Ian O'Riordan talks to the Cork manager about the one that slipped away

When the last nine months have been about plotting to win the All-Ireland it can be hard to fill that empty feeling when you lose. Donal O'Grady reckons a round of golf might help. So, before heading south yesterday, the Cork manager slips across from Citywest, the team hotel for the weekend, and with calm mountains as a backdrop tries to put some perspective on the flurried afternoon at Croke Park.

He has much to ponder. A good season that in the end came down to lost opportunities. But there is no consolation in talk of progression. O'Grady knows modern hurling comes with no guarantees.

"Well, my view about All-Ireland finals is that when you have the chance to win, you have to take it. You never know when you'll be back there again. I still remember the classic case of 1971, when Tipperary won 5-17 to 5-14 against Kilkenny, but weren't seen in Croke Park again for another 16 years.

"So you never know what the future holds. We had our chances on Sunday, and even a draw would have been a great result for us. But Kilkenny got the scores and we didn't. I don't think there was any difference in ability after that."

As a manager O'Grady must also help break the players' fall, the same way he helped build them into All-Ireland finalists. In the aftermath of Sunday, heads were, naturally, held low. He makes no excuses for that.

"But I think the players took a philosophical view on it. They realise they hurled very well at times, and but for the lapses in the first half they would have won the game. We had 11 wides in the first half, and we only needed three or four of those to go over and it could have been so different.

"It's still a bit early to fully analyse it, whether they were just nervous or whatever. We're just not quite sure. But the players were a little bit flat in the first 10 minutes, and maybe the warm-up didn't go as well as it should."

When the nitpicking starts O'Grady does find some bones of contention. Like the way his team were ready to race onto the field, only to be told the field wasn't quite ready for them.

"Sure they were still going on with the Hurling Brothers presentation. I think the organisation on the All-Ireland final day could be a little better than that. We were told to go at five past three, then told to hold back the players for a minute. And that's not good enough for All-Ireland day."

And the throwing of a Kilkenny hurl from behind the goal, just as Ben O'Connor was moving into attack mode? "If that was the situation then the referee should have taken the carrier aside. But I didn't see it at the time, so I can't really make any judgment on it."

O'Grady was seen to come out of the dressing-room at half-time five minutes before the players, the sort of thing that always starts rumours of discontent; yet he was merely leaving the final words to the players themselves.

"I had said what I wanted to say. I had asked some questions of the players. Not that I'd felt we were going very badly, but that they had to concentrate in getting the scores. Beyond the first 10 minutes I didn't think we were under any great pressure from Kilkenny. So there was no point in hanging around after I'd said that. They're grown men, too."

Right now, though, there is no talk of O'Grady's commitments: "Well, this is the end of the season now. It's a time for reflection, and decisions about the future are for the late autumn."

For some of the players, too, the question of recommitting for another year will arise. Wayne Sherlock speaks for some when he recounts the disappointment.

"Players waking up this morning seemed to be sorer than ever," he says. "But that's always the way when you lose. You always find more pains and aches.

"Hopefully we can come back stronger from this. But I know a few players at the moment are talking about packing it in. It's not easy with work and marriages and kids and that. It can only go on so long. But I've definitely got the hunger for next year. Until we win the All-Ireland it means nothing."

Sherlock, like so many of the Cork hurlers, had done all he could, keeping his man Eddie Brennan scoreless, and yet still he saw his efforts fall short.

"Well, if you'd said before the game that we'd hold DJ Carey and Brennan scoreless then sure, you'd think we'd win. But it's always the unsung heroes that matter in an All-Ireland. But you know, we'll all be back to work tomorrow, so it's only a game."

So ends a Cork hurling year that moved through campaigns of different sorts but didn't all end in failure. The stand the players took at the start hasn't been undermined in any way, except, says Sherlock, that the picture isn't quite completed yet.

"We wouldn't have made that stand unless we thought we were going to win the All-Ireland. Players like Joe Deane and Donal Cusack, who led us all year, and who stood up for the cause, still did so much for Cork hurling. And until we win the All-Ireland again we won't be happy."