Justin O'Halloran was understandably crestfallen after his New York team were denied a first-ever Connacht SFC victory by two late Leitrim points in extra-time.
"The dressing room isn't the happiest place to be at the minute but hey you have to take it in the chin. We were right there but it didn't work out," the Cavan native told the Irish Independent.
"I think (we lacked) a little bit of cuteness, not being in situations like that before we went for scores when maybe we should have held on to it a bit and taken down the clock a bit.
"We played well, we eased off a little bit after getting a good start. I don't know whether it was, 'Oh my God, what is going on here, we are winning.' And we held on to the ball instead of going direct like we normally go but they kept going."
O'Halloran admitted that it was a lost opportunity for the Exiles.
"Our fitness was great. I have to commend them. They worked very hard and I'm devastated for them because they put in huge effort," he continued.
"It's heartbreaking. Mayo is coming next year so the chance of a win there is slim so it was right there for us but, hey… back to the drawing board I guess."
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