After spending time on loan to Dunfermline Athletic, he joined Central Coast Mariners in the A-League, where he made over 100 appearances.

[2] It was his sole appearance for the Scottish Premier League team, as O'Neill was replaced by Gordon Strachan and McGlinchey found himself moving to the fringes.

[6] The PFA argued unsuccessfully that McGlinchey should be able to move to Wellington Phoenix on a free transfer as the club had been sold to new owners.

On 23 December 2013, Central Coast Mariners announced McGlinchey would be going on a year loan spell to Vegalta Sendai, following Graham Arnold who had been recently appointed head coach.

[9] On 11 June 2014 Vegalta Sendai announced that they had terminated McGlinchey's loan, after Arnold had been sacked by the club 2 months earlier.

His father, Norrie McGlinchey was a footballer playing in New Zealand, he represented Stop Out and Hutt Valley United during his career.

He was then included by New Zealand manager Ricki Herbert in the squad to face Jordan, before the 2010 World Cup play-off matches against Bahrain.

[24][25] McGlinchey played a pivotal role in the Inter-confederation play-off match against Bahrain in both the away leg in Ar Rifa' off the bench as a second-half substitute[26] and made the starting XI in the home fixture in Wellington which New Zealand went on to win 1–0 thanks to a first half goal from striker Rory Fallon.