Pat Ryan rues missed chance but proud of Cork after narrow All-Ireland final defeat to Clare

Sixty seven scores in 100 minutes. Just a single point between the teams at the finish.

The 2024 All-Ireland hurling final will live long in the memory.

But that's not much consolation to Cork, whose long wait for Liam MacCarthy goes on after losing a classic to Clare by the slimmest margin.

"Obviously, we're very disappointed," manager Pat Ryan told RTÉ Sport after the 3-29 to 1-34 defeat.

"We came up here to win today and we didn’t get over the line. All credit to Clare – they performed fantastically and probably just about deserved their victory in the end.

"The lads can be very proud of how they performed, but, at the same time, we came up here to win and we didn’t.

"We’ll lick our wounds and congratulate Clare. They’ll have a great couple of days and we’ll have a sad couple of days and fellas will go back to their clubs. We’ll regroup and see where that takes us."

'I'm devastated for our players.. they've represented the jersey and just couldn't get over the line'

Cork manager Pat Ryan reacts to heartbreaking defeat in All-Ireland hurling final#rtegaa
Report: https://t.co/4qoCBfKOaT pic.twitter.com/qrRZCfhoq6

To invoke the late Páidí Ó Sé, what were the grains of rice that tipped the scales?

"We probably didn’t take enough goal chances that we created," he said.

"We probably had another four or five goal chances except for the one that we did take [a brilliant Rob Downey solo effort] and we needed to take them. That was probably where the game lay."

Ryan also felt that after going seven points up inside 12 minutes, his players "allowed too many short puckouts".

"I think their stats were very good on that, the stats on their long puckouts probably weren't as good in the first half.

"They were able to work the ball out and we lost