Glen's painful memories from last year's All-Ireland final were expunged as the Derry and Ulster champions found a way to retrieve what looked like a lost cause against St Brigid's of Roscommon, with Conor Glass' late goal the decisive score.
Glen’s edge in terms of experience was a prominent talking point in the week leading up to this final, before Storm Isha took over at the centre of conversations as the weekend drew in.
St Brigid’s seemed to pay no heed to either issue as they settled into this game the very same as if they were playing a league match at their home ground of Kiltoom, moving the ball around slickly and looking to control the game through accurate passing and relentless movement and energy.
As predicted, Glen’s control of the midfield battle was unmistakable, and a brace of early scores from Emmett Bradley gave the Ulster champions a narrow 0-02 to 0-01 lead with 10 minutes gone, but St Brigid’s were unperturbed and when they started bringing Ben O’Carroll into the game, the elusive inside forward quickly started to cause huge headaches for the northerners.
Accuracy was also the friend of the Roscommon men, as their first eight shots for points all found the target. Brian Stack, Eddie Nolan and Ruaidhrí Fallon all strode forward to kick majestic scores, but it could have been so much more.
Tiarnan Flanagan made an outstanding block to deny Robbie Dolan a goal chance, while Connlan Bradley saved a one-on-one chance that Ben O’Carroll placed far too close to the Glen custodian.
Still, at 0-08 to 0-04 with half-time looming, everything was going according to plan for the underdogs, until in the blink of an eye, Glen made up the gap completely.
A slick team move ended with Jody McDermott taking a pass from Danny Tallon to slam the ball to the net from close range, and just when St. Brigid’s needed to settle, Glen pounced on the next possession and Ethan Doherty fired over the equalizer – the first score of the afternoon from a Glen forward.
The fact that it was followed by St Brigid’s first wide only added to the feeling that momentum had now shifted decisively towards the Derry club.
A 60-second huddle on the field before retiring to the dressing rooms highlighted how Malachy O’Rourke wasn’t deceived by the 1-05 to 0-08 half-time scoreline, and how he knew that more of the same wasn’t going to cut it for his troops.
If that message didn’t sink in at the time, it certainly did two minutes after the restart. Brian Derwin palmed the ball to the net after Ben O’Carroll put it on a plate for him, and two minutes later a sublime strike off the outside of Derwin’s right boot established a four-point lead, albeit that was quickly cut to three by a Conor Glass 45.
Glen did plug some holes. Ryan Dougan took over from Michael Warnock up against Ben O’Carroll and Dougan immediately curtailed the influence of the Brigid’s talisman, while across the back line as a unit, Glen started to force turnovers and reduce the number of shots they afforded to their opponents. With Conor Glass continuing to play a dominant role in the middle.
Their problem was that at the other end, poor shot selection continued to haunt them. A string of hit-and-hope shots from low percentage positions sailed wide of the target, and while St Brigid’s struggled to make an impression in front of the Hill, rare attacks yielded points for Nolan and Fallon, pushing them four clear at one stage.
Glen needed something special, and in the end it was no surprise that it was Conor Glass who delivered it. A seemingly innocuous free on the Cusack Stand side was floated into his chest and when most would have taken a handy point, he spotted Cormac Sheehy back-pedalling.
A powerful shot was within arm’s reach of the St. Brigid’s goalkeeper, but he couldn’t get his bearings and the net rippled.
They hadn’t used their first half reprieve, but they certainly took full advantage of this one.
Emmet Bradley chipped the lead score from a free, Conleth McGuckian made it two, and while Shane Cunnane was able to halve the lead with one close range free, he couldn’t quite split the posts in the swirling wind with the last kick of the game, and as the ball drifted narrowly wide of the posts, the Glen players fell to their knees, just as they had done a year previously.
This time however, their emotions couldn’t have been any different.
GLEN: Connlan Bradley; Connor Carville, Ryan Dougan, Michael Warnock (0-01); Jody McDermott (1-00), Ciarán McFaul (0-01), Cathal Mulholland; Conor Glass (1-02, 0-01 45), Emmett Bradley (0-04, 0-03 frees); Eunan Mulholland, Conleth McGuckian (0-01), Ethan Doherty (0-01); Tiernan Flanagan, Danny Tallon, Alex Doherty.
Subs: Conor Convery for Mulholland (25 mins), Stevie O'Hara for Carville (44 mins), Cahir McCabe for A Doherty (55 mins).
ST BRIGID’S: Cormac Sheehy; Robbie Dolan, Brian Stack (0-01), Pearse Frost; Ruaidhrí Fallon (0-02), Alan Daly, Ronan Stack; Eddie Nolan (0-02), Shane Cunnane (0-01 free); Bobby Nugent (0-01), Paul McGrath, Conor Hand; Ben O’Carroll (0-03, 0-02 frees, 0-01 mark), Brian Derwin (1-01), Ciarán Sugrue (0-01).
Subs: John Cunningham for Derwin (45 mins), Conor Gleeson for Nugent (56 mins).
REFEREE: Brendan Cawley.
