Glens win first-ever All-Ireland club title as Glass crushes St Brigid’s – Irish Times

All-Ireland SFC Club Final: Wattie Graham’s Glen 2-10 St Brigid’s 1-12

Storm Isha played a role in this All-Ireland club senior football final played at Croke Park, but it was the spark that sparked Glen to take things by storm, with Conor proving to be an unstoppable force.・The influence was not as great as that of Glass.

St. Brigid will forever regret how this decisive battle turned out. Because for most of the contest it looked like the Roscommon champions had the Andy Merrigan Cup in front of a crowd of 18,567.

But in the end, it was the glass that made the difference. And while it may seem naive to put the outcome of this club final on the shoulders of one player, rarely has a player crossed the line with his team on his back like Glass did on Sunday.

His goal in the 58th minute changed the whole match and ultimately gave Glen their first All-Ireland club title.

St Bridget’s, looking to build on their 2013 All-Ireland title win, were leading 1-11 to 1-7 after 55 minutes, but the Glen had the remaining games to beat the Connacht champions 1-3 to 0-1. exceeded.

Glenn had some terrible shots on goal, finishing with 11 wide shots to St Bridget’s two, but in a second half when Derry’s side also had a lot of mistakes, they missed five shots and others. was also blocked. On the first 11 shots of the second half, Glenn returned 0-1 and Glass converted 45.

Also, Cathal Mulholland received a black card in the 48th minute, reducing his playing time to 14 players for 10 minutes. There seemed a very real possibility that he would lose twice in the All-Ireland final within 12 months.

So when Conleth McGuckian takes a quick free on the glass with just two minutes left in regular time and a three-point difference between the teams, it’s hard for the Glenns to climb out of the hole they’re in. It was clear that something special was needed.

Glass won the ball on the edge of the D, broke a heavy tackle and slotted the ball into the back of St Brigid’s goal from the 20 meter line, making it 2-8 to 1-11. As Mulholland spun and trotted back toward the center of the field, the pendulum swung back from the sin bin.

“After they were up by four points and we got the black card, I thought we were dead and buried,” Glass said after the game. “Our shot selection was terrible all day, but we got our short-term memory back, forgot about the mistakes, and focused on what we can control. What we can control is the next kickout, the next offense. , that’s how it was.

“It shows the character this team has. We were lucky enough to get on that edge, put our foot in there and started kicking from there. Here we are, becoming All-Ireland champions. , I feel very good.”

If that was happiness for Glenn, it was devastating for St Bridget’s. St Bridget’s played the better football throughout the afternoon but ultimately left Croke Park empty-handed.

Immediately after Glenn’s second goal, Ben O’Carroll, who had a huge impact, had a shot blocked by a diving Mulholland. Glenn put the ball back into the field and it was won free by Convery Convery, who tapped it over for Emmett Bradley in the first minute of stoppage time. This was the first time Glenn had led from the start of a match.

From the kick-out after a free from Bradley, Glass showed off his AFL skills with a nice leap to push the ball back into scoring position, allowing McGuckian to put Glenn ahead by two points.

To St Brigid’s credit, they tried to find a way out of the storm, with O’Carroll winning a free and Shane Cunane scoring this one to leave the minimum between the teams again . A cynical foul by McGuckian, who dragged Brian Stack down, gave St Brigid’s a difficult last chance to equalize, but Cunane went free from the 45-metre line.

“There’s character there. We know they’re very good football players, there was never any doubt about that, but I think they showed great character,” said St. Bridget’s manager. Jerome Stack said. “They’re young, they’re undefeated, and they’re going to keep coming back.”

St Brigid’s kept the momentum going for most of the match. O’Carroll – who was involved in his team’s scoring or scoring 1-7 – proved to be a real handful and early in the second half Glenn was forced to change his marker and Michael Warnock’s They moved Ryan Dugan in his place. effective.

St. Brigid’s led 0-8 to 0-4 as half-time approached, but they conceded a 1-1 lead late in the first half and were level at 0-8 to 1-5 at half-time.

However, they re-established their dominance by scoring 1-1 in the first five minutes of the restart. Darwin slotted home after a great offload from O’Carroll. Darwin also scored a point with a nice shot from the outside of his right boot, which curved like a golf shot.

It was a point where one would think today would be St. Brigid’s Day, only for Glass’s leadership to decide otherwise.

“For the last 12 months, I’ve certainly had doubts: Will we ever get there?” Glass said afterwards. “I didn’t say that, but that thought goes through your mind 100 per cent. You could say we’re All-Ireland champions.”

It can never be removed from Wattie Graham’s Glen now.

Wattie Graham’s Glenn: Conlan Bradley; Michael Warnock (0-1), Ryan Dougan, Conor Carville. Eunan Mulholland, Ciaran McFall (0-1), Cathal Mulholland. Connor Glass (1-2, 1 45 goal), Emmett Bradley (0-4, 3 frees). Ethan Doherty (0-1), Jody McDermott (1-0), Tiernan Flanagan. Alex Doherty, Danny Tallon, Conleth McGuckian (0-1). Sub: Connor Convery for E. Mulholland (26 minutes). Kerrville’s Stevie O’Hara (44 minutes). Keir McCabe as Talon (55 minutes)

St. Brigid: Cormac Sheehy. Robbie Dolan, Brian Stack (0-1), Pierce Frost. Ruaidri Fallon (0-2), Alan Daly, Ronan Stack. Eddie Nolan (0-2), Shane Cunnan (0-1, 1 free). Bobby Nugent (0-1), Paul McGrath, Connor Hand. Ben O’Carroll (0-3 2 frees, 1 mark), Brian Darwin (1-1), Ciaran Shugrue (0-1). Sub: Darwin’s John Cunningham (45 minutes). Conor Gleeson, Nugent (56 minutes)

Referee: Brendan Corley (Kildare)

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