Cork manager Pat Ryan lamented a slow start from his side after their one-point loss to Kilkenny, as well as a profligacy in front of the posts that has characterised too many performances from the Rebels over the last year.
The Cats prevailed by 0-21 to 0-17 at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh as the home side suffered a second consecutive defeat on Division 1A.
Kilkenny enjoyed a nine-point buffer by the 26th minute and while Cork rallied impressively after the interval, Conor O'Callaghan's major was a poor return on a host of goal chances.
"We didn't come out of the traps well, Ryan admitted in his post-match interview with RTÉ Sport. "We let Kilkenny into the game, missed a lot of chances in the second half, but we're very proud of our lads, the way that we came back.
"We were probably too slow on the ball at the start, lateral passing and stuff like that.
"But very proud of the lads' attitude, they could have thrown in the towel, but we came back, went ahead.
"We had a couple of chances and we probably should have won the game in the end."
Cork manager Pat Ryan admits that his side's poor start against Kilkenny cost them, but he does take heart from the way they clawed their way back into the game. #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/1yQYetK0y5
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) February 10, 2024
Cork struggled to match the physical intensity of Derek Lyng's charges, particularly in the early exchanges, and Ryan's team will have plenty to ponder in their debrief.
"In fairness to Kilkenny, they're big, strong physical fellas and they worked our socks off to put us under pressure," the Cork boss added.
"In fairness to our fellas, when we moved the ball and attacked the game, I thought we played a lot of good hurling in the second half.
"I suppose that's what the league is for, moving on and finding areas you can improve upon."
Cork once again suffered from a lack of clinical finishing and paid the price for deficits among their forward ranks.
"We're leaving a lot of chances behind in a lot of games and we probably did the same last year," Ryan admitted
"We probably created seven or eight goal chances and we only took one. That was the difference. I think we had one or two great goal opportunities in the last five or six minutes.
"It's the start of the league and the start of the year, fellas will get sharper, but we need fellas to get sharper."
