"I thought the second half was bordering on heroic, I thought they were outstanding.

"I said to them at half-time, ‘we’re not lying down here’, and no-one lay down. They went out and brought the game to them, as we have throughout this campaign.

"Ultimately we didn’t get the break, we had two injuries and the depth in our squad probably told against us in the end.

"We had a black card that was very hard for us to take, and a red card at the finish.

"The second Mayo goal was a killer, he was going for a point, slipped and it ended up at the feet of the player who pulled on it for a goal.

"We didn’t get the breaks but the players never gave up, they played to the end and played football the way it should be played. They put everything in, they’re totally committed, and I couldn’t be more proud of it."

Kearns said black-carded Robbie Kiely was a huge loss: "We brought in Shane Leahy and he’s a bit inexperienced, it was his first time on that stage, it was tough going.

"Diarmuid O’Connor caused us problems at wing-forward and unfortunately we had to take Shane off. It took us until half-time to sort things out in the dressing-room but we did sort it out.

"We got back within two points and I was confident we’d take it to the wire. It wasn’t to be because we got a few more knocks and we probably can’t sustain those knocks.

"We were six-three up when Robbie got the black card and going well, I thought we should have been more up, but when they got a run on us they caused problems, Andy Moran caused us problems inside and they got on top in the middle third. They dominated there, that’s where the damage was done.

"I’m told by TV cameras that the black card was harsh, and the red card, too. Bill Maher was coming towards me and I asked him what he did, I didn’t see it.

"The black card - I thought it was a bit harsh but I’d have to see it again, I wasn’t sure.

"They said inside the pundits on TV thought they were both harsh. If that’s the case we were a bit unlucky again."

Kearns feels Tipp can get back to this level again: "I let others judge if we can get back, but the boys have been very comfortable out here, they haven’t left themselves down in Croke Park in the quarter- or semi-final.

"Mayo have been in six semi-finals in a row, this is our first time here. My view is that Tipperary can aspire to come back to this level on a regular basis, providing we get things right, total commitment - there’s a lot of good players in Tipperary who could have been with us today but weren’t, so we need to get our set-up right back in the county."