Conor Glass has acknowledged that the "backlash" would have been severe if he'd been injured while playing for Derry just six days after winning the All-Ireland club final.
The former All-Star midfielder, along with Ethan Doherty and Ciaran McFaul, lined out against Kerry last month less than a week after Glen's club success.
All three players started Derry's first four Division 1 league games, resulting in wins each time, and it wasn't until the recent Round 5 tie against Dublin that Glass was given a day off while Doherty was rested.
Glass said it was a case of being 'in a position to be able to rest boys' for the Dublin game, with eight points already on the board.
"It wasn't necessarily not putting out a (full) team because we wanted to play them again in a league final," he insisted.
There is a danger that fatigue, or injury, could eventually catch up with Glass though he was adamant that isn't a concern and that the physio team are on top of it.
He conceded, however, that taking so little time to recover from the exertions of the All-Ireland club final was a risk.
"I suppose had one of us got injured that week against Kerry, the backlash from it would have been very, very harsh," said Glass.
"That was a risk we were willing to take. The momentum you can bring...like, any player that has gotten a bit of success can bring that into a team and it's always going to be good for us. Any energy or bit of confidence we could bring into the team was going to be good.
"It's not often you get to beat Kerry in their own patch, so it worked out well for us.
"We came back to (Derry) training on the Thursday night so we had the guts of four days of celebrations at that stage. It was more than enough. I was looking forward to getting back to a routine, getting back to training."
Glass declined to play for Ulster University in the Sigerson Cup, despite being eligible, and ultimately missed out on a title success.
I just needed to get a bit of a holiday and the Sigerson final was the sacrifice
"Obviously the Sigerson is a fantastic competition, it's just unfortunate the way it falls for certain players, the workload it involves," said the student.
"I got a break to Tenerife with my fiancé so that was the reason for missing the final. I just needed to get a bit of a holiday and the Sigerson final was the sacrifice."
League leaders Derry will take on title holders Mayo in Castlebar this Sunday and if the Ulster champions can return to winning ways then they could potentially secure their final place with a game to spare.
It remains to be seen just how keen Mayo are to win as manager Kevin McStay indicated after their recent win over Roscommon that he's not particularly keen on reaching the final.
They are scheduled to play New York in the Connacht SFC the weekend after the league final and are desperate to avoid a repeat of last year's opening round championship loss which occurred the week after winning the league final.
"You have to take it with a pinch of salt," said Glass of Mayo's apparent disinterest in the league.
"You always want to win every game that's in front of you. Yes, you want to win the Connacht championship but both teams are going to be going hell for leather to win this weekend's game.
"It's Division 1 at the end of the day and we'll be going down there to take the two points and I'm sure they'll be approaching it the same way."
Glass suggested that goalkeeper Odhran Lynch and half-back Gareth McKinless, neither of whom have featured since Round 2, may not be back until 'the league final or the Ulster championship against Donegal'.
As for Derry's interest in reaching a league final, and potentially claiming a first title since 2008, Glass said that it is strong.
"We do, absolutely we do," said the former All-Star. "Connacht is obviously different in so far as they're out the week after the league final whereas we have a couple of weeks' leeway afterwards.
The building blocks from winning a Division 1 title would be massive for Derry
"A league final would be a fantastic place to be. Especially for boys who haven't played in one. I think Chrissy McKaigue might be the only person to play in a league final and that was 30 years ago for Chrissy!
"You've got to win as much as you can, in what is a short period of time. The building blocks from winning a Division 1 title would be massive for Derry."
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