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Paraic Fanning: 'We’re very disappointed'

Waterford were beaten by Limerick in the Allianz Hurling League Final at Croke Park.

Waterford were beaten by Limerick in the Allianz Hurling League Final at Croke Park.

By Cian O'Connell

Disappointed to lose the Allianz Hurling League decider, Paraic Fanning is adamant Waterford will be primed for the Munster Senior Hurling Championship.

Limerick just had too much power for Waterford at GAA headquarters with Fanning acknowledging that John Kiely's outfit were the most accomplished team the Deise have faced in 2019.

"Yeah, they’re the best team we played this year so far, they’re All-Ireland champions, they’re very slick in their movement," Fanning reflected. 

"I thought we got to grips with a lot of it at times, but ourselves, we didn't make enough ball stick up front ourselves, we didn’t hold onto enough ball.

"We have decent forwards. We didn't have a great day today, but we’ll create more chances the next day, we’ll be back again."

Waterford responded following a shaky start when falling six points behind to narrow the gap to the minimum before Aaron Gillane clipped a delightful goal.

"Games turn on small things like that," Fanning stated. "Stephen (Bennett) had a right chance, won a good ball and got inside - a good save - and then down the other end it’s a goal, people can call it fortuitous if they like, but we got one like that last week. 

"It was a big moment, but it gave them a cushion of four or five points and they were able to keep that."

Ultimately, small lapses in concentration proved costly according to Fanning. "We’re very disappointed, it’s a League final and losing big matches like that - we were quite confident coming up, but I don’t think we did ourselves justice to be fair. 

"That’s credit to Limerick, we saw how good they are. The bar is high, but we’re disappointed with our own performance. 

"We got back in the game in the first half and thought we might push on, but we made a few mistakes to give them a foothold."