In the aftermath of Sunday's All-Ireland final defeat the encouraging news for Limerick is that there have been no retirements. Manager Richie Bennis confirmed the team were keen to regroup for next year.

"Sad and all as they were in the dressingroom they spoke along the lines that there's another year or two in this team so why not give it a go," he said.

He accepted that the challenge facing the team would be greater but said that first there would be a break: "Expectations will be there next year, which it wasn't this year, and that's a different journey. There'll be a break for the club championship and we'll study form. We'll have a little chat during the week and work out when we go back."

Coach Gary Kirby emphatically confirmed the veterans Ollie Moran and Mark Foley would be staying on board: "I can tell you now that on the team that played yesterday there are two experienced guys, Ollie and Mark, who were outstanding and I can tell you now that they'll be both playing next year. There won't be a question of either of the two of them going away."

Speaking of the final itself, Kirby said the early indicators had been worrying and the initial pressure had been hard to handle. He also said the strategy had been devised to prevent the concession of early goals: "That was our plan. We actually hoped we would bring back our half-forward line around midfield and release the midfielders back in front of the half-back line.

"We were hoping we would stop early goals; that was our plan going out - if we were with them after 15, 20 minutes that our hurling could take over - but unfortunately the goals came in."

Asked at what stage the alarm bells rang, he identified the difficulty in winning possession and establishing an attacking platform: "Our first two puck-outs - (Tommy) Walsh caught the first one over Seánie (O'Connor) and JJ Delaney caught the second over Mike Fitz. Signs weren't good when that happened because it was something we'd worked on.

"They struggled to find their rhythm. I think the whole first half they struggled a bit. We used intensity and pressure in our game but Kilkenny doubled that up on us and our fellas found it hard to adapt.

"I don't think any team, even Dublin, have come out to the sort of noise our fellas came out to. The Limerick supporters got behind them and during the parade all you could see was green and white. I'd say that might have unsettled them a little bit. Then again it mightn't have affected them - maybe I'm just grasping at straws because to be honest I can't figure out what more we could have done. We felt we did everything right. They seemed tense. In the warm-up even there were a few of them I felt weren't themselves, were a bit nervous. I'd hope they'd take that as a learning curve."

Full back Stephen Lucey played with a heavily strapped arm because of a broken bone sustained against Waterford in the semi-final but despite the considerable discomofort the injury was kept under wraps. He paid tribute to the county's support.

"They were crying out for something to cheer for. We're just very sorry we didn't give them more to cheer about. It was a good year but an anti-climax.

"I'm still positive right now the morning after losing it so we just have to move on."