Tipperary manager David Power was emotional at full-time of his side's All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.
His side bowed out of the championship after a 13 point loss to Mayo in their last four clash.
Speaking to OTB Sports at full-time, Power was optimistic about where they are at in terms of going forward but also pointed out they've a lot of work to do if they want to be competing with the top teams.
"I suppose one of the two big things we learned here today is that you have to finish your chances.
"We had two serious goal chances in the first couple of minutes - had we got them it would probably have been a different game.
"Also, we turned over way too much ball in the first half. 3-6 came from our turnovers, so they're the two big things.
"We have to set a goal now. That's what I said to the players today.
"This can't be just a one-off. We need to be heading towards Division Two [of the Allianz National Football League] next year.
"That has to be the target. We need to be playing against those teams.
"But look, I thought we kept playing, kept playing the right way and we set a target to win the second half, and we did.
"There was a couple of positives but also a huge learning curve for us too."
The game at GAA HQ was never in any doubt and you got the sense watching it that once Cillian O'Connor got his first goal in the 9th minute the result was inevitible.
Power said they need to address their defensive issues fast, but also wasn't lacking in optimism.
"You can't gift good teams those kind of chances. I always felt we had to take the chances, we scored 3-13, I'd say we could have left another five or six goals behind us.
"That's the thing, we played really good football but we have to learn.
"For us, from where we were at the start of the year, it has been just an incredible journey.
"We went in at half-time and it wasn't a case of shouting and roaring at them, the players were hurting.
"We won the Munster Final two weeks ago and we didn't want that type of performance to define our season.
"To be fair, we set a target - let's win the second half, and we did.
"I'm very, very proud of them [his players]. This is only the start of the journey.
"I wasn't expecting this, I'll be honest. We weren't expecting to get to an All-Ireland semi-final this year.
"This is a start and we must build from this now as well."
This season marked Power's first incharge of the Premier's senior squad.
Not many would have imagined it would go as well as it did and they'd be in the last four playing for Sam Maguire.
The Kilsheelan native certainly exceeded many people's expectations.
He feels they're in a good position for next year and with some improvements can really compete with top sides.
"We need to move the ball a lot quicker out of defence. We need to become more comfortable on the ball.
"Our skillset has to improve and our finishing as well has to become more clinical.
"They're all different areas but I suppose over the last couple of weeks we hadn't time to do that type of coaching because you're going game on game.
"For me to be going into 2021, we've got loads of things to work on but I know we've got a very strong group of players."
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