Glenn Cronin has had his fair share of injury problems since joining Bohemians last season and he hopes that his days on the sidelines are now behind him.
The rambunctious midfielder, who hails from Ballyfermot, has long carried a mantra of wanting to prove people wrong. That steely determination has been good and bad for him during his career, although he is not about to change his ways now.
When speaking to manager Pat Fenlon about Cronin at the beginning of last year, A Different Perspective discovered that we were not alone in our admiration of the tenacious streak that he carries.
Fenlon had been aware of the 27-year-old for some time, so when the opportunity came to bring him back to Ireland from Coca-Cola League Two side Chester City, he jumped at it.
The former Republic of Ireland U-21 international actually made his breakthrough in professional football with Exeter City. He spent five years with The Grecians and proved to be a firm favourite with the club’s supporters.
In 2006, he moved to Chester, but niggling injuries restricted his playing time at Deva Stadium. When his contract expired at the end of the season, Cronin decided to test himself in the League of Ireland.
While he had been aware of the league and watched a few games through the years, he made sure that he did his homework before committing to The Gypsies. A couple of phonecalls to his friend, Brian Shelley, reassured him that he was coming into a league that was on the rise.
Shelley has since linked up with Bohemians for the second time in his career, although by the time he walked through the Dalymount Park gates, Cronin had established himself as a key player for a team that had just won the league and cup double.
With other players like Paul Keegan, Gary Deegan, and Joseph Ndo all able to occupy the central midfield role, Cronin has had to be patient this season. Again injuries meant he couldn’t build up a run of games, but that appears to have changed now.
In the past two months, he has really stepped up and commanded the midfield alongside Keegan for the most part. The impact that he has had has been so great that Fenlon awarded him the captain’s armband in the absence of skipper Owen Heary.
For a player that feels he has something to prove, Cronin is certainly going about it the right way. The Bohs faithful have recognised his efforts too and they were quick to pick him as their preferred Man of the Match in the last home game against Galway United.
A tough-tackling, high energy player, he is someone that lifts the performances of those around him by simply playing the game in the way that he knows best.
As the season winds on and Bohemians attempt to clinch even more glory, everyone at the club is glad that they have a player like Cronin in their ranks as he has the ability to make a real difference – even if it is only to prove something to himself.