DUBLIN MANAGER ANTHONY Daly rued “poor decision-making” and the concession of an early goal as his side were knocked out of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship yesterday.
Despite putting in a dogged display, the Dubs were beaten 1-19 to 0-18 by Munster hurling champions Tipperary.
Daly still believed the manner of the performance proved some critics wrong, telling reporters:
“Driving home from last week’s semi-final, it was a good thing the motorway was wide because some fellas on the radio were giving us no chance at all.”
The manager said that the only time his side didn’t perform this year was during the Leinster final and explained how “we promised ourselves that we would perform today”.
And while there may have been a sense of apprehension after they were comfortably beaten 4-17 to 1-15 by Kilkenny in the Leinster final, Daly was confident there was no chance of a demolition akin to the one that occurred in the Munster final, in which Tipp put an astonishing seven goals past Waterford.
Daly said:
“It was never going to be like the last day for them. That was a bit of a freak show down in Cork with the seven goals. It’s a rare thing for a team to hit two days like that on the bounce. It must have been hard for the Tipp management to get them 100 per cent tuned into us with all, with everyone talking about the final.”
While the preparation for next year’s championship starts now for Dublin, Tipperary can look forward to a climactic encounter with Kilkenny on 4 September, in a repeat of last year’s final.
