Glen’s Conor Glass: ‘I thought we were done and buried’

The flame-haired midfielder’s spectacular 58th minute goal drew the Derry champions level and proved the most critical score in Glen’s 2-10 to 1-12 win, leaving St Brigid’s of Roscommon in a state of shock and devastation.

Only a couple of minutes earlier, Glen had been four points adrift after a scattergun second half and also reduced to 14 men, with Connor Carville in the sin bin from the 48th minute.

“After they went four points up and we got the black card, I thought we were done and buried,” Glass admitted.

“Between the 50th and 60th minute, that ten-minute spell went by like that. There were multiple times I thought the game was done and buried.

“The point Michael Warnock got to bring it back to a one-kick game, it was absolutely huge.

“Our shot selection all day was terrible,” the 2022 All-Star conceded. “But we just got on with it – short-term memory, forget about those misses, and focus on what we can control.

“What we could control was the next kickout, the next attack, that sort of way. It shows the character this team has. I was lucky to get on the end of it, I put my foot through it, and we kicked on from there.

“Here, we are All-Ireland champions, it’s a pretty good feeling.”

The all-important goal stemmed from a quickly-taken free by Conleth McGuckian, awarded after St Brigid’s themselves had made a mess of a short free in their own defence. Glass caught the dropping ball, burst through a tackle and unleashed a 20m shot that flew past Cormac Sheehy.

“It is one of those movements, that you just play on instinct. I was free and Conleth was able to find we with the pass, it was a difficult pass to find. We played on instinct, that is what you have got to do on those occasions,” the goalscorer surmised.

For Glass, victory was all the sweeter coming in the context of last year’s All-Ireland heartbreak against Kilmacud, his injury-time goal chance that could have sneaked victory but for a Conor Ferris save … and then all the ‘16th man’ controversy that followed.

“I definitely questioned over the last 12 months, would we ever get there?” he conceded. “Especially with Derry too. Although I didn’t say that, those thoughts go through your mind, 100 per cent.

“Me and this man beside me,” he added, turning to manager Malachy O’Rourke, “we can say we are All-Ireland champions now.”

On this year’s goal chance, he revealed: “I said to myself if I ever get that occasion again, I’m just going to put my foot through it. If it comes off, it comes off; if it doesn’t, at least I went for it. Thankfully it happened today, I was able to get that opportunity again. It is a weird one I found myself on the end of it, compared to last year. I’m very happy.”