Chris Crummey: Dublin always believed they could reach the Leinster final

Dublin defender Chris Crummey says that they always believed they could reach a Leinster final this year after seeing off Galway in Salthill.

The six-point victory was built upon a strong first-half showing, with goals from Seán Currie and Dónal Burke leaving them just two down at the break, despite playing against a strong breeze.

Having missed last season, former captain Crummey has been integral to the upturn in the Dubs' fortune and he chipped in with four points in west Galway.

After starting with a lucky point against Wexford, where they required two goals in additional time, Dublin have gradually begun to build momentum.

Lady luck was on their side against Carlow when a goal, which appeared to have been a square ball, was allowed to stand.

Since then though, the Sky Blues have looked much better, annihilating Carlow before pushing Kilkenny all the way at Parnell Park.

And Crummey says that they were quietly confident heading to the west coast.

"Our performances have been building throughout the championship," he told RTÉ Sport on the field at Pearse Stadium.

"Starting with Wexford we felt we didn't get off to the best start. Performances have got better throughout championship and we knew this [Galway] was always going to be the fifth game.

"We were building towards it the whole time. We got great confidence out of the Kilkenny game last week and brought it into this week.

"In fairness to the lads their work rate throughout the game was phenomenal, we didn't stop."

Player of the match Chris Crummey hailed the "phenomenal workrate" @DubGAAOfficial
showed in beating @Galway_GAA to seal a place in the Leinster hurling final #rtegaa #leinsterhurling #hurling pic.twitter.com/8GPGyg4Zos

Next up for Dublin is Kilkenny in the