Kilkenny manager Brian Cody said that Jonjo Farrell had "grabbed his opportunity" after the Thomastown forward scored 1-5 on his Championship debut against Dublin.
The 27-year-old scored three fine first-half points and then blasted home a 47th-minute goal as Kilkenny shrugged off Dublin's early challenge to cruise to a 1-25 to 0-16 win in the Leinster SHC semi-final.
"Jonjo played very well at corner-forward," Cody told RTÉ Sport. "He's put in some very good performances for us in League matches over the past number of years and today was his first Championship start.
"He grabbed his opportunity and got some good points. His goal was very good.
"It was an important score, psychologically, it's big for the team that gets it. A goal is always important and gave us a bit of breathing space.
The Cats manager also praised the performance of another debutant Rob Lennon, who was a late replacement for injury victim Jackie Tyrell: "Jackie tweaked his hamstring a few days ago so he wasn't able to play today but Rob Lennon came in and did very well."
Cody's side were just a single point up, 0-12 to 0-11, at the break but surged clear after a characteristic upping of the tempo after the interval.
"Coming up to Portlaoise today we knew we were going to be in a battle and we were," he said.
"There was a strong wind out there and we weathered the storm well in the first half. We had a decent performance in the first half and we kicked on well in the second half."
Forward Colin Fogarty said the key to that second-half turnaround had been Kilkenny's pressure on the puckouts of Conor Dooley, who was starting just his second Championship game in goal for Dublin.
"It was hard work at the end of the day," he said. "We hassled every puckout that they made in the second half.
"The first half was probably a different story with the breeze and we were lucky to go in a point ahead after they came back at us with four unanswered points.
"We just focused on breaking down their puckouts.
"Just hassle, hassle, hassle. You mark your man, win back the ball and get your scores. It's as easy as that."
Dublin could have had the edge in match fitness after playing at the quarter-final stage bu Fennelly insisted that would never be an excuse to lose.
"They had a Championship match under their belts and that's always an advantage," he said.
"We didn't have a game but we do our own work and there's no excuses, when you come out on the field it's 15 on 15.
"We're just lucky that we worked that little bit hard and the plays came off.
"Jonjo Farrell had some crucial scores, (Walter Walsh) is an absolute animal of a man, tackle after tackle.
"That's what we're taught to do and we keep on doing it."
Fennelly said memories of Kilkenny's last defeat in Leinster, to the same opponents and at the same ground, made them determined not to take victory for granted.
"Three years ago was probably in the back of our mind, against Dublin in Portlaoise here.
"We thought we'd get to a Leinster final, the same as other years, but it didn't happen and it woke us up.
"That was something that was mentioned before the game all week."
