Jermyn happy to return after going Dutch

Prior to his Cork homecoming during last month’s Celtic Cup, Cork Church of Ireland star John Jermyn spoke to Southern Fried about his year playing semi-professionally with HGC in Holland. WHEN John Jermyn confirmed his return to Cork Church of Ireland after a season spent playing semi-professionally with HGC in Holland, Garryduff breathed a collective sigh of relief. Nobody begrudged the former Ashton schoolboy the chance to compete in the top domestic league in the world – not to mention the inaugural EuroHockey League, which HGC reached the final of – but everyone connected with the club is surely glad to have him back. Jermyn stepped back onto home turf at Garryduff for the first time in more than a year last month in the green of Ireland, as Dave Passmore’s side ended their season with a Celtic Cup win. But this was no hometown ego parade for the 83-times capped drag-flick specialist, who believed he has a point to prove. While his Irish team-mates at HGC, Iain Lewers and Eugene Magee, looked like players reborn in June’s Setanta Sports Trophy, Jermyn was uncharacteristically subdued. A peripheral figure on the wing, he appeared to have left his renowned penalty corner prowess behind in Holland.

“I wasn’t playing well leading up to that tournament, and Dave (Passmore) wasn’t happy with me so he put me on the bench a lot. It was a very unsatisfactory tournament for me personally,” he admits. “I’ll be looking to redeem myself this weekend. This is the last international stuff for the season, so it would be nice to go out with a bang in front of the home crowd.” Jermyn managed just that, and was a key figure as Ireland posted wins over Wales and France, while his trademark drag-flick returned with a vengeance when he plundered Ireland’s second in the 2-2 draw against the Scots. Jermyn got his chance with HGC thanks to international team-mate Phelie Maguire, who pioneered the trend of Irish players playing semi-professionally in Holland in 2006/07. On Maguire’s recommendation, Jermyn and Lewers met with HGC coach Paul van Ass, who subsequently watched them in friendlies against Germany and at last year’s European Championships, and decided he’d seen enough. The timing was perfect for Jermyn, who had just finished his Blackhall exams and would not be starting work as a solicitor for another 12 months. “I knew if I hadn’t gone away, I would have regretted it at the end of my hockey career,” he says. “A big point in going to that club was the coach. He wouldn’t be very tactically aware, but his man-management was excellent. If I needed to go home for some reason, he’d just say ‘Take all the time you need, just do a bit of training while you’re back in Ireland.’ He was fun to play for.” Jermyn was also part of the team’s penalty corner unit, where he says he learned a lot from Dutch legend Bram Lomans, who has more than 200 international goals to his name, and he enjoyed being immersed in his chosen sport. “They eat, breathe and sleep hockey over there, so everyone’s really enthusiastic and there’s a great atmosphere at the club,” he explains. “But the Irish guys weren’t put under any pressure to get a part-time job, which made it boring some days – though that was probably our own fault. You’d be getting out of bed pretty late and all that…everything was focussed towards hockey. Still, I can’t complain, we couldn’t exactly moan to the lads back home who were starting work at half eight in the morning.” A broken toe limited Jermyn‘s participation in the final weekend of the EHL, but he has fond memories of it nonetheless. He’d never seen the like of the swathes of colour in the stands, or the sheer volume of TV cameras as the hockey world zoned in on Rotterdam. The home side, who boasted the likes of Pakistan goal machine Sohail Abbas in their ranks, had the Indian sign over Jermyn‘s HGC all season, but they turned the tables in the semi-final, running out 7-4 winners in an enthralling contest. However, a fluked extra-time goal saw them lose the final 1-0 to German outfit Uhlenhorst. Now back on home soil, Jermyn hopes the Celtic Cup galvanised hockey in his hometown, despite the inclement weather that interrputed the majority of the games. “It’s very important to have this tournament in Cork, to get people to see hockey and publicise the game down here. The internationals are always on up in UCD and people aren’t going to travel up from Cork every time for those. Hopefully this will lead to us having a few more tournaments in Garryduff.”