Brian Dowling was not pleased with his side after their one-point defeat to Galway on Saturday evening.
Speaking to Scoreline after the defeat, Dowling said that Galway going down to fourteen players worked in their advantage.
“It’s not the end of the world but we wanted to win today.
“The sending off turned the game in their favour which is unusual and once they got the lead they had something to hold onto. We just have to get on with it now and move on.”
The O’Loughlin Gaels man also said that his team were not as hungry as their opponent’s.
He said: “Galway were the hungrier team and wanted it more which as a manager is very hard to take.
“I told the girls that we are still in the championship and we have to knuckle down now and hopefully the feeling of this defeat will drive us on.”
Dowling also revealed that his players are in for intense training sessions before their quarter-final clash with Wexford.
“We have three weeks ahead of us of hard training and whoever we meet in the quarter-final (Kilkenny will face Wexford after Sunday’s draw) will pose a serious challenge.
“Nobody will be afraid of us now and we are going to have to improve immensely.”
He touched on the reasons for why Kilkenny have struggled this year compared to 2020.
“Everyone that is playing us has upped their game because we are All-Ireland champions and we have to deal with that pressure and get ready for the quarter-final,” said Dowling.
