TJ Reid celebrated his 27th birthday by skippering Ballyhale Shamrocks to a 1-20 to 1-13 victory over holders Clara in the Kilkenny SHC final.
The Hurler of the Year nominee, who top-scored with 0-10, was delighted with the performance which earned Ballyhale a Leinster club SHC semi-final date with Kilmacud Crokes next Sunday.
"If we can play to how we can play, then not many teams can live with us," he said in the Irish Examiner.
"Today, it was about our forwards. If our forwards could get on top and if we got the scoreboard ticking at all, we knew that we'd roll on.
"There was no panic. We know we can hurl and you saw the work we did in the first half, two, three, four of us chasing them down. We knew if we brought that work-rate with us today, if we just got in the hooks and the blocks, that if we worked hard - and in fairness the forward line brought that - then we would win.
"It gave the backs a great lift when they saw us forwards hooking and blocking and chasing."
Turning his thoughts to next weekend's assignment in Parnell Park, Reid added: "We'll probably get video analysis of them during the week. We'll sit down and watch and study them for a night because when you're playing other counties, you don't see them - you don't know what players they have, what way they play.
"So we'll knuckle down and hopefully drive it on in Leinster."
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