Lynch can emerge into sunlight after arduous struggle against current

At 2pm local time on Monday last, 52 hours after entering the water and after four previous failed attempts over the previous 35 years, 64-year-old Diana Nyad emerged from the ocean in Florida Keys and thus became the first person to swim the 110 miles from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.

This Sunday, as Clare take on Cork in the All-Ireland SHC final in Croke Park, if there’s any one member of either panel who can empathise with Diana’s persistence, it’s Fergal Lynch.

On a different level, admittedly, but consider this: now 31, Lynch first broke onto the Clare senior hurling panel in 2002, making this is his 12th full season. In that time he has seen five managers come and go, was himself seen by some of those as a starter, by others as a finisher but by none as a mainstay of the side.

Now he is on manager number six, Davy Fitzgerald, and still playing only a supporting role. He has been doubted by many, abused by some, at times even questioned himself and, this year especially, was just going to walk away.

Always, however, he came back, ready and willing to give it one more go.

“I had put in so much work over the years I thought it just wasn’t going to be in me to give it another year. I got married last year and I did a Master’s in education [teaching now in Quin].

“There were so many outside pressures but in fairness to my wife Angela, she encouraged me to stay at it and give it another go. Thankfully, it’s been the best decision of my life so far, hopefully it will be an even better decision on Sunday!”

He holds nothing against any of those managers, Davy included — the opposite in fact.

“I can never criticise any of the managers I’ve been under. I played under all six, that’s a sign that they obviously saw something in me — the six of them couldn’t have been wrong about me as a hurler. I’ve always had the greatest of respect for those, the likes of Dalo, Cyril Lyons, Tony Considine, Sparrow [Ger O’Loughlin].”

He actually played with two of those he names, Anthony Daly and Ger O’Loughlin, played also with Davy Fitz, and they would have known better than most just what Lynch brought to the table.

Mind you, his first meeting with Davy the manager didn’t go very well. “It was a good while ago, an U21 [club — Clooney-Quin] match against Sixmilebridge and Fitzy, it was probably his first time to manage a team; we beat them despite being serious underdogs and I played quite well on the day.

“He fairly gave it to me from the sideline and I was giving it back to him. People thought I’d never get the opportunity from him, but Davy and myself have always got on well. He always had belief in me and I will always thank him for that.”

So what does Lynch bring to the table, why did six different managers all have him on their panel, often on the starting 15? In his new role as an impact sub, what, specifically, does he bring to this new young group, most of whom were still in national school when he first started? “I was never called an impact sub before! Basically my style in a game — I’m not a guy like Cathal McInerney or Shane O’Donnell who’s going to come in and score 1-3 in the space of five or 10 minutes. I’m more of a guy who will hold up possession and lay it off and cool things down. It’s a great role to have with Clare and hopefully I can keep that up and do it in the All-Ireland final.”

He hasn’t won anything yet and there is that major final obstacle to overcome but happy to be where he is? You betcha!