"You would be disappointed. I thought our discipline was poor in the tackle and Flano (Brian Flanagan) got caught with a second yellow, which disrupted the team. Then we dropped our heads after the goal, very badly too," admitted the Kildare boss.
He added: "I think we were quite dominant for a lot of the game but our distribution from the half back/midfield area in to the full forward area in the first half was poor and it went downhill in the second half. Walsh, Cribbin and Karl (Ennis) are all fairly pacy but they weren't getting ball put in front of them.
"If you are not given decent ball in you can't expect your forwards to score and it makes it easier for the opposition's defence to come out. You'd love to dress it up in some way but our distribution was poor, very, very poor to say the least. You have to give your forwards some sort of decent chance and I don't think we did.
"I think the fellas know that as well. I know they are a bit heavy legged with all the training they're doing but still, when you have chances to win a game you have to take them."
So what was to blame for the poor showing?
Tiredness?
McGeeney doesn't think so. Of course the fact that Kildare are without the likes of Morgan O'Flaherty, captain Johnny Doyle, Eamonn Callaghan, Alan Smith and Mikey Conway doesn't help but the manager still expects more from his players.
"I think tiredness is an excuse and I'm sure Louth aren't sitting on their hands during the week either. We looked tired and you can when you're chasing a game but even with 14 men they were doing the right thing. Then the goal went in there was still three minutes left for two points and they should have kept their heads cool. The stuff we have to learn as a team, you have to get those things in order, we had a chance today and we didn't take it," he insisted.
Will such a performance make McGeeney re-access his starting team for this Sunday's opening league encounter with Down?
"You just play who is playing well at training. At the minute we're short a couple, Johnny (Doyle) is gone, Morgan (O'Flaherty) is gone, Leper (Eamonn Callaghan) and Mikey (Conway) are also out so a lot of the dynamics of the team are missing in terms of the way the ball is taken out of your half back line. We're well down in numbers in terms of who we have available to us. Today will definitely make me think about what's going to happen next week but our hands are tied to a certain extent with certain positions and what we are left with," he remarked.
One thing the Armagh is sure of is he knows improvement is needed for
the forthcoming NFL campaign and he is anxious to get off to the best possible start when Down come to town on Sunday.
"I hope we learn harsh lessons today because Down will come next week and they will come like a steam train. They have Martin Clarke and John Clarke back in the team and that seems to give them more playing making focus in the half forward line and that frees up Coulter inside. They have McCummiskey back as well and Gordon and Rogers in midfield so they are a fairly formidable outfit and we will need to improve a hell of a lot," he insisted.
It wasn't all bad against the holders and men from the Wee County and the biggest positive to take was the performance of Gary White. The Sarsfields' man is coming in to his own at full back and the boss certainly approves.
"You have to look for one or two positives and Chalky (Gary White) is going from strength to strength at full back,
"Brian (Flanagan) was playing well until the indiscipline cost him. He knows that himself, he knows that if you're on a yellow you can't afford to be careless with tackles. It wasn't a bad tackle but it was still a yellow card tackle and he should know that by this stage," he said.
The manager will be hoping for some good news regarding Carbury's Morgan O'Flaherty this week.
The wing back has appealed his eight week suspension, handed down after the O'Moore Park row and if 'common sense prevails' the return of O'Flaherty would be a major boost going in to the league.
"The appeal went in today (Sunday) and we'd be hoping a bit of common sense will prevail. I think everybody down to the dogs in the street know Morgan didn't do anything but that doesn't always mean common sense will prevail," remarked McGeeney.
So the O'Byrne Cup has come to a conclusion for Kildare for yet another year and one suspects McGeeney is not overly concerned about not being in the final. However, Sunday's performance could have been a lot better and should have been a lot better and now it's time to up the ante.
