Ballygunner continued their quest for a seventh consecutive Waterford Senior Hurling Championship title with victory over Lismore in the first semi-final at Fraher Field on Saturday evening.
The reigning champions ran out easy winners, 2-25 to 1-13.
Forward Dessie Hutchinson scored a remarkable 2-8 of his side's total, all of it coming from play.
"Everyday, Dessie is getting better," Ballygunner manager Darragh O'Sullivan told WLR FM regarding the former Brighton footballer.
Dessie works hard like the rest of the lads; he chases back and you'll see the number of hooks and blocks he would have had in there today. He'd be up there with Tim O'Sullivan, these guys that really set the tone for the work rate in the team.
Lismore had put up some big scores in their group stage games and the quarter-final against Abbeyside but Ballygunner's backline kept their forwards quiet on Saturday.
"We looked at Lismore's forward line and they had four inter-county forwards, we felt," said O'Sullivan.
"That's the standard they're at or were at very recently. We felt we needed to take them on. We have a good set of backs and that's the reality of it. We got the match-ups right and we'd like to think the lads came out on top or broke even.
"The team is evolving. There were a couple of new lads this year and a couple of new lads last year. When you bring new lads into a team, it freshens everything up. We've done that over the last number of years.
"We're back in another county final. I don't know how many it is at this stage. It could be 22 in the last 25, or something scary. We've lost plenty of them as well as won them."
Mount Sion and Passage faced off in the second semi-final on Sunday afternoon.
Photo by Matt Browne/Sportsfile
