"We just wanted to get in" - Glynn on criticism over New York's Lory Meagher inclusion

New York hurling captain Johnny Glynn has responded to criticism over the Exiles inclusion in the Lory Meagher Cup.

The Galway native lifted the hurling championship’s fifth tier trophy at Croke Park last Saturday after New York defeated Cavan by 4-17 to 2-17.

There has been widespread criticism of the decision to allow Richie Hartnett’s side to advance straight into the competition’s semi-final, where they cruised past Monaghan before seeing off the Breffni men at headquarters in the space of a week.

Speaking on the BBC NI’s ‘The GAA Social Podcast’ since, Glynn responded to the criticism by pointing out that New York’s situation isn’t all that different from the one Galway found itself in before going into the Leinster senior hurling championship in 2009.

“Yeah, there was a lot of slack about it, everyone was saying you're too strong for the Lory Meagher. If we were told we had to come home for ten games or one game, we just wanted to get in we weren't going to question anything,” Glynn stated.

“It was funny enough last week someone down in Mullingar made a comment after the game and I just turned to the umpire and I said sure Galway were in an All-Ireland semi-final for years in the Liam MacCarthy and nobody ever said anything wrong about it so why couldn't we do it.

“I heard it behind me, ‘sure it's a bit of a joke they just waltzed into the semi-final’ and I turned around was like obviously bit of colourful words. I said nobody ever gave out about Galway for years and the umpire goes ‘Jaysus that's a good point’.”

He added: “It's grand when you're losing, I always say it, no-one cares when a team is losing but the fact we came home and there was a bit of word about us having a good team then they were giving out. This was voted on, it was passed and it's only when you win that people want to put it down.

“Sure look for years people wanted to see Limerick win an All-Ireland now when they're after winning a few no-one wants to see them win. People are always happy when you're losing, it's when you've a chance of winning they want to give out.”