Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice hailed Dublin as "tremendous champions" after their All-Ireland semi-final defeat this afternoon in Croke Park.
Fitzmaurice refused to blame refereeing decisions in the wake of their two-point defeat and expressed his disappointment at the result having led by five points at the break.
The Munster champions scored two goals in seven minutes which rattled Dublin, but the defending All-Ireland champions rallied pull clear in the closing stages.
"Look is the Pope a Catholic? Of course it's disappointing," he told Newstalk Sport's Oisin Langan after the game.
"Any day you lose you'll be disappointed and today we threw everything at it. We didn't score enough in the second half and because of that we came up a bit short.
"We'll have to sit down and watch the video. I think Dublin got their hands on a bit more ball and got it going the other way. We missed a few chances, we maybe made a couple of errors in our judgement and decision making, which is usually good.
"You have to give massive credit to Dublin in the way they played."
Dean Rock and Marc O'Sé share an embrace after the game. Image: ©INPHO/Donall Farmer
The game was filled with strong challenges and heavy shoulders which may have drained a number of players of their energy toward the end of the game. However, Fitzmaurice wasn't sure whether or not they were dominated physically in the second half.
"It didn't strike me now watching the game but possibly when I look at it because they are a strong, physical team. You have to give them massive credit for the character and resilience they showed in the second half."
He also refused to blame the referee for any decisions that went against Kerry, which could have contributed to them coming up just short.
"I said it already, I'm not getting involved in that stuff regardless of the decisions. You just come across as a sore loser. I had my say after the league final and I came across as a sore loser. I was disappointed with myself afterwards.
"You all saw the game, you all saw the decisions. You can make up your mind. I'm not going down that road. I've called it how I've seen it before and I've been called a sore loser. I'm not going down that road.
"Today was about a Kerry team that came up and were completely written off, who gave it everything they had and who were beaten by a better Dublin team who are tremendous champions, especially with the character and resilience they showed in the second half."
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