Conor Hourihane was ‘very very grateful’ for the send-off he received from Barnsley fans after they lost 3-1 at home to Stockport County in his final game as head coach.

The former Reds captain’s exit at the end of the season was announced two weeks earlier then he led a lap of honour for the supporters who stayed behind.

Hourihane said: “Very, very emotional. A lot of fans have stayed behind, which I'm very, very thankful for. They've had not as much to shout for this season as what they would like, but just to show the support that they have with me. In the latter stages when there's nothing to play for has been amazing. They kept singing my name today. There was a lot of people still stayed behind.

“A special moment going around with my kids and my family standing on the sides. The competitor that I am would like to have gone around with something in the bag in terms of points return, but it wasn't to be.

“This last 14, 15 months has been massive learning for me, gaining loads of experience. It will only stand me for the better.”

On his time in charge in general he said: “It's very, very special and I am disappointed that it's come to the end that it has, because, you know, you want to continue and build and hope for more. And I wanted to win more games to start with this season, but it's not been the case.

“Mixed emotions, but eternally grateful to the club for giving me this platform for the last 14, 15 months to get me on the ladder as a head coach, because there's so many coaches out there looking for opportunities and jobs and it's difficult at times.

“I’d like to have that fairytale and do better. But, under the circumstances, am I proud of what I've done? Yes.”

Hourihane said he wouldn’t rule out a third Oakwell spell in the future.

“I was speaking to Jean and James Cryne, who I'm very, very close with.

“We all said that we've left really, really on good terms the first time, same with the second time. Leaving in the first way is why I've come here in the second time.

“And you never know what will happen down the road. Look, is anything going to happen in the near future? Absolutely not. We're going to go on our part ways and separate ways.

“If I'm in management and coaching for as long as I want to be, then you never know if you'll come back again.”

Barnsley fell behind then levelled through Adam Phillips before conceding twice.

“I don't think we played too badly but we gave away really poor goals, as we've probably said countless amount of times.

“We were pushing maybe to get an equaliser and obviously we get caught on the counter through a misplaced pass.

“I am happy with some elements without watching it back. I felt like the second half when we got the equaliser just stopped the rhythm completely.

“There was a few people went down, a few substitutions. I would like to have ended it with a real positive result, obviously wasn’t to be. But again, elements of some decent stuff mixed in with some really poor stuff, really.”

Kieren Flavell made a mistake for the opening goal. Hourihane said: “The goal obviously was a disappointment from Flav’s point of view. But I think the biggest one for me really was I felt like we were defending our box a little bit too much because we were giving the ball away. And there was three or four real good opportunities to get Reyes (Cleary) in behind or to catch him out through decent bits of play.

“But I felt like in the middle of pitch, we were giving the ball away unnecessarily. And then that meant that we were open and then they were going to defend us rather than us pushing them back with the execution of the pass.

“So I didn't think there was too much in the first half, obviously the goal and then obviously the misplaced passing. I changed one or two things at half-time around positioning of players and attacking a little bit of a different way.”

Phillips levelled then came off with a head injury.

“Some sort of bang to the head and, you know, a concussion type. But, look, we've got no more games left, so, you know, a little bit of rest for Philips, so he'll be fine.

“It was a shame for him, because he started the second half really brightly after getting that goal and he would have been a big threat moving forward into the game.”

Stockport’s second goal was a penalty for a foul by Eoghan O’Connell.

“I thought it was quite soft, to be honest. I've seen it back once and I still think it's soft.

I didn't think they got in our box too much in the second half up to that moment as well. “So, it really kind of killed the momentum and the mood a little bit, because I felt like we were on top of that at that point.

“So, big decision and, as always, it's a moments game. And, you know, moments change games and change the flow of things.

“And that was something that I felt that was soft and it changed, obviously, how the kind of latter stages of the game then looked.”