IN sunshine or in shadow, Glen’s unbreakable spirit turned another hard luck story into their greatest glory.
“What a game, what a journey,” roared a delighted Connor Carville as he accepted the Andy Merrigan Cup after a remarkable win in an intense game of football.
“We’re Kings of Ireland!”
Ten minutes earlier, it looked like St Brigid’s name was on the trophy Carville held.
The Connacht champions had bossed the first half but Glen were level at the break thanks to a Jody McDermott goal. They hadn’t played anything like their best and better was expected in the second half.
“Surely they can’t be as bad again,” you thought.
But they were.
Glen weren’t outplayed, they just couldn’t score and wide followed wide as they searched for that elusive spark. McFaul lashed three off target, breaks fell into Brigid’s hands, Cathal Mulholland was black-carded…
Another Glen tragedy was in the works when Conor Glass took matters into his own hands.
Conleth McGuckian, whose tireless performance summed up Glen’s neversaydie attitude, played a free-kick to the talismanic midfielder and he rode a high tackle, then turned and blasted a swerving shot that caught Brigid’s goalkeeper Cormac Sheehy in no man’s land.
The net billowed, the Glen supporters roared.
“They’ll never lose from here,” you thought and then Emmet Bradley sent them ahead and McGuckian added another point.
But there was drama right to the final second.
Shane Cunnane scored to leave one in it and then, with the five minutes of injury-time up, the same player had a chance to force extra-time. It was a scoreable free but it was asking a lot from a tired midfielder and the final whistle blew as the ball drifted wide.
Glen had fulfilled their destiny and reached the promised land and, by the way, Ulster had completed a clean sweep of the club championships.
St Brigid’s went into the game as underdogs but there was a confidence and poise about them from the throw-in and they patiently worked the ball to Ben O’Carroll for the game’s first chance.
His shot hit an upright but there were warning signs for Glen when they were caught napping by a quick free as full-back Brian Stack nipped in to open the scoring.
Glen didn’t settle and McGuckian had kicked their third wide by the time Cathal Mulholland was fouled by Ruaidhri Fallon and Emmett Bradley levelled after eight minutes
Shane Cunnane broke into space to receive the kickout as Brigid’s found a way around the Glen press but another Bradley point, this time from play, edged the Maghera outfit into the lead. The fat lady was clearing her throat by the time they got their noses in front again.
They had a let off when Fallon intercepted a loose pass and broke from inside his own 45 to within shooting range. O’Carroll took his pass and missed a gilt-edged chance but he went on to give Michael Warnock a torrid time for the rest of the half.
His free levelled it and he added another before playing Bobby Nugent in for a point that left the Kiltoom side two up after 15 minutes.
Glass shrugged off a Cunnane’s tackle to halve the deficit but O’Carroll was involved again as Ciaran Sugrue nipped around Warnock and landed another morale-boosting score.
Meanwhile, the ball wasn’t sticking up front at all for Glen and Pearse Frost and Fallon slammed the door shut as they tried to respond to O’Carroll’s fourth point which left it 0-6 to 0-3 after 22 minutes.
When Eddie Nolan waltzed through the midfield and curled over his side’s seventh, Glen manager Malachy O’Rourke made an early change and McFaul conjured up a desperately needed score for his club.
Fallon had stretched the Brigid’s lead to four points when Glen turned the game on it’s head for the first time. McGuckian’s vision picked out Danny Tallon whose pass was perfect and McDermott’s run and finish matched it. Ethan Doherty curled over a point and, just like that, it was level 1-5 to 0-8.
Glen trotted in at the interval having dragged themselves out of a hole but the Brigid’s resolve wasn’t broken, not by a long shot.
Long shots were the story of much of the second half but it began with a brilliant goal and O’Carroll and Robbie Dolan were the creators.
Dolan’s brilliant pass picked out O’Carroll who fisted to far post where Brian Derwin rose unchallenged to rump the ball into the net.
Derwin added a point with an outstanding finish from the left wing and as the ball curled inside the post at the last moment it was beyond clear that Glen needed to get their act together quickly to avoid adding their name to the short list of clubs to lose back-to-back All-Ireland finals.
“Brigid’s, Brigid’s…” sang the Roscommon supporters as men, women and children in green and gold prayed for a turnaround in their team’s fortunes.
But scores that had come easily to Glen all season refused to arrive. McFaul hit wides either side of a Glass 45 and McGuckian – once blocked, then short – also missed twice.
McFaul (again) was off target and Tallon dropped a free short but the pressure forced the St Brigid’s management to replace forward Derwin with more defensively-minded John Cunningham and Glen continued to batter at the door as Ryan Dougan switched to marking O’Carroll.
Momentum stubbornly refused to shift. When Tiarnan Flanagan had a go – short again – the break fell Brigid’s way and, as they broke, frustrated Cathal Mulholland dragged down Nugent. He was black-carded and sitting in the stand as Fallon celebrated his second score which sent his club four points (1-10 to 1-6) clear with 10 minutes to go.
Emmett Bradley kept them within touching distance and Glass soared to win the kickout and played in Alex Doherty who floated ball across the square. Tallon jumped bravely for it at the back post but, sandwiched between Sheehy and Brian Stack, he couldn’t connect.
Ronan Stack – a survivor of Brigid’s All-Ireland triumph in 2013 – and Robbie Dolan were involved as Eddie Nolan restored the four-point deficit and it seemed the Merrigan Cup was heading back over the Shannon.
But Glen refused to lose.
Warnock, always up for the battle, raced up the right and kicked a brilliant score which meant that, despite Glen’s yips in front of the posts, there was still just a kick of the ball in it.
McGuckian stood with the ball in his hands under the Cusack Stand. He could have taken a shot but he gambled and picked out Glass with that sideline ball. Glass had only one thing on his mind and he broke a tackle and hammered a piledriver into the net.
The game was level and it stayed that way because Cathal Mulholland (just out of the sin bin) blocked O’Carroll’s shot.
Fumbles and finger tips, tired legs and empty lungs…
Five minutes of injury-time had begun when Frost took down Conor Convery and Bradley’s free put Glen back in front. Glass met the kickout with his right fist and Ethan Doherty collected the break. McGuckian added another and that seemed to be enough.
It was, just about, and as the long whistle blew and the Brigid’s players who had given their all sank to their knees, the strains of Danny Boy rang out around Croke Park.
Glen’s history boys celebrated a victory built on unbreakable spirit in sunshine or in shadow.
Glen: C Bradley; M Warnock (0-1), R Dougan, C Carville; E Mulholland, C McFaul (0-1), C Mulholland; C Glass (1-2, 0-1 45), E Bradley (0-4, 0-3 frees); E Doherty (0-1), J McDermott (1-0), T Flanagan; A Doherty, D Tallon, C McGuckian (0-1)
Subs: C Convery for E Mulholland (25), S O’Hara for Carville (44), C McCabe for A Doherty (55)
Black card: C Mulholland (48), C McGuckian (60)
St Brigid’s: C Sheehy; A Daly, B Stack (0-1), P Frost; R Fallon (0-2), R Stack, P McGrath; E Nolan (0-2), S Cunnane (0-1 free); C Hand, C Sugrue (0-1), R Dolan (0-1); B O’Carroll (0-3, 0-2 frees, 0-1 mark), B Derwin (1-1), B Nugent (0-1)
Subs: J Cunningham for Derwin (45), C Gleeson for Nugent (56)
Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare)