"I said to them when I went in there first that I wanted to win a Munster club with this team. I have been ramming that down their throat for most of this season. That was our aim."

Ger 'Sparrow' O'Loughlin and Kilmallock ticked the box of their number one objective for the year.

"No excuses and no regrets. We might have lost the match but we didn't lose much else. For our players to put in the performance they did, I'm tremendously proud of them."

Cratloe manager Joe McGrath couldn't have asked for more from his players.

"Everyone was saying, 'You weren't tested' but there you are now! We've been gunning for this all year, we knew we had a little bit extra in us."

Gary Sice pick-pocketed Ballintubber for 1-2 in the Connacht Club SFC final.

"We were well beaten, we have no complaints."

Ballintubber boss Peter Ford was magnanimous in defeat.

"Some of the (training) games are very intense and lads are putting the hand up, saying they want that jersey, they want to play. That's keeping everyone on their toes, keeping them sharp. Things are in a good state in Ballyhale."

Ballyhale Shamrocks manager Colm Bonnar is now turning his attention to a Leinster final date with Kilcormac-Killoughey.

"The lads are going to learn loads from this. And the next day we tog out as a club team again, we'll have these painful memories in our arms and in our legs and certainly in our minds. And we're going to say, 'Look this is how we need to play hurling if we want to survive and succeed at this level'."

Ollie Baker expects Kilmacud Crokes to learn from their semi-final defeat to the Kilkenny kingpins.

"With that performance and the one against Navan, there's no reason they can't win that elusive Leinster title."

Moorefield manager Luke Dempsey thinks Rhode can give St Vincent's a rattle in the provincial decider.

"We're delighted to be back in a Leinster club final. But it's important to bring that performance into the final now. We were a little bit disappointed to allow Moorefield back into the game and its something we have to look into."

Rhode's Pat Daly says there is plenty of room for improvement ahead of the decider.

"I would call it a real reality check now for us. At this level anyway, you just cannot take your foot off the pedal."

Reigning champions St Vincent's and Tommy Conroy survived a scare against Garrycastle.

"We had played absolutely nothing in the first half whatsoever. We were battling well but not executing our basic skills the way we wanted."

Irish captain Michael Murphy admitted their first-half display against Australia left a lot to be desired.

"We thought that if the game was reasonably even at quarter-time, that would be a really good result for us. But we got away with fire."

Aussie manager Alistair Clarkson was delighted with how quickly his players adapted to the round ball.

"We tried to force the game in the second quarter. We had some chances to take three-pointers but went for goals when we should have popped them over and kept the scoreboard ticking along."

The tourists started panicking too early according to manager Paul Earley.

"We didn't make any definitive decision but it's fair to say that we needed a good game and we got a good game. It has definitely put International Rules back on track."

The much-maligned International Rules has a future according to GAA director-general Paraic Duffy.

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