Regan wary of Rebels

Date Published: 07-Aug-2012

 RAHOON/Newcastle’s Tony Óg Regan says Galway can expect a “ferocious battle” when they meet Cork in the All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final at Croke Park on Sunday (3.30pm) . . . and anyone writing off the Leesiders do so at their peril.

Galway’s mesmerising – and emphatic – victory over reigning All-Ireland champions Kilkenny in the Leinster final has left the bookmakers slashing the odds on the Tribesmen’s title credentials but Regan has been too long around the block to buy into notions of favourites’ tags and all that sort of ‘mullarkey’.

Indeed, he stresses that Anthony Cunningham’s outfit are very much on their guard for this one. “Oh, absolutely,” states Regan. “We know there is a huge challenge in front of us and we really need to produce a top class display and have a huge work-rate and intensity on the day if we are to win. You know, in my eyes, it is a 50/50 game.”

Still, given the Tribesmen have produced the display of the year to date, it is hard for most to consider anything but a Galway victory. It’s not a premise, though, that Regan – or the Galway management and players – is buying into.

“If you look at any of the championship matches so far this year, there were no two games alike. This (semi-final) will be the same. It will just come down to who performs better on the day; past performances count for very little in All-Ireland semi-finals.

“I suppose, all you can do is gauge what Cork have done this year. I thought they were the best team in the league bar the league final [defeat to Kilkenny]. Also, they should have beaten Tipperary in the first round of the Munster championship – and Tipp have been in the last three All-Ireland finals.

“Cork did beat Waterford by three points [in the quarterfinal], a team we have failed to beat over the last three or four years – and they (Waterford) gave us a good trimming last year. So, I think Cork are definitely on an upward curve and we are going to have to play extremely well to get the better of them.”

Consequently, Regan refuses to look beyond August 12th or speculate if there is a Liam McCarthy Cup in this team in 2012.

“We are ready to play Cork and that is all we can do for the time being,” he insists. “For this match, the lads really have to tune in and get their heads around that because we are facing a ferocious battle now to get to the next stage [of the competition].”

No doubt, for Regan – who is only one of three survivors who played in Galway’s last All-Ireland final appearance in 2005; the other two are David Collins and Damien Hayes – it has been a long road to get back to this point in the championship.

Seven years, by and large, of championship disappointments and heartaches.

“I suppose, we lost a number of quarter-finals over the last number of years and that was really hard to take,” says Galway’s centre-half back. “It does take a long time to recover after those setbacks but it is great that this year we are in a semi-final. Hopefully, we can right those wrongs.”

In any event, for Regan and company, it is all about keeping those Galway feet on the ground heading into this high profile fixture . . . and managing the expectation that is out there. He has lived through enough false dawns – is there a fear that this could be another?

“No, I wouldn’t say there is a fear of that, but I just think there is a realism there of what it takes to win a championship match . . . that you have to prepare and give respect to every individual and team you play. Because, if you are a bit off on any given day, you will get blown out of it.

“We weren’t spot on the day against Waterford [in the quarter-final] last year and they blew us out of it. So, there is a bit of fear in lads that they have to be 100% right and prepare well, both mentally and physically. You have to be tuned in or you are not going to win a semi-final, which, of course, we want to do.”