Gleghorne’s new challenge after international exit

MARK Gleghorne has officially announced his retirement from international hockey after winning a combined total of 164 caps for Great Britain and England.

The Ulster man is to move back home to take up a new post heading up the coaching team at Royal Belfast Academical Institution, where he learned his hockey.

It’s understood Gleghorne will combine the job with a full-time teaching position at the Belfast school.

It’s a massive boost for Inst to have such a superb role model on board as they bid to recapture the glory days in which Gleghorne played a significant part.

He scored 46 goals during the course of his international career with England and GB.

The Antrim man, who played his club hockey for Kent side Holcombe, represented GB at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and England at two World Cups.

Gleghorne is understood to have accepted the new job offer before the 2020 Olympics were postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Had the trip to Tokyo been this year, the timing of his move back home would have been ideal, but the virus put paid to that and any chance he had of going for gold.

“I just felt it was my time and, while my decision to retire wasn’t due to any single reason, my body was a major factor,” he said.

“It’s a strange feeling. Hockey has been a huge part of my life so I will definitely miss being a hockey player, but I’m glad I won’t have to do another fitness test.”

Gleghorne’s most recent international coach Danny Kerry added: “Mark was quite simply all-in, and he will be an incredible asset in his new role back in Northern Ireland and I wish him all the best for the future.”

The former Instonians and Ireland player switched his international allegiance a few months after an unsuccessful Olympic qualifying bid with his native country in Auckland in 2008 after making 80 appearances in the green shirt.

Along with fellow Ulster man Iain Lewers, he had to serve a mandatory spell away from international hockey before making his GB debut in 2011.

Gleghorne’s decision to hang up his stick at international level means that there are now just two Ulster players in the GB and England squads after Lewers quit following Rio 2016.

Cookstown natives David Ames and Ian Sloan, both of whom are expected to be in the squad for Tokyo next year, will now carry the flag.

Gleghorne says he didn’t take the decision to declare for England and Great Britain lightly as he joined former Annadale player Lewers in the same boat after Ireland had failed to qualify for Beijing.

He explained: “At that point, I had been playing in the English Premiership with Loughborough University for three years and I thought I had the potential to play for Great Britain.”

“My goal was always to aim for the ultimate, which is an Olympic gold medal, and that’s always the biggest thing in our sport.

“I thought my best avenue to achieve that would be to play for GB. It wasn’t an easy decision, and I changed my mind quite a few times, but, ultimately, it came down to what was my best opportunity and I felt that was playing for GB.”

Gleghorne says there was always an added edge when he and the other Ulster players in the GB or England set up came up against Ireland, especially as his younger brother Paul wore the green shirt until recently.

“My decision didn’t go down well in some quarters and that added a bit more pressure to games between us and Ireland,” he admitted.

“I wanted my brother and friends in the team to do well and, when I played against Paul, dad would wear an English and an Irish jersey on top of each other, and he was happy enough as long as we both played well and don’t get injured.

“Mind you, my wife Laura, who’s from Cookstown, always told me she’ll support Ireland over GB, so I knew where her loyalties lay and it wasn’t on my side!”

Gleghorne was a Burney Cup winner with RBAI in 2003 when they also finished runner up in the all-ireland championship.

Since then, Inst have had limited success on the local or national stage, but Gleghorne’s imminent arrival at his alma mater will boost their chances of putting that right.