Kildare manager Cian O'Neill was proud of his players despite slipping to a nine point defeat to Dublin at Croke Park on Sunday.
The Lilywhites put in a game performance to ensure the Dubs had to work hard to retain their provincial title.
Speaking to Off the Ball's Oisin Langan after the match, O'Neill said: "The players should get a lot of credit for the performance or parts of the performance that were really positive for such a young group of men.
"Listen, we weren't good enough to win that match today, that's plain and simple, we all agree on that.
"I guess where our disappointment is we felt we could have been more competitive in various sections of the match, particularly the last ten.
"The first ten of the second half where they really put a bit of daylight between us after we battled so hard to take it from nine to four (points) but that's just a lot of learning. They're a young team and they have a long way to go in their pathway and we just want to push on.
The Kildare team dejected after the game. Image: ©INPHO/Oisin Keniry
"We certainly feel we've developed in a huge way from this time last year and I still think we're developing even this year - even before we get to Division 1 next year.
"There's big decision to be made by the players. We've already made our mind up in the management that we're ready to push on. We don't want this to be the end of our season and go out with a whimper in a few weeks time.
"I think that will be a real kind of test of how far we've come - can we put the bitter disappointment of today behind us?"
The full post-match interview can be heard here:
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