HE SPENT LAST season split between New York and Galway, but Jonathan Glynn will be based on home soil this summer as the Tribesmen bid to defend their Leinster and All-Ireland titles.
Glynn worked as a project manager in New York since 2015, but rejoined the Galway panel last April and made regular commutes home from the Big Apple to line out with Micheal Donoghue’s side during the championship.
The 24-year-old made his only start of last season in the All-Ireland final against Waterford, when Galway delivered their first Liam MacCarthy Cup in 29 years.
Glynn featured for his club Ardrahan in the Galway SHC last weekend and his county team-mate Padraic Mannion has confirmed the physical forward resumed training with the county panel and will be remaining at home.
“I’d seen the story in the paper about two weeks ago that said he’s not coming back to Galway, which was the complete opposite (to the truth) because he is back,” Mannion said at the launch of the Cúl Heroes 2018 collection.
“He’s staying. He’s training with (Galway). He’s never been in bad shape, he’s very good for looking after himself. I’d say he’s always doing something to keep himself in shape.
“He played with his club Ardrahan there last weekend. He’s back, he was back with the club and it’s good for him even to get back playing with his club. Anytime he plays championship with his club or county it’s a great occasion.”
Galway swept all before them in an incredible campaign last season, but Mannion believes one area they can improve on this year is their goalscoring touch.
“From May or June last year, we didn’t score a goal in the championship,” he continued. “I know that we were playing against teams that are defensive and have sweepers and that makes it a bit more difficult. That’s definitely one area that we would try to improve.
“I suppose if you can win games scoring points, you’d take that as well. If you go the whole year without scoring a goal and you’re still winning games, you’d take that.
“With the forwards we have, teams are going to be really trying to clamp down on them. It’s easier said than done to work on it. It’s one area but there are loads of areas that we can work on. Every team tries to improve year on year and we’re no different.
“Hopefully, if we can improve in that area and we’ll get a chance to do that in the first round against Offaly. Last year they played with two sweepers and it was very hard to break them down. We had to shoot from out the field more and that really reduced the goal threat. Look, it’s a challenge for us and one we’re looking forward to.”
Donoghue’s side will travel to face a rejuvenated Offaly in the Leinster opener on 12 May, before they take on Kilkenny, Wexford and Dublin over the course of the following four weeks.
“We saw how Offaly were impressive in the league. If we start looking forward to the four games you are going to play, you are going to be in trouble in your first game,” added Mannion. “You just have to take it one game at a time, that is what we will be trying to do.
“Every team starts out on a level playing field again, just because we won last year it doesn’t mean we are ahead of anyone this year. You have to start from scratch again. You have to take it one game at a time, to try to get a few results under our belts.”
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Cúl Heroes, the official trading cards of the GAA/GPA, launched their 2018 collection at Croke Park with brand ambassadors James McCarthy and Padraic Mannion as well as Noelle Healy and Gemma O’Connor. Cúl Heroes is entering its fourth year on the market and aims to continue its promotion of Gaelic Games, the players and the unique skills of our national sport. In attendance at the launch is Galway hurler Padraic Mannion at Croke Park in Dublin.
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