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Watty Graham's, Glen hoping to make history

The generation of footballers that won four Derry and Ulster minor titles in a row from 2011 to 2014 will backbone the Glen senior football team that contests Sunday's Derry SFC Final against Magherafelt.

The generation of footballers that won four Derry and Ulster minor titles in a row from 2011 to 2014 will backbone the Glen senior football team that contests Sunday's Derry SFC Final against Magherafelt.

By John Harrington

Watty Graham’s GAC Glen has long been the beating heart of the Maghera community in Derry.

With over 500 adults members and 300 adult members, the club is a cultural hot-spot as well as a sporting one.

A couple of nights a week their impressive social club is packed with traditional Irish musicians, and around 300 people attend the club’s bingo night every Thursday.

It’s always been something of a mystery that all the energy and application that exists in the club hasn’t translated into success in the Derry Senior Football Championship.

That might be about to change, though, because on Sunday Glen will contest their first ever Derry SFC Final when they go toe to toe with Magherafelt.

This day has been a long time coming, and the buzz in the town is palpable.

“To see the excitement around is great,” says Glen Club Chairman, Sean Keane.

“A consignment of flags arrived on Friday night and they were sold out before the night was over so we have another assignment arriving tomorrow.

“The hype in the town is unbelievable. There's cars being painted in green and gold and there's flags up everywhere and there's banners up.

“The whole town has come alive, and as Club Chairman I just feel as proud as punch. We just can't wait for the day to come now, it's going to be a long week.”

The core of the current senior team is provided by a gifted generation of footballers who won four Derry and Ulster minor titles in a row for 2011 to 2014 and then went on to win three Derry and Ulster U-21 titles.

That sort of sustained success doesn’t happen by accident, and in Glen's case is the product of some foresight and a lot of hard work at underage level in the club.

“We have a fantastic underage structure,” said Keane. “We revamped the whole thing about 15 years ago. It's a fantastic underage system. We were actually narrowly beaten in the Derry minor final on Saturday evening, so our structures are still bearing fruit.

“We've put a lot of time into them. We have an underage committee who put a huge effort in and that's where the good stuff is coming from.

“We sat down and structured the whole thing and got parents and good coaches involved. We've always had a good number of county men from Glen. Gary McGill, Fergal P McCusker, Damien McCusker, Enda Gormley...all of those guys, when they finished playing they always put a lot back into the club.

“The whole thing might have been previously a bit disjointed, so we sat down and did an underage strategy and worked from there. Went to the parents and got so many of them involved.

“Since then, any club team would have at least five or six management with them. They all put in a tremendous effort and we're reaping the rewards of it.”

Hawthorn AFL star, Conor Glass, has been training with his home club Watty Grahams, Glen ahead of Sunday's SFC Final against Magherafelt. 

Hawthorn AFL star, Conor Glass, has been training with his home club Watty Grahams, Glen ahead of Sunday's SFC Final against Magherafelt. 

Perhaps Glen would have reached a county final before now had they not lost the star of those all-conquering underage teams, Conor Glass, to AFL side Hawthorn.

The former Derry minor captain is home on holidays at the moment, and may even play some part in the match if he is given the green light by Hawthorn.

Even if he’s not free to play, Keane believe the presence alone of Glass in the dressing-room will give his team-mates an extra little boost.

“We trained in Celtic Park yesterday to get used to the pitch and big Glass was up and trained with the team which gave everyone a lift,” said Keane.

“Who knows, he could be sitting with the subs next Sunday. He's home for three or four weeks.

“He's bound to give the boys a lift, even with what he could say in the changing room at half-time and things like that. He's a very useful cog to have with us next week.

“Whether or not he can play is another question. Contractually, he's probably not allowed to. If he is allowed to, I'd imagine we'd find a place for him!”

Sunday’s Final has a novel look to it. In one corner are Glen who are appearing in their first ever, and in the other you have Magherafelt who are playing in their first one in 36 years.

Glen’s superb performance in beating Slaughtneil in the semi-final makes them slight favourites, but that doesn’t make Keane feel any more assured when he looks ahead to Sunday’s match.

“You just hope that you haven't played your Final already,” he said. “That's the big worry that we have. We were exceptional on the day, but you're just hoping you can get the boys down to earth again because it's a whole new ball-game on Sunday.

“A lot of people are making us out to be favourites because of our performance against Slaughtneil.

“But Magherafelt have always presented a big challenge to Glen. They're a big, strong team and play a totally different type of football to Glen.

“They're formidable, I can assure you, a very, very formidable team. We'll have to be very careful.”

Keane has given a life-time of service to the club, so what would it feel like if they created history on Sunday by winning the County SFC for the very first time.

“I think we'd just close the town for the week!”, he says. “There's just been so many people waiting on this day.

“If we were to win it would just be absolutely brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.”