
"We were on top in the second half and had a few chances that we didn't finish off the game. They're a quality team, got back into it and it looked like we were going to be on the wrong end of it.
"You couldn't scrip it any better, the way we won it. The game was over, we got the goal. The ball was in the corner there for 30 seconds and it looked as though the game was going to fizzle out and that was going to be it
"They just kept plugging away, got the ball across and fair play to Cillian - I'm delighted for him.
"I'm most pleased about the fact that they never gave up. Ok, we've been inconsistent at times, but we got to a league final - didn't perform - got to a Leinster final and won.
"We're going to improve and we're going to look forward to the next game now."
'You couldn't script a better way to win it' – Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng was pleased by the fighting spirit shown by his team to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat
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It was a first Leinster final appearance for Kilkenny without Brian Cody at the helm since 1998. Cody had overseen an incredible period of success for the Cats, but it wasn't something that was on Lyng's mind in the build up.
Instead, the narrative that Galway "needed to win" was something that they discussed this week.
"It's a results business, I'm conscious of that," he continued.
"The talk the last couple of weeks was that Galway had to win. I felt we had to win and that was my mindset, and that was our mindset.
"Today is a day to be enjoyed. We'll do that tonight and get back to training on Tuesday night and get ready for the next one."
For Shefflin, who was so often on the winning side in Leinster finals as a Kilkenny player, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
"It's a devastated dressing room," he admitted on RTÉ's Sunday Sport afterwards.
"To lose like that, it's hard to stomach because you don't see that in the script. That's sport unfortunately, the highs and lows. Galway hurlers get a lot more lows than highs so that's why it would have been lovely to get over the line today.
"The goals Kilkenny kept on getting that hurt us the most. They were sucker punches, but to be fair to our lads they responded well to each of them. That's Kilkenny, as I know too well, they're never beaten until they're on the bus and that's what happened again today."
Galway trailed by eight points with 20 minutes to play but they looked like they had done enough when they outscored the Cats from there by 1-11 to 0-04 with the game entering its dying moments.
But then Buckley had the final say as he buried the decisive score to the net in the 42nd minute of the second half.
"There's been questions about the character of this team. I've been involved for two years and that's never been the case," Shefflin added.
"Last year we weren't happy with the flat performance we brought to Croke Park on Leinster final day. We didn't want to happen today.
"In the first half we were working extremely hard and giving it absolutely everything. The character they've shown this year... 12 points down against Dublin, six down against Kilkenny at Nowlan Park, and they've responded each and every time.
"A couple of days of major disappointment, I hope they can respond again - that's the challenge."
