For Glen, Sunday’s Ulster Club Football Final represented a tantalising opportunity to shed the last remnants of a reputation that has haunted the club for decades.
Last year, the men from Maghera finally smashed through the glass ceiling in Derry. For so long they had been looked upon as the county’s perennial underachievers, the nearly men.
That long-awaited and hugely emotional county triumph paved the way for a debut Ulster campaign that ended in heartache.
Having overcome Scotstown, Glen’s dreams of conquering Ulster at the first attempt were dashed by Kilcoo in a tense semi-final.
The feeling of anguish was nothing the Glen players hadn’t felt before, but their hurt was only deepened by watching Kilcoo go on to claim the Ulster and All-Ireland titles.
However, having defended their Derry crown in October, the Watty Graham’s side overcame Errigal Ciaran and Cargin to set up another date with Kilcoo and the chance to extinguish the painful memories of 12 months ago in their first Ulster final.
This time, it was to be Glen’s day and the emotion poured out of those in green and gold at the final whistle of a gripping championship slugfest, their elation contrasting starkly with the Kilcoo players’ devastation.
For Michael Warnock, Sunday’s win was redemption after “years and years of hurt”.
“We’ve even listened to it [criticism] last year and we weren’t happy with ourselves last year,” admitted the Glen centre half-back.
“We felt we didn’t go for the game, maybe the occasion got to us and we said this year ‘we’re going to come and win it’.
“After the Errigal game, we said ‘this is a massive opportunity’. We’ve only ever won two Derry championships so to get over the line in our second year in Ulster against a team like Kilcoo really is special.”
While Glen were far from their best in the semi-final win over Cargin, hitting six wides in an errant first-half showing, they came flying out of the traps in an engrossing Athletic Grounds showpiece.
Malachy O’Rourke’s side led 0-5 to 0-0 after 11 minutes thanks to scores from five different players, and while Aaron Branagan’s goal brought Kilcoo back into it, Paul Devlin’s missed penalty saw the Derry champions hold a slender one-point advantage at the break.
And Glen’s early scoring burst helped them keep their noses in front before pulling away in the closing stages, with Alex Doherty’s injury-time goal capping the biggest result in the Derry club’s history to spark jubilant scenes among those who had travelled down from the Oak Leaf county.
“I didn’t even see the ball going in the net. I’d already turned around and was going nuts,” smiled Doherty.
“I saw the crowd celebrating. At that point you just knew it was over so it was an unbelievable feeling.
“A fast start is massive against a team like Kilcoo. They’re always going to be chipping away and coming back to getting the lead early was massive – we went out and targeted that.”
Glen were able to count on star performers throughout the team. Conor Glass and Emmett Bradley got through a mountain of work in midfield, while goalkeeper Connlan Bradley made a crucial save to deny Ceilum Doherty 11 minutes from time.
Man of the match Conleth McGuckian in attack and full-back Ryan Dougan made telling contributions at either end of the field, while Glen’s spirit was summed up by the indefatigable Tiarnan Flannagan, who produced a heroic effort a week after undergoing a heart procedure to have an artery widened.
Their cause was also aided by stalwart forward Danny Tallon, who added 0-5 to the 1-4 he struck against Cargin, and the 26-year-old echoed his captain Connor Carville’s post-match speech as he portrayed the satisfaction of shaking the ‘underachievers’ label.
“Connor summed it up there. We’ve been seen as underachievers. Getting over the line in Derry was a relief. This is another relief,” said Tallon, who made his championship debut for Glen in 2013.
“We made our first Derry final in 2019 [against Magherafelt], probably went into that one as favourites and didn’t get it done, so that drove us on.
“But we have a good age profile, a good, young team so we weren’t panicking either. We knew that if we kept doing the right things, we’d get over the line.”
‘All-Ireland final would be the stuff of dreams’
Tallon is right. Nine of the 15 players that started for Glen on Sunday are 26 or younger. The age profile is there for Glen to establish themselves as mainstays at the highest echelons of the Ulster club scene.
The immediate concern, of course, is an All-Ireland semi-final against Galway’s first-time Connacht champions Moycullen in January. And Tallon allowed himself – just for a moment – to dream of going beyond the last four.
“It’s the stuff of dreams, going to an All-Ireland final with your club,” Tallon admitted when asked about being one win away from a trip to Croke Park.
“But I’m sure Moycullen will be very strong and tough to get over in the semi-final.
“We’ll enjoy this on Monday, and maybe even Tuesday, then we’ll concentrate on them and give it our best shot.”
So far, Glen’s best shot has been pretty good. It’s brought them two Derry titles and now an Ulster crown.
Emulating Kilcoo’s All-Ireland win will take a monumental drive from a group of players who have already poured everything into this campaign.
But after so many hurtful defeats down the years, they’re just grateful to have the chance.
