Cork captain Alan Browne has admitted that their failure to take scores in the first-half was their major downfall. "How do you explain it? I mean fellas weren't shooting the ball wide on purpose. Just, the ball wasn't going over, maybe fellas just didn't take the second to think, or whatever," he sighed. "It's certainly not an excuse, but I think the sun also there in the first-half was a factor, shining down on fellas. It was shining from behind the goal. "Our best spell was certainly in the second-half. We were motoring there, we were six points down at half-time and at one stage we were leading by a point. I mean to turn around like that against Kilkenny; it obviously showed we upped our game. We played well but it wasn't enough in the end." And he tried to put some overall perspective to their year, which over time may be remembered as a successful 12 months in Cork hurling. "That's what we are reminding ourselves. Nobody gave us a chance even against Clare or against Waterford. We won the Munster championship, which is something we have not done since 2000. It's a relatively successful year." Tweet

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