Waterford manager Liam Cahill praised his players after their 11 point loss to Limerick in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final on Sunday.
0-30 to 0-19 was the final score at Croke Park as the Treaty claimed their second title in three years.
The game never really looked in any doubt and many were puzzled as to how John Kiely's side only led by three points at the break.
An incredible third quarter then saw Limerick pull away as they sent point after point through the posts to break Déise hearts.
Cahill didn't blame his side and speaking to OTB Sports at full-time said Limerick were simply too strong an opposition.
"It's difficult, a really difficult day but Limerick were really good for their victory to be fair to them.
"They're a really powerful outfit and we picked a bad day really to lose our consistency and our choices and decisions on the ball but I think that was mainly down to the pressure we were playing under from the way they were coming at us.
"Massive congratulations to Limerick, they're a really, really good team and I think they'd have been a real test for any opposition today."
Waterford were for many the story of the 2020 championship.
Their shock win over Kilkenny in the last four and strong displays against Cork and Clare too made them highlighted just how far they had come under their new boss.
Cahill said it was a shame they couldn't produce something similar on Sunday, but perhaps that was down to who they wereup against.
"Limerick bring such a gameplan that they've so many options and so many fellas you've to keep an eye on and I suppose when you're concentrating on them so much it's very hard to implement your own style.
"We came today to have a real cut, and in fairness to my lot, I know the scoreboard wasn't pretty at the end, but I know they gave it everything.
"Looking in from the line, they emptied their stomachs to try and cling in there and do the right things.
"It wasn't for the want of trying today, it was just that we met superior opposition."
It won't be long until inter-county hurling rolls around again in 2021 and Cahill says they must now use this year's success as a basis for going forward.
He's confident they can progress further as he prepares for his second year in charge of the south-east outfit.
"It's a fairly raw place [the dressing room] at the moment.
"We'd like to think that we made great progression this year but the real test of us will be next year to see how we can build on that and make sure that our progression stays on an upward curve all the time.
"That's a job of work for me and the management team again now to get down to it early next year and try and make sure that we try and unearth a couple of new players again and give ourselves more options.
"We'll look at our whole strength and conditioning too to make sure that we can physically improve and be able to try and match the likes of Limerick and other counties out there that are so physical in the modern game.
"We've a big job of work ahead but it was a good year and a good experience for a lot of them players down there today."
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