A VISIBLY annoyed and upset Cork camogie manager Matthew Twomey expressed huge disappointment at his side losing out to Waterford in the Munster quarter-final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

A 1-18 to 1-15 defeat means they miss out on next Saturday's provincial semi-final against Tipperary on home turf.

“We were just terrible out there today, no excuses, the better team won out there, they were focused and tuned in from the throw-in and they wanted it more than we did. You can make all the excuses you like but at the end of the day if you don’t perform you don’t get the results. 

"This is where you want to be playing in Pairc Ui Chaoimh before a big Munster hurling championship game and go out and play like we did today is just not good enough." 

HUNTED

Twomey pointed to the huge intensity Waterford showed from the throw-in.

“From the start, they tore into the game, they hunted in packs and put us under pressure. On several occasions, they turned us over and won balls they

probably should not have won but we allowed them to do it. Their work-rate was huge and all credit to them, they won the Division 1 B league recently and they showed today just how focused they are."

Having lost out in the Division 1 league final to Galway two weeks ago Cork had to regroup and re-focus but Twomey acknowledged that his side had prepared well.

"To be fair we put the defeat behind us and we had two very good weeks training and we should have been ready for what Waterford threw at us today, but all credit to them they are a good side and they played with fierce determination out there today."

With several of his side unavailable through injury Twomey had to plan without key players.

We were down 11 players today from our panel of 32 but that is no excuse, we didn’t perform and we weren’t good enough. 

"We have had a long chat with the players there now and to be fair they are hurting, they know the performance was well below par and they know we need to put the knuckle down and get focused now for championship."

An away trip to Galway is next on the cards in the first round of the All-Ireland championship and Twomey readily admits this is a huge challenge for his charges;

"It will be a huge game for us and the girls know a performance like today will not suffice, we need to really settled down and work at it and I have no doubt they will do that. 

"There is a lot of experience in that dressing room and hopefully after today we will turn it around, we can only try but I have no doubt these girls will."