JJ Hutchinson left Walsh Park with the praise of manager Fergal Hartley ringing in his ears after his 1-3 helped Ballygunner to a dramatic Munster club SHC semi-final victory over Sixmilebridge yesterday.

The former Waterford footballer only started after first-choice full forward Brian O'Sullivan was ruled out with an injury he sustained in the quarter-final win over Thurles Sarsfields.

"JJ is an old dog," Hartley is quoted as saying in the Irish Daily Star.

"He did it against Lismore in the county semi-final, he came on and scored that crucial point against Thurles Sarsfields last week and again today. We knew that was in JJ and that's what a strong panel is all about."

The ex-Deise skipper was delighted with Ballygunner's second half display after they had trailed by 0-6 to 0-11 at the break.

"They were a better team than us in the first half, we were lucky to be only five points down. We could have been down by seven or eight," he admitted.

"The instruction was we need to get it together. They were doing to us what we expected to do to them. They were fighting for every ball and winning the breaks, we weren't doing that. We had to get it together, we weren't right."

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