Antrim captain Eoghan Campbell felt his side gifted Dublin victory as the Saffrons attempted to take some positives from the thrilling conclusion to the Allianz Hurling League Division 1B clash at Corrigan Park.
The home side were set to win the clash only for an error from goalkeeper Tiernan Smyth in stoppage time which saw the ball across his own line for what proved to be the crucial goal.
It denied Antrim a breakthrough in the league with Campbell feeling they had thrown away a winning position and need to learn how to close out a game.
He felt Dublin "stole" the two points but they only had themselves to blame.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, he said: "It was a horrible way to lose. We shouldn't have put ourselves in the situation (where a goal could swing the game). There was a bit of breeze with us in the second half and we went three points up. We have that tendency that once we go three up we don't go four and five.
"We let them get a few easy points. It's disheartening but if you look at last week there was only a 20 or 25-minute performance in us. Today we gave it everything for 65, 70, almost 80 minutes. It's a building step for us. That's how we'll look at it.
"We should have beat them, there is no doubt about that. They stole it from us. But hurling doesn't give you anything. You have to earn it, you have to take it off them and we just didn't do that. That's the way it is. We'll pick it up and go again in two weeks.
"You take the heartbreak and the only way to get over it is to get on the bandwagon. With the league and the way the standings are next year, we do have one eye on Championship. We're building towards it. But when you're in your home ground with your fans behind you, you do want to win. It is what it is and you move on."
Smyth will the one feeling the most pain from the manner of the defeat with the captain keen to stress it is just a blip for the goalkeeper.
"It's a lonely position to be in. A ball drops in like that and it happens. We'll get in and around him, we'll pick him up, he's a great young fella.
"He is good-hearted and he'll drive it on this week in training. He'll be 100% for Galway and we'll make sure he is."
Dublin boss Micheál Donoghue felt sympathy for the opposition and counterpart Darren Gleeson.
Nevertheless he was pleased and relieved to come away with the victory.
Donoghue explained: "It wasn't looking great. Antrim came out really strongly in the second half. In fairness to our lads you have to really fight right to the very end.
"There is only one time to lead and that is when the final whistle goes. Yes it was a very lucky goal but the players stayed at it, kept pushing and we came away with the two points
"For us we knew coming up it was going to be a tough game. It was only my second time in Corrigan Park. Darren is doing a brilliant job with Antrim and they always have great support. It's a hard place to come and play.
"We knew it was going to be tough and in fairness to our lads they showed a lot of resilience to stick at it. Thankfully we got the two points
"We've played them four or five times here in the last two seasons and there has been very little between the two teams.
"We feel very lucky going home with two points. At the minute we are probably a bit stretched in terms of the squad with the amount of injuries we have. It was a testament to the lads that played today to get the result."
The Dubs boss is hoping to see some returning faces ahead of the visit of All-Ireland champions Limerick to Parnell Park.
"We have a two week break now to see if we can get some more bodies onto the pitch and look forward to the rest of the league."
