John West Féile Ambassador and Derry footballer Conor Glass during the launch of the John West Féile 2024 at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
When photos did the rounds of Conor Glass wearing a Tour de France yellow jersey while celebrating with his Glen team-mates the day after their All-Ireland Club Football Final win over St. Brigid’s, a yarn quickly grew legs.
Glass is so dedicated to fitness that he went out for a long cycle the morning after the All-Ireland win rather than immediately join his team-mates in their revelries, or so the story went anyway.
Not the case, but be the real story behind the yellow jersey is a pretty good one too. It turns out that the gruelling challenge that is the Tour de France was actually a theme that the Glen players drew on during their victorious club campaign.
“It was,” said Glass yesterday at the launch of the John West Féile 2024.
“Different stages of the Tour de France, like, obviously we had the Derry championship, Ulster championship and then the Andy Merrigan, the All-Ireland, so we just kind of took it stage by stage and that was the idea of having a theme for it, splitting it up into those stages, using past experiences of cyclists.
“Like, Stephen Roche was an Irish cyclist who won the Tour de France so using his experience of sort of just wee ways of getting yourself focused and having it relevant, making it relevant as such.
“People actually think that I don't drink and that I was off cycling the morning after the final. That was not the case! It was just a running joke within the group. The people from Maghera were the ones that got the joke and everyone else was, like, 'Is this man out cycling the morning after?!' But it definitely wasn't the case!”
Sean O'Shea of Kerry is tackled by Conor Glass of Derry during the Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Kerry and Derry at Austin Stack Park in Tralee, Kerry. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
The idea that Glass is a glutton for punishment isn’t exactly pie in the sky, though.
Six days after winning that All-Ireland club final he togged out for Derry in their Allianz Football League victory over Kerry, which caused quite a stir on social media.
“There definitely was a lot made of it,” says Glass. “I suppose had one of us got injured that week the backlash of it would have been very, very harsh.
“That was a risk we were willing to take. The momentum that brings...any players that have gotten a bit of success and can bring that into a team then 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 training on the Thursday night so we had the guts of four days of celebrations. It was more than enough. I was looking forward to getting back to a routine, get back to training.
“I was looking forward to getting back into a routine, getting back into training. But you've got to enjoy it too. Yes, you're always looking to the next game, you're looking to the Kerry match, but you've got to enjoy the celebrations of the final and we did do that too.”
Sometimes you can’t win. Mickey Harte was criticised in some quarters for playing Glass in that victory over Kerry, and then also took some flak for resting him against Dublin in Round 5 of the League when the Oak Leaf county suffered their first defeat of the campaign.
Derry coach Gavin Devlin, left, and Derry manager Mickey Harte before the Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Derry and Tyrone at Celtic Park in Derry. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
Such is his appetite for football, Glass would have loved to have gone toe to toe with the Dubs. But he understands too why Harte decided to rest some players for that clash with the All-Ireland champions.
“As a competitor I would have absolutely loved it. Down in your home patch against the Dubs, a packed house, absolutely. It would have been some craic. But, unfortunately, I have to pick my fights and maybe we'll see them in the League Final.
“We're able to pick our fights to a certain degree after having eight points on the board after four games.
“That was sort of always the plan. It was good to have that break and it wasn't just myself. Ethan (Doherty), Paul Cassidy, Conor Doherty, Paudie McGrogan...some of the boys who have put in the effort over the last two years, especially doing pre-season as well. Having that rest and being able to pick your fights to a certain degree was good for us.”
It’s been a gruelling couple of years on both the club and county circuits for Glass, but he’s adamant he’s feeling fresh and has no worries about lasting the pace when the championship comes around.
“No, I don't. We have a fantastic conditioning team in Matt Godfrey and Sean Quinn and the rest of the team.
“Whether it be managing us throughout the week to perform at the weekend, there's multiple ways to be able to...not rest us until the All-Ireland series finals, but there'll be a time to peak and I'm sure they'll be fully aware of that. I don't think fatigue will come into play, no.”
There’s certainly been an impressive energy about Derry under Mickey Harte this year and Glass has only positive things to say about what the new manager and his right-hand man, Gavin Devlin, have brought to the table since taking charge of the team.
“It's been utterly enjoyable to be honest," he says. "Coming into a new environment, whether it be management, coaches, training, meetings, it's all been different so it gives you a different feel to it because you probably become sick of the same old regime. It brought that sense of difference in energy to it, which is good.
“As I said before, we were eight points from four games, eight points from five games now, so it's a pretty good start for a team that's only got promoted to Division 1. We're doing a lot of good things right.
“Mickey brings a sense of old school towards it as well, in terms of how he speaks to the players. Gavin is moreso the coach, he does a lot of the coaching in training, most of the pre-training meetings and that sort of way so they bounce off well together and they supplement each other pretty well.
“I think the main thing is that we don't want to be playing as robots, you want to go out and play on instincts, like, certain boys have better attributes than others.
“It might be my defensive attributes but Cormac Murphy might bring an attacking presence so it's about playing with that kind of freedom as well and backing yourself. So whatever you're good at, basically go out and play that way.”