Derek Lyng gives frank explanation for Kilkenny's damaging loss to Clare
"I felt we were in a really strong position and we didn't see it out. We didn't play well enough."
Kilkenny boss Derek Lyng said Clare deserved their victory after winning "all the battles" in their All-Ireland semi-final encounter.
The Cats were in the driving seat at half-time and only fell behind in the 68th minute, but Clare timed their run perfectly to end their losing run in the championship to Kilkenny.
"We were in a strong position when we got the second goal," said Lyng, referring to Billy Ryan's opportunist 47th minute effort. "We didn't kick on when we should have.
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"We tried making a few changes to get a spark back into us but the momentum was with Clare. The reality of it is that they won all the battles. That was my feeling on it.
"They were attacking it better, in front of the man - and when they were winning all the battles around the pitch, we struggled on the back of that. They deserved it in the second half.
"We probably had a couple of chances that we didn't take, but that's also down to the pressure that Clare were putting on us. I suppose we tried to kind of move things around just to get lads into the game, bringing others on to bring energy to it.
"But I have to credit Clare. They were winning most of the battles and the credit goes to them."
Lyng conceded that Kilkenny had all the momentum coming back out for the second half but let it slip and couldn't regain it - and were made to pay for the chances they missed.
"It's disappointing," he said. "We tried to wrestle it back. In fairness to the players, they never stopped trying. As always, their effort was outstanding.
"But it's a tough one because I felt we were in a really strong position and we didn't see it out. We didn't play well enough.
"When you're on top, you have to be scoring, you have to take your chances. We had our spell when we were dominant. The last day we were very efficient, whereas today we probably weren't as efficient.
"I'm not sure of the stats but in the second half you know Clare are going to come at you. It's always been the same.
"They come at you and they obviously got more points on the board today. Another couple of points obviously would have been a big help going in and at the end as well.
"I'm just disappointed overall. Even though we were six points ahead, I thought there were aspects of our play that were still a little bit off."
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