After Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final loss to Kerry, Conor Counihan admitted that his Cork side had themselves to blame as they slipped in the closing stages to let the Kingdom oust them once again at Croke Park. The Rebels overcame a nine-point deficit in the last quarter to draw themselves level with the All-Ireland Champions heading into the last five minutes, but Colm Cooper's goal moments after decided their fate for the year once more. "Unfortunately, we have ourselves to blame to a certain extent. We left ourselves with a lot to do. We started well but we didn't put scores on the board. That was a troublesome for us. The longer that went, Kerry were gaining in the momentum and gaining in belief. We went out of the game for quite a bit at that stage," admitted the Cork boss. "I suppose we were fortunate enough to get a goal at half-time and drag ourselves back into it. We came out for the second-half saying we were really going to throw everything at it and within a minute or two we were down another four points." Counihan did, however, laud his players for the character they displayed on the day, and admitted that they could take something away from Sunday's performance. "There's something about these fellows. They just don't give up, they kept pushing on. A lot of that group over the past five or six years have been knocking at the door trying to kick it down. Today there was a bit of light at the door for the first time but unfortunately it was shut again." The Rebels manager had come under some criticism over his selections against the Kingdom, but says that when you have the winning formula like the All-Ireland Champions have it's a lot easier to pick a starting 15. "We have a lot of evenly balanced players. We had difficult decisions (for this game) and we had difficult decisions all the year," said Counihan. "Whether we got the right 15 or not, I don't know. Some days you feel you have; other days you haven't. If you are coming into a Kerry team where you have a winning system, it's easier to do." Tweet

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