Skipper Rory Best was left to lament the slow start which cost Ireland the chance at historic back-to-back victories against New Zealand in Dublin.
The All Blacks raced out to a 14-3 lead in the opening 15 minutes, leaving the hosts with a mountain that they tried in vain to climb but fell short as the world champions ran out 21-9 winners.
"You can't fault the effort from this group of players," Best told RTÉ Sport.
"We'll be disappointed with the way we started the game, and the first half in general, we just didn't attack them the way we did in Chicago and the way we talked about during the week."
Ireland dominated the early stages of the second half but New Zealand's defence held firm as the men in green had a number of close calls but plundered just three points from that period of sustained pressure.
"We came out with a lot more impetus in the second half, but just couldn't get that try," Best said.
"If you're going to beat the All Blacks you're going to have to score more than nine points and you're certainly going to need at least one try, and unfortunately we came up short of that today.
"From our side of things that's very disappointing.
"A few bits and pieces didn't go our way, but we have to look at ourselves and make those bounces of the ball and little decisions go our way by the intent that we show. We just didn't show it for enough of the game.
"We'll have to take a large part of that on the chin. But credit to New Zealand, the came out and started the game really strongly and put us under pressure."
Ireland's November programme ends with the visit of Michael Cheika's Australia next weekend, and Best insisted that there would be no let-up in the hosts' intensity.
"That's test match rugby. We'll pout a lot of pressure on ourselves to recover over the next few days. We'll meet up tomorrow night and we'll have a look at how we're going to beat Australia.
"We obviously put a lot of time and effort into this week and we'll put the same into next week."
"You have to score more than 9pts to beat the All Blacks" https://t.co/MliXPhi7Iw
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) November 19, 2016
