'We have to win this Christy Ring Cup for it to be a successful year'

Christy Ring Cup Preview Regan sets out his stall ahead of tough campaign

Jack Regan has been a stalwart of the Meath Senior panel for the last 10-plus years. With three Christy Ring cup medals in his back pocket, the 29-year-old electrician is preparing for another crack at the third tier of the All-Ireland Hurling Championship, starting with the visit of London to Trim next Saturday, 1pm, writes Tom Gannon.

The Kiltale star took some time out in 2024 to visit various parts of Asia and he spoke about how the experience shifted his mindset regarding GAA players taking time out of their careers to go abroad and travel the world.

"I was in or around the Meath senior set-up since I was 17 or 18. It was nice to get away. Over the last 10 years, if someone said to me that they were heading away to Australia or wherever for a while, I probably had the feeling of, why is he going and what about the hurling. If a young lad said to me today that he was going travelling, I'd be encouraging him to go and enjoy it. There is so much more to the world than just hurling."

Regan had finished his travels before Meath had finished up for 2024 and he was offered a place back in the fold but he felt at the time he was not ready to make his county return just yet.

"We arrived back from our travels on a Friday and I went to see Meath playing Laois on the Saturday. I watched it with Dad on the bank and I got a call on the Monday to see if I would go back in. However, I had already said to my Dad that there would be no way that I would be up to anywhere close to it. I just left it off, there would be no point in going back in and not being able to give it 100%. I went back to Kiltale and got my fitness up there."

The 2023 Christy Ring-winning joint-captain made his return for Meath for this year's league campaign. Regan explained how in previous years, the Royals would have had higher ambitions given the sides involved in Div 2, but this year, Johnny Grevlle's side were content with maintaining their status.

"In years gone by, I would say we would have been aiming to be up near the top of that league. Kildare and Down are teams that we would have been beating regularly enough in the past. It still probably went as expected. We got a bit lucky in the sense that the Down game got called off, they were already in the final when we eventually played them. It might have been a different story if we played them when we were supposed to. Overall we are just happy to maintain our status and a lot of young lads got their break as well, which is good."

One young player who stood out in particular during the league was Kilmessan's Lorcan Byrne and Regan was keen to praise the rising star and his fellow inductees to the Meath senior ranks.

"Lorcan (Byrne) has been excellent all year. In the game against Derry, we struggled for about 15 minutes in the middle of that first-half and in that period he must have won six or seven frees when the chips were down which was brilliant to see.

There have been a good few more like him as well which is very positive to see."

Johnny Greville has been clear and vocal on his plans for Meath in the coming years but, one member of Greville's management team, S & C coach Ciaran Keogh, has recently stepped away. Regan spoke about the loss of Keogh to the side but also praised his replacement and the rest of the management set-up for the work that they have beendoing with the squad."There has been a breath of fresh air about this new management team and Johnny (Greville) has obviously been vocal about his plan for progression with the team. We have lost our strength and conditioning coach, Ciaran (Keogh) is a huge loss and he has been around for a good while. He is a friend more than anything to a lot of us. He has been replaced by Conor Clifford who has vast experience and is very professional. The selectors, Tom (Shine) and Crash (Sean Corrigan) are staunch Meath men to the core."

Regan has been very impressed with the depth within Meath Hurling this year and has been pleased to see that there is now a development squad in place so players are ready to be integrated into the squad when called upon.

"There is a panel of 36 and he has a development panel going there and lads are training away on the side and they have been integrated into the main panel at different stages.

Seanie Geraghty unfortunately picked up a bad injury recently but that's why that development panel is so important. In years gone by I have never been part of a Meath team where there has been an additional panel of young lads training away there by themselves with the chance of being integrated into the team, so it is great to see."

Trim's James Murray was not part of Greville's league squad due to college commitments but Regan informed us that the star man for last year's Meath SHC runner-ups is back into the fold and ready to make a serious impact.

"James Murray is back in with us now which is fantastic. He will be massive going forward for us. He was away down the country for college for a lot of the league. Once he gets a few games into him with us, he'll be excellent."

Regan reiterated the feelings of a lot of hurling fans in the county in that should Meath win the Christy Ring this year, they will need to be ready to make the jump up competitively for the Joe McDonagh in 2026. He talked about how in previous years, the commitment level and participation of players dropped off rapidly once Meath were promoted to the Joe McDonagh.

"It would be brilliant to win the Christy Ring but if we do, we need to be fit and able to take the step up and take on the Joe McDonagh next year. Whether that is the case or not, I don't know. We are after blooding a few young lads but that's pointless if a few of them decide to step away next year. In years gone by we have had big panels winning the Christy Ring and then we go up to Joe McDonagh which is a step up and you had players stepping away. I just hope that if we go up there, we can stay there for a few years because our hurling will improve no end."

Regan and Meath's focus is on London this weekend. It's a must-win game for the Royals as a loss would put them on the back foot straight way.

"We're fully fixated on London at the moment and they are going to be an extremely tough test. You never really know what you are going to get from them. It will be a tough test and home advantage for us will be huge. If you don't win that game you are on the back foot immediately and every game after that is a final. So it's a must-win for us." said Regan.

"We have to win this Christy Ring Cup for it to be a successful year. There is no point in beating around the bush. We have set goals and the main one is to win the Christy Ring. Donegal, London and Derry all probably have the same goal as us so it's going to be competitive, and hopefully, if we do win it, we can get huge buy-in for next year for the Joe McDonagh."