Denis Walsh was happy to erase the memory of last year's mauling by Kilkenny in Nowlan Park, admitting that Cork's pride had been hurt by the experience.

"There were only seven of today's 15 who started the match last year, but I'm sure from a Cork hurling point of view, this was a matter of pride," he said following the Rebels' 0-18 to 1-13 win.

"These guys have been together a long time and the new guys have blended in very well. I think we got the message today they wanted to win in the last quarter of an hour when it was there to be won, and we could easily have left it behind us."

His Kilkenny counterpart Brian Cody was surprisingly upbeat, despite this being the Cats' second defeat on the bounce.

"There were a lot of good things from our point of view. We were disappointed to lose, as ever, but we were reasonably happy with the performance," he said. Tweet

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