Faces of Galway 50/100

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Meet John from Portumna

When John agreed to be part of this project I knew how the photo would look before I even met him. As captain of Connacht Rugby it is important John exudes an air of intimidation, a strong force not to be reckoned with. In reality John is well over six foot tall and built like a house but he almost springs as he walks, chatting non-stop. He is a genuinely nice and modest man.

Before rugby John played hurling. Growing up down the road from the famous Canning hurlers, he was in good company. He had no real interest in Rugby until his brother started playing and he decided to use it to keep fit over the winter seasons. He went into Rugby with no expectations but was quickly snapped up for the Connacht Academy. He has stayed faithful to the club ever since. He has a loyalty to Connacht that goes beyond passion and pride. It is the notion of not quitting, not abandoning your team, no matter what the alternatives are. 

John has a degree in production engineering and when you analyse his role as captain you can see the link. If you look up production engineering there is talk of design and development, implementation and maintenance, and above all control of all the processes in the manufacture of a product. From years of experience playing with Connacht, working with great management and backroom staff John has helped to get the highest level of productivity out of players. He leads by example and consistently works hard. He feels grateful that he has had such a long career. While still a very influential member of the team, he feels that the end is drawing near but he will keep going until, as he says, he gets the boot! He doesn't know what the future holds for him after Rugby but we're sure whatever it is he'll make it great.