The Liam McCarthy Cup may not have been there but that didn't stop Cork hurling fans from giving a rousing welcome home to the team when they arrived on Leeside yesterday evening.
People began to gather in the early evening in the city as dedicated supporters arrived to mark the best vantage spot from which to view the players and panel as they made their way along the parade route.
Having made an earlier stop at Mallow, the team eventually arrived into Cork's Kent Station shortly before 8.30 p.m., where hordes of enthusiastic fans turned out to treat the players to rousing cheers and thunderous applause.
Cries of "Up the Rebels" echoed through the station as over 700 fans of every age gathered to pay tribute to the young team who captured the imagination of the county.
Thousands more lined the streets of the inner city to greet Donal O'Grady's men, waving banners and hooting klaxons in true rebel style.
The defeated finalists looked weary as they disembarked from the train.
"It's been a great disappointment, it would have been great to have Liam McCarthy with us. But we're a young squad so we'll drive on for next year," Wayne Sherlock said, as young fans queued up to get their hero's signature on a sliotar or slips of paper.
Chants of "Up Cork" became a constant chorus as management and players climbed aboard the courtesy open deck bus, which wound its way through the city, before eventually stopping at the end of the South Mall for the homecoming speeches.
The narrow defeat may have been bitter but the atmosphere was upbeat last night, with the future of Cork hurling looking good.