Ollie Baker felt Offaly deserved to be more than a point in front at half-time in their Leinster SHC quarter-final defeat to Kilkenny.

Colin Egan and Joe Bergin scored early goals as the Faithful threatened to cause a major upset, but the concession of several frees allowed the All-Ireland champions back into the game before they pulled away in the second half.

"To go in a point up after playing so well was disappointing," the Offaly manager admitted to RTE.

"We got a fantastic start. We hurled with great pace for the first 25 minutes, but unfortunately we weren't able to see it out and are very disappointed. Nobody gave us a chance, but we felt we had a good chance ourselves - getting Kilkenny in a quarter-final with a home draw - was a good time to get them.

"Joe Bergin scored a fantastic goal, the stuff of dreams, which gave us great momentum, but unfortunately we weren't able to hold on."

Baker put Offaly's tendency to give away frees down to their Allianz League Division 1B status.

"That's the first game this year we've played with that pace," he pointed out.

"It's very hard to live at that pace, particularly coming from the low base we're coming from. Having said that, a couple of frees Kilkenny got could have gone our way.

"The lads showed character and to score a goal with the last puck of the game is testament to them never giving up." Tweet

Most Read Stories