By Michael Devlin

It’s a while ago now, but there was a time when everything wasn’t going Corofin’s way.

The Galway masters have three All-Ireland club titles from the decade just past - 2015, 2018 and last season - and are in the hunt for another with a semi-final showdown with Nemo Rangers in Ennis Park tomorrow.

Forward Michael Farragher remembers well though the semi-final defeats that came before the recent flurry of Andy Merrigan Cups, namely an extra-time loss to St Gall’s back in 2010, and defeat to Kilmacud Crokes the previous season.

“Obviously those games hurt. I suppose that's probably what has driven us as well over the last couple of years. Losing to Kilmacud and Gall’s in extra-time, they were tough days but thankfully we've had good ones since.”

In Connacht too, the relentless Corofin machine has been halted on several occasions, and Farragher reckons the north Galway club have had to rely on good fortune from time to time in order to progress through some arduous domestic and provincial campaigns.

“There are savage teams in Connacht. Castlebar were very strong and Brigid's. There are good teams in Galway and Connacht. The last couple of years we've struggled to get out of Galway, games going to replays, just getting over the line with that bit of luck.

“The supporters, they've definitely brought us through the tougher games, the likes of Mountbellew, the Tuam games. We just about got through the county this year against Tuam, only for a Gary Sice free to seal the deal. It was worrying there for a while. Look we need that bit of luck as well.”

Tomorrow will be Farragher’s sixth All-Ireland semi-final with Corofin, and while he admits the opportunity to achieve an All-Ireland three-in-a-row in the next three weeks is hugely exciting, the team are not looking past the challenge of Cork giants Nemo tomorrow, themselves beaten All-Ireland finalists to Corofin in 2018.

“Look it's great. We don't really dwell on it too much. As I said, it is a game-by-game step. We always just try to go back to that and forget about what we've won previously. That keeps us more driven.

“We're obviously aware of it but it's never talked about or anything. It's focusing on the next game and that's a big challenge in Nemo Rangers and the success they've had in Ireland over the last couple of years. Definitely we have to respect them and we'll be focusing on that before we start looking any further.”

Corofin’s recent command of club silverware reads like this: 11 Galway titles since 2006 (including the last seven successively), seven Connacht crowns during that time, and three of the last five All-Irelands.

While their footballing quality is undoubted, such a slew of success demands insatiable hunger, motivation and drive, something Farragher believes is inherent in the mentality of the club.

“We nearly don't know any different at this stage. It's nearly in the culture. Even when you're getting injured in the year you're dying to get back because you're looking out at the training and you're seeing how intense it is and you just want to be out there.

“It's probably player and management driven. If you take two to three weeks off due to injury, you're worried about getting your place back on the team.

“It definitely happened for me earlier on in the year, I went to the States over to Chicago for the summer and coming back I kind of had a couple of knocks, so trying to break my way back into the team with lads that were on Galway U20s, you're trying to fight your way back on and you're up against those lads. It's not easy.”

Farragher says the decision to head across the water and play with the McBride’s club in Chicago was supported by the Corofin management, and he is hugely positive of his experience playing stateside.

“Savage club. I'd recommend it to anyone, they look after you so well. Serious team and just couldn't recommend it enough now to be honest. Three more Corofin lads - Dylan McHugh, Colin Brady, Brian Raftery - were over there.

“It was a very tight-knit group, a mixture between Dublin players, Armagh, Mayo, we just kind of gelled. Unfortunately, we lost by a point in the final but overall the experience was unreal and delighted I went.

“They'll (Corofin management) always be supportive of any decisions because thankfully we're blessed with the panel we have and there's lads always chomping at the bit to get in, it doesn't drop the standards of the team, it's maintained so we're lucky with the panel that we have.”

Farragher also spent a few months at the other side of the world back in 2010, playing Australian Rules for Grovedale Tigers, a feeder club for Geelong.

While he enjoyed the experience Down Under, his decision to come back and put the shoulder the wheel again with Corofin was borne out of a desire to emulate the club’s All-Ireland winning class of 1998.

“It was nice, it was something different. At the end of the day, it's not football either. It was nice to do it and I would have probably regretted it if I didn't go along and do it. It was a nice experience in Melbourne and I spent a good bit of time in the Gold Coast as well.

“There's no real what-ifs because we've been so successful with Corofin. We're blessed. I remember I was over in Australia and on my screensaver on my phone was the Corofin team from '98, the team that won the All-Ireland. And on the other screen when you closed that was the current team. So you were just dying to get back, you missed it that much.”