There was to be no fairytale finish to Easkey's All-Ireland junior club hurling final adventure at Croke Park on Saturday as Ballygiblin of Cork ran out 1-16 to 0-11 winners.
The Sligo and Connacht champions recovered from the early setback of a Ballygiblin goal straight from the throw-in (11 seconds) to put up a commendable display in the Croke Park decider.
Rory McHugh impressed for Easkey in the opening half and Easkey will have felt slightly unfortunate to trail by five points at half-time, 1-8 to 0-6.
They closed to three points early on in the second half but Ballygiblin's experience (they lost last year's final by a point) gradually began to tell as they outscored their opponents by eight points to four in the second period.
Easkey manager Michael Gordon felt a little bit of inexperience was a difference on the day, when he spoke to Ocean FM Sport's Dónal Ryan after the game.
Ballygiblin (Cork) 1-16 Easkey (Sligo) 0-11
Monaleen (Limerick) 1-17 Toureen (Mayo) 1-15.
