Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

It’s an old adage but it is true – a team will always learn more from a defeat than a victory, writes Emmet Moloney...

You learn everything about a person from how they deal with a defeat. This is particularly true of managers in that first post-match interview. That’s when you find out what they are made of. Five managers were in the spotlight over the weekend and they all passed the litmus test. How would you have done two minutes after Munster’s loss? Would you have kept a lid on your disappointment?

When your club are narrowly beaten in the championship, or when Ireland are robbed in a soccer match in Paris, do you go mad with frustration? Do you blame the referee, the players, the manager? How do you deal with defeat? I ask because it is a good mirror to hold up to yourself.

The amount of nights I have spent down through the years in Powers pub when Clarecastle are beaten, hearing what is wrong with such and such a player, such and such a manager, referee, fella who’s not even on the panel, the pitch, you name it, are too numerous to mention. But my club is no different than any other club up and down the country.

Of course there are reasons for defeat. But they are human reasons that will never go away. Humanity can never be cured. Clarecastle don’t win every championship match and your club don’t win every county title because no team does. Only one club can win each year. Only one county can win an All-Ireland. Yet people expect it to be them all the time. And, in far too many cases, the year is a complete failure if that doesn’t happen. Someone must be to blame.

Don’t get me wrong – winning is important. But losing so often is not only a natural event, it makes the win so much more enjoyable. I wish we’d calm down when our team loses. They are trying their best most of the time, if not all. Guys are picked because of their form and ability most of the time and not everyone performs on a given day because people are human. Professional or amateur. It’s what makes sport so compulsive. It’s why Kilkenny are not being awarded this year’s Liam McCarthy cup until September. Anything could happen between now and then.

Declan Kidney is one of the great examples of managers currently plying his trade. Deccy’s mantra is that he doesn’t overreact to victory or defeat. It is wise and it is to be recommended. He stays on an even keel in public and in private too, apparently. That calmness usually permeates his squad.

Last weekend, Leinster, Munster and Connacht all went down at the semi-final stage of European competition. The reactions to their losses will have been mixed among spectators, players and management. The same goes for Clare and Cork hurling supporters.

So who do you think lost the plot the most? Of course it would have been the fans. Some Clare supporters told the An Fear Rua website that Clare hurling has been set back for five years. In five weeks they could be in a Munster final! Unlikely, but not beyond the bounds. Corners have been turned quicker. The county won an All-Ireland U-21 title eight months ago and now we are doomed to the dark ages? Calm yourselves, lads.

Leinster were defending champions and lost nothing in defeat to Toulouse. Going down away from home by 10 points without gamebreakers like Sexton and Luke Fitzgerald? No shame there. Making the last four of the competition after losing their first game at home? And still in position A to win the Magners League? No need to do anything in Leinster except clap your men on the back and say well done lads. Now try and finish the job.

Down south, the same can be said of Munster. Their supporters have probably learned better than most to deal with expectation and loss. The bond between real supporters and the team protects each from losing the run of themselves. Followers of this team realise that a small changing of the guard is due. It might – only might – result in a year or two of underachievement. They’ll live with that. When the good times come again, they will be all the sweeter.

Poor Connacht look like the Heineken Cup door is shut in their faces again. Like Munster and Leinster, they were brave to the last, but outgunned by the big boys. With their fellow provinces needing to regroup and recruit extensively in the off season, their future once again comes under scrutiny. Connacht, like Ireland in the early days of professionalism, gain the odd moral victory. But the breaks from elsewhere just aren’t coming. In the current climate, their defeats feel like nails in a coffin. However, they had 7,000 in Galway last Friday night. It is building back West; good men that keep it going.

It’s never the end of the world when your team loses a match. How often have we heard that? But nowadays it can be the end of the world for the manager. His body language and speech in the immediate aftermath of a loss should always be studied. The man who blames the referee, the conditions, the organising bodies, everything under the sun – he’s no genius. His paranoia is never healthy for his squad.

The really smart manager keeps his cool, congratulates the winning team, praises his own for their effort, accepts that today wasn’t their day and hopes his side can come back stronger and wiser. That’s leadership and that’s losing with class. We need more of it and we need more of an example set for our kids. Excuses are the easy, lazy and selfish way out. A sure sign that a manager isn’t sure of himself.

So Michael Cheika, Tony McGahon and Michael Bradley take a bow. So, too, Sparrow O’Loughlin and Denis Walsh. It bodes well for both you and your players. Supporters, take heed.

To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Irish Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...