Cork boss John Cleary admitted that Derry were “a bridge too far” for his side.
Cleary was appointed on an interim basis last year after Keith Ricken stepped back and guided the team to an All-Ireland quarter-final before formally taking on the job ahead of the 2023 season.
And although Cork have exited at the last eight stage once again, their curve is definitely trending upwards.
Cleary said: "I suppose last year we kind of came in… we just beat Limerick and Louth and came up here to play Dublin.
“We went toe-to-toe for maybe 40 minutes and after that it was damage limitation. But looking at the whole year this year, we had some very good performances in the League.
“We were turned over by Clare, but since then we beat Louth, went toe-to-toe with Kerry up to the end, beat Mayo and beat Roscommon. Today was just a bridge too far.
“When we look back on it, the learnings should be good. It's up to the lads now if they want to try and get to the next level.
“But this is the ultimate, the games here in Croke Park. They're tactical, they're tough, they're hard and you must have everything going for you. We're probably not at that level yet.
“That's the test now to see if we're able to get to that level going forward.”
Still, having beaten two Division One sides in successive games prior to this, Cleary said he was “gutted” at their exit and felt his side were somewhat flat compared to previous performances.
“It was a strange sort of a game in that we had a lot of possession in the first 10 or 15 minutes but didn’t make it count, they were very defensive. We couldn’t break them down and they turned us over.
“Then, before half-time – similar to last week – we got a couple of points and felt going in that we hadn’t played outstandingly well and were just a point down.
“Then, after half-time, we had two chances of points and didn’t get them. We took one in for a goal and missed it, got overturned and they went down and just picked us off.
“It looked like it was going to be a long day for us then and the goal gave us a lifeline, maybe a bit out of the blue. Next thing, we gave away the goal back, which was a killer.
“After that, we tried hard and valiantly but I think Derry probably had out measure there – four points, they missed a penalty but they were able to suck it up.
“We threw caution to the wind towards the end and told lads to power forward. I did think that we were a bit flat today – it was a warm day out there, a big pitch, maybe after the last two weeks our big players around the middle weren’t as energetic and as lively as they were in the last couple of games.
“Overall, I think we were just beaten by a better team on the day, who were more efficient than we were.”
