Offaly manager Eamonn Kelly says his side were "outmuscled" during yesterday's All-Ireland senior hurling qualifier against Wexford.
They were beaten by eight points at Innovate Wexford Park and Kelly said they can have no complaints after the defeat.
"We were 0-7 - 0-2 up after 15 minutes and we didn't score again 'til after 30," he told Off The Ball's Dave McIntyre.
"You'd love to say I think that's where it went wrong but you have to give credit to Wexford, they fought very hard today. They outmuscled us around the field.
"We spoke about it at half time, we were tracking our statistics on hooks and blocks, and we were half where we normally were. We had the second half to go out and do it, but then Wexford went out and got a goal and a point. That really swung the pendulum in their favour."
The drop in intensity in the final few stages of the game is something that Kelly signalled as one of the main reasons his side were beaten so soundly and asserted that this was uncharacteristic of his teams.
"That isn't like us and it is something that hasn't happened us in a long time. Against Galway the last day we went down to 14 men and we fought to the final whistle. Today it didn't happen and I don't know why that is, but it's something for us to go back and look at. We all need to look at ourselves and see what we can improve on going forward."
In terms of the season as a whole, Kelly credited his players performances throughout the league and Championships but said that there was more to come from his side.
"We set our goals at the start of the year to maintain our status in the league and we did that. We wanted to get back into the Leinster Championship and we did that.
"For me, today was a big one because it was a knockout game and it was very important to try and give a good performance and we didn't, so it kind of takes the gloss off of the year. We're disappointed not to win it."
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