Outside looking in: Four players give their views

Cathal Moore (Galway)

"The pace of Kilkenny's full forwards is quite unreal. They did it against us in the semi-final and again here, so on the day they were definitely the better team. The scoring of the forwards was quite ruthless, whether it was a point or a goal, but it showed again how important DJ Carey can be for them. He always adds a new dimension to the forward line.

"In many ways they had Offaly killed off in the first 20 minutes or so. Still, I know Offaly had a few injury problems in the build-up to this, especially the likes of Kevin Martin and Brian Whelahan. But the whole defence was under huge pressure and there was nothing they could do about it, even by switching a few players here and there.

"I think Andy Comerford has had a superb year and he was superb again here. Charlie Carter also played a tremendous game but look at the whole full-forward line. They all made major contributions. It was probably a little one-sided in the end but there was definitely some high quality hurling on display."

Fergal Ryan (Cork)

"The Kilkenny full forwards were absolutely lethal and they definitely deserved to win this. They didn't really let up at any stage during the 70 minutes but I never really thought that Offaly had much of a chance once Kilkenny started to hit them with those first couple of goals.

"It's not that Offaly played that badly. Any team would have found those full forwards difficult to contend with and in many ways it just confirms what we knew about this Kilkenny team. They've now been in the last three All-Ireland finals and finally won, so it's not exactly a great surprise.

"It probably wasn't the most exciting All-Ireland final but I certainly enjoyed it. Of course it would have been better to be out there ourselves but it was nice to sit back and watch it. I'm sure Kilkenny will be more than happy with that margin at the end but they certainly deserved it."

Brian Lohan (Clare)

"Kilkenny have shown this intensity all year and I have to say that all along I knew they were going to be very hard to beat. Their objective was to win this game no matter what got in their way and that's exactly what they did.

"Once they got into the final it was almost impossible to see how they would lose. Effectively they ended this game after 15 minutes or so with an incredible scoring rate from their forwards.

"Offaly never really got a chance. They didn't seem to be getting any breaks and after the first 10 minutes it was clear they were in real trouble. It was an uphill battle after that just to stay within a reasonable distance. But right from the start of this summer Kilkenny looked likely champions and they've certainly proved themselves worthy winners."

Paul Flynn (Waterford)

"It didn't really surprise me at all that Kilkenny won this so comfortably and so convincingly. In many ways it was on the cards all summer and everyone knew that they were capable of putting out a performance like this should they get back into the final, especially after losing the last two in a row.

"It was hard to see how Offaly could have stopped them as well. Maybe if they produced the sort of performance that they did against Cork in the second-half of the semi-final it may have been possible, but I honestly didn't think it was going to happen. Kilkenny were out to win this championship from the start and they definitely deserved it."