Atlantic crossings worth it for Galway's Jonathan Glynn

By Declan Rooney

Galway forward Johnny Glynn said balancing a work life in New York with a bid for All-Ireland glory is worth every bit of the effort.

The Ardrahan clubman commuted from the US last summer and played a key role as Galway won their first All-Ireland title since 1988. This summer, he is mainly based in Galway, with the odd trip to the Big Apple, and again he showed his worth when starting in the Leinster final replay win over Kilkenny.

I think anyone in this position would want to do it,” he says. “Galway is where I’m from and the last thing I’d want to do is let them down, so I’m just happy it’s working out.

"I’ve been with the team a good bit this year and training away. I don’t have to be going back and forth as much as last year, a week here and there, but the group I’m working with are very good to me so it’s working out. Galway understand me living over there and the group I work for understand what hurling means to me. They’ve been very good to accommodate this, so hopefully we can just keep going.”.

He was part of the Galway squad which claimed the Leinster title in 2012 and knows the value of a provincial crown, but it is all about the All-Ireland title for this group of players.

It’s great how it turned out. Kilkenny came back at us in the second half and nearly caught us, but we’re happy enough that we got over the line. We’ve Leinster won, but we haven’t an All-Ireland won yet, so we’ll have to knuckle down and go again.

His neighbours in Clare stand in the way of a second All-Ireland final appearance in a row. They are no strangers, clubs in the two counties often play each other in challenge matches and Glynn won a Connacht colleges medal with Our Lady’s, Gort, in a team which featured Clare captain Pat O’Connor as well as other Galway seniors such as Conor Cooney and Adrian Tuohy.

Glynn moved to New York after the 2015 All-Ireland final loss. Micheál Donoghue persuaded him to commute home last summer, but a knee injury meant he didn’t start his first game until the 0-26 to 2-17 All-Ireland win over Waterford.

However, he knows the value of a squad and is hopeful Galway have the depth to take another huge stride towards retaining their crown.

“I suppose with the depth of the panel, it doesn’t matter who starts. Whatever 15 lads are out on the pitch, go and do your job and the three or four lads that come in do their job,” he added.