Club stalwart Glen Sinnamon reaches Dungannon milestone after 250th appearance in AIL

The prop completed the milestone in Dungannon’s recent trip to Greystones but says the impressive number was not “something I thought about”.

“I can’t really say I aimed for it, it never really was something I thought about,” said Sinnamon.

"I like rugby and I like playing it and every time I was selected, I was grateful, and it just ended up being that many.

“I played a bit in Drumglass school. At the time I was friendly with a fellow and we went to U14s at Dungannon and from then on, I have always played at the club.”

Sinnamon was only a teenager when he made his AIL debut, a moment he recalls fondly.

“It was against Lansdowne and I was 19. A member of the club did a profile of my appearances, games when I came off the bench and games I scored in, and that was nice.

“At that time Dungannon had a few stars but there were players you were playing against, and you’d be like ‘I didn’t know he played here’.

“Lansdowne always had a lot of quality players and quality coaches. I don’t know if it was the first time I played against them but there was one time I played against Devin Toner.”

There have been many highlights at Stevenson Park for Sinnamon over the course the past 20 years, including winner the Senior Cup and Senior League under Justin Fitzpatrick.

“Some of them [highlights] were staying in Division 1 when Jeremy Davidson was in charge,” he said.

“The team just came together and got a good lot of points to get out of the basement.

“The other highlights were when Justin Fitzpatrick was in charge, we won the senior cup, we won the senior league; at that time we were fighting for top-four in Division 1B and we were in the final of the Bateman Cup.

“That season was brilliant and that will always stand out [and] the quality of players we had, even when everyone else didn’t think they were quality.

“We had Craig Gilroy, Conor Gaston and Chris Cochrane playing for us.”

Sinnamon also played with his brother Steven at Dungannon when Nigel Brady was the coach.

“I wouldn’t know how many times we’d have played together but we definitely played the full season when Nigel Brady was head coach, and Steven would have got games when John Andrews was there,” he said.

“Before that I would have played with Mark Farquhar, who is married to my sister, and I’d have played a load of games with him in the front row – it’s nice to keep it in the family.”

As well as Devin Toner, Sinnamon has locked horns with a few other Ireland internationals at club level.

“The best player I played against in the front row would have been Cian Healy when he was at Clontarf. He was a young boy starting out at that stage but he was still a good quality prop.

“James Tracey – who’s at Leinster – played tight head for UCD before he moved over to hooker.

“You play against a lot of props and they are all pretty good too. Hooker-wise whenever Shane Byrne was finishing playing he did a year a Blackrock and I played against him, he was a good anchor in the scrum.”

Sinnamon’s proud appearances feat was marked by a special presentation at Stevenson Park with his wife and children watching on.

“It was nice. My wife wasn’t meant to be coming down but it was lovely to have her and my three children there, and it was lovely for the club to do it,” he said.

“They gave me a lovely framed shirt and I didn’t expect it.”

Sinnamon is now looking forward to more outings in the Gannon front row.

“The appetite is still there and anytime you are not selected the fight is still in me to go ‘why wasn’t I selected?’.

“The common sense has to come into play as well and you just can’t hold up to the young fellows as well as you think you should.

“The introduction of the rolling subs has helped, and I have had great coaches in Dungannon which led to no injuries.

“You knew what you were doing, and you weren’t putting your head where you shouldn’t, and you weren’t getting hurt,” he added.

“I was spoilt in my early days: I had GL (Gary Leslie) with Jeremy Davidson and if you were doing things wrong those boys weren’t shy about telling you!

“Then I had Justin Fitzpatrick and he was a hell of a coach, and you can’t take away from that sort of coaching.

“I think this season will probably be my last AIL one, but I don’t think I will ever stop playing rugby. I think I’ll just take it more as a Sunday league type of thing and step down a bit.”

Dungannon are currently fourth in Division 2B and travel to Ulster rivals Belfast Harlequins who are a place and three points better off.

Rainey host Wanderers.

In Division 1A Ballynahinch host Cork Con.

Banbridge, Armagh and Malone all have home advantage in 1B facing Naas, Old Belvedere and Highfield respectively.

In 2A Queen’s visit Nenagh and Ballymena entertain Dolphin, while in 2C Inst travel to Clonmel Omagh host Bangor.