Kerry waltz to another All-Ireland and the postmortem duly begins in the county left battered and bruised. That the misery is felt just across the border line must make the taste of victory even more syrupy, defeat even more bitter, Gavin Cummiskeyreports.

Cork captain Derek Kavanagh provided an honest assessment yesterday lunchtime in the lobby of the Burlington Hotel. His manager, Billy Morgan, was last seen heading towards the city centre, as were the majority of senior players.

Kavanagh made an interesting observation that can be construed as criticism of Kerry time-wasting after Kieran Donaghy put them six points clear. It can also be taken as a compliment.

"You have to hand it to them. They are the best team in Ireland. Simple as that, and they are the most experienced team in Ireland having played now in four all-Ireland finals in a row. When they get up a lead on you they know what to do.

"They had fellas going down taking injuries every time we got up to goal. That's just experience and that's just what they kept doing. It's impossible to play against."

We sought further clarification. "Ah, they just do it. They are masters of it and they were doing it left, right and centre but, look, that's sport and that's what they are good at."

The 26-year-old Nemo Rangers midfielder had no interest in ducking the reality of the situation. "It's actually worse today. When you get up after a sleepless night, you are just lying awake in the bed there for the last two hours having real live nightmares, so it was awful, like."

Kavanagh was asked to sift through he wreckage some more. Why were Cork unable to maintain the Kerry pace? How come the game was up by the 36th minute? He admitted the root cause of their problems came from his own patch. Darragh Ó Sé territory.

"Everything that could go wrong did go wrong really. There were awful mistakes made by everyone. We started off by not winning the breaks around midfield and carried on then. The defence was getting bombarded and it was only a matter of time before they collapsed and that's exactly what happened.

"I can't really make sense of it. I suppose we're going to have to step back and take a look at it. I was in the middle of it yesterday. It's just hard to know what happened."

What about the dressingroom at half-time? "We were actually lucky to be only three points down because we played so bad and we were quite confident that there was a load more in us but to give away that goal and when Kerry are six points up they are not going to throw away that lead."

Will Morgan stay on for another term? "I hope so because he is the driving force behind us. He is the man who inspires us and organises everything. An absolute treat to work under so I just hope he stays involved.

"As soon as the final whistle blew I was packing it up as well but, you know, you get sense. Hopefully I'll get the hunger to get back training and go at it again. We'll just have to suffer and hurt for a couple of days. That's part of losing and just part of getting better, I suppose. It's part of what will drive us on in January and February."

Cork trainer Ted Owens was lingering in the lobby. Because of his role as CEO of City of Cork VEC he was hesitant to give an interview but thankfully he relented. The same question was repeated.

"There are no contracts. Certainly not in Cork because we are not paid. We don't get a ha'penny. Officially our term is up so whether or not people want to go forward again I don't know.

"I haven't spoken to Billy about it but what I do know is Billy will do what is best for Cork football. He is very passionate about Cork football. Billy has had some marvellous victories but he has suffered more defeats than anybody else. He has always bounced back. I don't know what he is going to do."