Player Interviews
Mick McGuinness - Glenanne

Having hit 30 with no Irish silverware to his name, Mick McGuinness is two games away from picking up his fourth title in two seasons since making the decision to switch to Glenanne. Two EuroHockey League tilts have accompanied that run, something which he had not envisaged following career which began in Sutton Park, developed in England and advanced with Fingal. Speaking in the wake of his side’s 2-0 loss to Dutch giants HGC in the KO16 of the EHL, he admits it was something he approached with trepidation but he had reached a watershed in his playing life.

“I never really saw myself as that good a player [to play in these European tournaments]. A few years, Fingal wasn’t really going all that well and I thought, I’m 30, I’ll try and join a top club.

“Glenanne were probably the best fit; compared to Fingal, they’d be similar enough team in how they play and the lads that are involved. Since then, it’s been super, playing in all the big games, the big competitions, the pressure, the nerves and all that goes with it.”

Since then, he broke his trophy duck with a Neville Cup win in December 2009 – lifting the trophy with fellow first-timer Alan Lewis – but last summer was the special one, winning the Irish Senior Cup having never previously got beyond the quarter-finals.
It has given him the chance to learn from the likes of Graham Shaw and Joe Brennan who have driven the Glenanne side for the past decade. The former, as player-coach, almost master-minded the shock of the EHL but the self-belief that comes with that performance is a big boon for the Glens, according to McGuinness.

“The big thing and what Sharpie was always harping on about was ‘the work rate, the work rate and the work rate’. No matter how the scoreboard reads, just work, work, work. If we take that into next weekend, I don’t think we’ll have a problem.

“We worked hard for the first three quarters [against HGC], sat back and in the last quarter, we thought 1-0, let’s go for it, press and get into them. We had a penalty stroke call and a couple of chances didn’t go our way, rub of the green stuff. No regrets, though. We walked off the pitch and all collapsed; you can’t do much more than that.

“It’s not comparable to what we do every week in the Leinster league. You’re looking at guys who are semi-pro or pros running at you, thinking this guy is so much better than me.

“But we put in some good tackles and you start to think to yourself, maybe they’re not as good as you think they are.”
Saturday’s semi-final opponents Banbridge will be spurred by a feeling of being wronged by a decision in their 2009 IHL semi-final meeting with the Glens.

The Tallaght side netted a crucial goal as the stadium timer had ticked past the end of the third quarter mark.
It was a big decision, similar in magnitude to the one which denied the one Glenanne protested long and hard about in their semi-final defeat to Pembroke a year later. While Bann under-performed in their Senior Cup showdown with Monkstown, McGuinness knows that this could be much tighter and such margins may come into play.

 “I saw them in the Irish Senior and they didn’t do too well but I’d say they’ll come good in the IHL. There’s a bit of history there but we feel good about ourselves.

“The games are so, so, so tight. It could easily come down to a decision. We didn’t get the rub of the green last year and it could easily come down to something like that next weekend.”

Interview conducted by Stephen Findlater, Freelance Journalist on behalf of the IHA