Galway’s midfield giants Flynn and Ó Curraoin are primed to battle all the way to the finish

Dara Bradley

BEFORE Galway U21 midfielder Tom Flynn went under the knife for knee surgery last year, the then 20-year-old was under the impression he’d be out running round within five to six weeks.

Things didn’t quite work out that way. When he awoke from surgery, his family had to break it to him gently that the tear of his meniscus was far worse than first feared.

“I was out for just under nine months – it was tough, I’d never experienced anything like that before. Going to training, I was never used to not playing, I had to put a brave face on it,” he says.

Flynn – known as Thomas at home but Tom in GAA circles – didn’t waste the nine months, however. Although he was on crutches and missed college work in DCU where he studies second year PE and biology, with the two Alans, U21 manager Flynn and senior manager Mulholland, he devised a programme of gym work, and has bulked up, adding a stone in weight, which is muscle rather than fat, he says.

“It was hard to take but I was only 20 at the time and there was no rush to get me back. It was the worst case scenario in the short-term but in the long-run it was probably the best thing . . . my knee is great now, it’s back to full strength.”

Flynn came on as a sub in the Connacht final and ended up playing for sixty minutes, longer than he’d have expected on his return, because the clash went to extra-time. That game-time against Roscommon brought him on immeasurably, and it stood to him against Kildare in the All-Ireland semi-final a fortnight ago where he partnered his good friend Fiontán Ó Curraoin at centre-field.

“I’m six foot five, six foot six when I’m in my boots, and Fiontán is the same, so we’re not used to having lads that are taller than us. Kildare were big though, I don’t think we’ve come across lads as big as them . . . in the end it was great to see the quick, fleet foot, overcoming the brawn and the bulk,” he says.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.