Glynn not overawed by transatlantic travels
New York
On a dull rain-soaked afternoon at Gaelic Park last Sunday, one noticeable figure enthusiastically roaming the sidelines for New York’s clash with Mayo was All-Ireland winning Galway hurler Johnny Glynn.
The towering forward has been involved with the Exiles panel again this year but returns home this weekend to re-join Micheál Donoghue’s squad in their bid for Leinster and All-Ireland glory. But that wasn’t before he tried lending a hand to his New York teammates.
“I know all the boys, I was training away with New York and you don’t want to be training and not playing. I’d love to be playing but I try and do whatever I can on the sideline, doing the water or whatever. I can’t kick any ball but I try my best to be something,” he explained.
It’s that attitude which has made his remarkable if not unprecedented 3,000-mile commute home and link-up up with the Galway panel so seamless over the past two seasons.
“We have a great panel of lads there in New York, every one of them are fierce genuine fellas and they know what I’m about, I don’t come to slack about, I try my best and if I can bring something to the table I’ll bring it to the table.”
The Ardrahan club man is facing into his third consecutive season crisscrossing the Atlantic in search of glory.
“I came out in late 2015 after we lost the All-Ireland to Kilkenny and I’m here since working with a carpentry company TopLine DryWall owned by two Leitrim men. In 2016 I was involved here with New York playing against Roscommon, we lost by a point then and we were unlucky.
"That year then I was playing hurling with Tipperary and football with Monaghan and we actually won both senior championships.
Then the following year Micheál gave me a shout and I was lucky enough to get a chance to go home and play with Galway. I went back in April for the league final, came on against Tipp and injured my knee.
"I got an operation at the start of June and made it back in time then for the All-Ireland semi-final. I had the best of both worlds.
“We won an All-Ireland (in 2017) and last year I tried again, mixing the both, living here and going home for the summer and unfortunately we lost.”
And now Glynn is looking forward to the journeys that lie ahead in 2019. “I have done all my winter training here with New York and put a big effort in. I look after the (work) paperwork side of things when I’m home in Ireland so I’m still working when I’m home but the [Top Line] boys have been very good to me.
"Everyone is saying it’s tough going but it’s not. If anyone else had the opportunity to do it they’d do it. It’s the best of both worlds and I’m just happy to give it a go. There’s absolutely nothing between eight, nine or 10 teams there and any one of them can win an All-Ireland.
Glynn is the second member of the Galway squad to return from overseas and link up for the championship with Joseph Cooney returning from Australia a few weeks ago, having lived there since before Christmas. The Tribesmen host Carlow at Pearse Stadium in Salthill in their Leinster championship opener on Sunday afternoon.
