I was taken aback by Anthony Cunningham's final pledge, says Andy Smith

Yes, even Andy Smith was taken aback when he heard that Anthony Cunningham had publicly revealed he told Brian Cody after the Leinster final he would greet him next on the Croke Park sideline in September.

“I said to Brian Cody afterwards that we’ll see them in the All-Ireland final,” the Galway manager informed RTÉ following Kilkenny’s seven-point win.

Smith remarked: “Yeah, they were strange comments. We can’t look past Cork in a quarter-final. That’s the only game in town now. We have to mentally and physically get up for that game.”

However, the Portumna man took some encouragement from the faith Cunningham clearly has in his team.

“You have to be confident. If you don’t believe in yourself nobody else is going to believe in you. That’s good to hear from the manager, that he has confidence in us and that seeps through the squad as well. You need confidence but there’s a fine balance and you can’t be cocky either. We respect every team and we’ll respect Cork the next day.”

September is still some way off for Smith as he hopes to avoid the fate that awaits the inter-county hurler left with nothing to play for — an evening or two in Ballybrit next week.

“I don’t want to be in the Galway Races, definitely not. I’d stay away from it anyway because you’d be listening to too much stuff. Being out in July is not acceptable but then you look at Clare, gone the last two years in July, for a team that has won it the previous September.”

An improvement on their poor record in Thurles will be required to progress to an All-Ireland semi-final. They have lost their last three championship games there — Tipperary last season, Clare 2013 and Waterford in 2011.

They did beat Cork in Semple Stadium in a 2011 qualifier having lost to them two years previous in a madcap qualifier and before that to Kilkenny in 2004 and '06. "People say that it’s not a happy hunting ground for Galway but it doesn’t matter whether you’re in Pearse Stadium or the Gaelic Grounds, I think people make more of a big deal of it.

“People say that it’s not a happy hunting ground for Galway but it doesn’t matter whether you’re in Pearse Stadium or the Gaelic Grounds, I think people make more of a big deal of it. We don’t dwell on it. We don’t think ‘Oh God, it’s Thurles’. We’ve had great days down there with the club and we’ve had good league performances down there. It’s about your attitude on the day.”

Galway also beat Cork in Thurles in a 2002 qualifier but Joe Canning’s senior championship debut in the 2009 backdoor game is one that stands out.

“Dónal Óg (Cusack) got sent off and Joe was marking Diarmuid O’Sullivan. It was Joe’s introduction to senior inter-county hurling. I remember Cork had a massive crowd in Thurles and I remember the roar that went up when they got the bit of momentum near the end. They were massively up for it.

“Joe singlehandedly, he was only 18 or 19 at the time, (scored 2-12 out of 2-15). It was crazy stuff. So what were the rest of us at?”

At least Galway will have support in Thurles having won a lot of their following back after two largely forgettable seasons.

“After the Waterford (league quarter-final) defeat, there was a lot of soul-searching for us as players and the squad as a whole. There was a lot of negative stuff being said down in Galway. You just have to surround yourself with positive people and forget about that.

“We had a lot of stuff to work on, which we did. We built a bit of momentum through the Leinster campaign and we just have to bring that confidence into the quarter-final the next day. To lose a Leinster final isn’t easy and we looked at the DVD. We’ve a lot of stuff to work on. Every day is a school day and you have to learn from your mistakes and try and refocus in training, things we did wrong to try and work on them.

“We’ll look at Cork now and see what kind of game-plan we’ll get in place to counteract them.”

It’s no ordinary Cork system they’re facing, Smith knows. “Their hand was nearly forced into playing a tactical game against Wexford and then they perfected it against Clare the last day out. We’d be more a traditional side as would Cork. It depends on what way the teams will line up the next day — it will probably take on a life of its own. These games always do and it will be a massive battle for 40-50 minutes and the next thing it will open up and it’s whatever team can take their chances.”

Meanwhile Galway have received a huge boost with captain David Collins passed fit to play.

The experienced defender missed the 1-25 to 2-15 Leinster final defeat to Kilkenny with a hamstring injury, but has recovered and came through a training match on Sunday without any problem.

Jason Flynn has also fully recovered from the finger injury which bothered him in the build-up to the Leinster final but hopes of having Conor Cooney finally back in action will have to be put on hold.

If you don’t believe in yourself nobody else is going to believe in you. You need confidence but there’s a fine balance and you can’t be cocky either