Glen manager Malachy O'Rourke.
By Cian O'Connell
These are extraordinary times for Glen. Two Derry senior titles on the spin and an AIB Ulster Championship crown have been gleaned.
Now Malachy O'Rourke's evolving team can start preparing for an All-Ireland Club decider against Kilmacud Crokes following Sunday's success over Maigh Cuilinn in the penultimate round.
That January 22 Croke Park encounter promises to be interesting with O'Rourke delighted that Glen continue to deliver.
"I knew there was an awful lot of potential in the group," O'Rourke says. "I suppose the one thing you don’t know, because when a club wins a county title for the first time in their history, it is very easy for fellas to dine out on that for a while and for fellas to take it easy next year and say, we might get back another year.
"Right from the start, the boys showed that hunger. Other lads that mightn’t have played as much last year, the likes of Cathal Mulholland who scored a brilliant point in the second half, Cathal missed most of last year with an injury, he did an awful lot of work to get himself back and be ready to play this year.
"There were other boys like that, as well. I knew the boys were really hungry, but Derry is a very tough county to get through. We couldn’t look ahead at all, it was just navigating that. Once we did, we then set our sights on Ulster and just delighted to be here."
Overcoming Kilcoo in the provincial showpiece offered a further injection of hope.
Neil Mulcahy, Maigh Cuilinn, and Danny Tallon, Glen, in AIB All-Ireland Club SFC Semi-Final action at Croke Park.
"Kilcoo, we said before the game, are the standard-bearers," O'Rourke replies. "Their record is second to none. They were in an All-Ireland final, came back to win Ulster and then the All-Ireland.
"So you can’t get much better than that. So we were judging ourselves off them. The fact that we came so close the year before and were then able to come back and beat them, no doubt it does help the confidence. We knew if we got our own game right, we wouldn’t be far away."
The highly regarded former Monaghan boss is delighted to be getting ready for a national decider at GAA headquarters.
"It is great," O'Rourke says. "Not necessarily personally, but you’d be lying if you didn’t say it is. It is a great day for everyone involved.
"For the club to be among the last two clubs left standing in Ireland, it is a massive thing. The boys have worked really hard.
"As I said after the last game, it has happened so fast to a degree. Last year was the first year they ever won a county title and to then come back this year back it up, win an Ulster, and now to be sitting in a All-Ireland final, it is happened so fast; it’s euphoria around the club.
"It is our job to get everyone settled back down. We know Kilmacud are a really top-class team. They have strength all over the park. We know we are going to have to have a massive performance in the final, so we’ll just have to get the heads down to prepare for that."
