Jeffrey Lynskey (born 1977) is an Irish

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who was the current manager of the Galway minor hurling team and also works as an English and history teacher in Galway Community College.

Playing career

College

Lynskey first came to prominence as a hurler with St. Mary's College in

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. Having played in every grade as a hurler, he was centre-back on the college's senior hurling team that won the Connacht Championship in 1994. Lynskey was later in the same position when

the North Monastery The North Monastery ( Irish: ''An Mhainistir Thuaidh''), commonly known as The Mon, is a co-educational education campus comprising Scoil Mhuire Fatima Primary School, North Monastery Co-educational Secondary and Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG, locat ...

defeated St. Mary's College by 1-10 to 1-06 in the All-Ireland final.

University

During his studies at

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

, Lynskey was a regular on the college's senior hurling team that played in the

Fitzgibbon Cup The Fitzgibbon Cup () is the trophy for the premier hurling championship among higher education institutions (universities, colleges and institutes of technology) in Ireland. The Fitzgibbon Cup competition is administered by Comhairle Ard Oideac ...

Club

Lynskey joined the

Liam Mellows William Joseph Mellows (, 25 May 1892 – 8 December 1922) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. Born in England to an English father and Irish mother, he grew up in Ashton-under-Lyne before moving to Ireland, ...

club at a young age and played in all grades at juvenile and underage levels. His championship career with the club's senior team lasted twenty seasons before his retirement in 2014.

Inter-county

Minor and under-21

Lynskey first came to prominence as a hurler with Galway in 1994 when he was added to the Galway minor hurling panel. On 9 September 1994, he was an unused substitute when Galway defeated

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

by 2-10 to 1-11 in the All-Ireland final at

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

. Eligible for the minor grade again the following year, Lynskey made his first appearance on 12 August 1995 in a 2-08 to 0-12 All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Cork. It was his last game in the minor grade. Lynskey immediately made the step up to the Galway under-21 team in 1996, however, his season came to a premature end after breaking his leg. After rejoining the panel the following year, he was an unused substitute when Galway were defeated by Cork in the All-Ireland final on 21 September 1997. On 29 August 1998, Lynskey made his first appearance for the Galway under-21 team in 4-18 to 3-07 defeat of

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

in the All-Ireland semi-final. He was later at left wing-back for Galway's second successive All-Ireland final defeat by Cork.

Management and coaching career

St. Mary's College

Lynskey first became involved in coaching as a secondary school student at St. Mary's College. During a year in which he repeated his

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certificate ...

, he started coaching the school's senior team because he was overage.

Liam Mellows

Lynskey began his coaching career at club level with the various Liam Mellows juvenile teams at under-14, under-16 and under-16 levels. He subsequently became involved with the minor and under-21 teams before serving as

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

with the Liam Mellows senior team on a number of occasions.

Mayo

In June 2012, Lynskey was appointed as Hurling Mentor for Mayo as part of the National Hurling Development Plan. The initiative saw leading coaching people from the

Liam MacCarthy Cup The Liam MacCarthy Cup () is a trophy awarded annually by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to the team that wins the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Based on the design of a medieval drinking vessel, the trophy was first awarded i ...

counties being appointed to facilitate the growth of hurling in their respective adopted counties and report to Croke Park on the developments and needs of the hurling community within Mayo.

Galway

After being involved with the Galway academy system and various underage development squads, Lynskey was recommended for the position of manager of the Galway minor hurling team in October 2014. In his first season in charge, he guided Galway to defeats of

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

and Kilkenny on the way to qualifying for an All-Ireland final appearance on 6 September 2015. A 4-13 to 1-16 defeat of Tipperary secured the title for Lynskey's side. Lynskey's minor side surrendered their All-Ireland title the following year, however, he guided the team back to another All-Ireland title on 3 September 2017 after a two-point defeat of Cork in the final. On 19 August 2018, Lynskey won a third All-Ireland title as manager when Galway defeated Kilkenny by 0-21 to 0-14 in the All-Ireland final. Lynskey went on to become galway under 21 manager for 3 seasons after an 11 point loss to cork in the under 20 AI final he stepped down as manager

Honours

As a player

;Galway *

All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Electric Ireland GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship) is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Associ ...

(1):

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

In management

;Galway *

(3):

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynskey, Jeffrey 1977 births Living people Alumni of the University of Galway Liam Mellows hurlers Galway inter-county hurlers Hurling managers Hurling selectors University of Galway hurlers