Relentless Glass not shattered by hectic schedule
CONOR Glass is proof that any kind of education is never wasted. In a sporting career defined by serial success, the five years he spent in the AFL may be viewed as the exception when he played 21 games for Hawthorn before returning in October 2020.
But what his numbers Down Under do not tell is that he took more from his time in Melbourne than a passion for coffee — allowing him to open up his own business in Maghera —but also the professional tools that has allowed him to defy an extraordinary schedule.
The figures were totted up recently and Sunday’s AIB All-Ireland club final will be the 73rd competitive game that Glen and Derry have played since Glass returned home.
And the 26-year-old has played in 69 of the previous 72, as one season has all but overlapped with another.
Within seven days of last year’s All-Ireland club final defeat to Kilmacud, the 2022 All-Star midfielder was lining out for Derry against Limerick in the opening round of the Allianz League.
No matter how Sunday unfolds against St Brigid’s, expect to see him six days later when the ball is thrown in for the new inter-county spring campaign.
‘I’m sure we’ll have a word with Mickey (Harte) next week in terms of his plans for us,’ said Glass.
‘Having another crack at Kerry down in Tralee would be a good way to start off but we’ll see how we go out of this game and see how the bodies are feeling next week and make the call then.’
Given his record, it’s hard to the giant midfielder giving the fixture a swerve.
It has been a hectic schedule and although he took a six-week break after Derry’s loss to Kerry in last summer’s All-Ireland semi-final, it defies belief that he has stayed relatively injury-free. There was the exception of a hamstring injury sustained in last year’s Division 2 League final loss to Dublin, which also subsesaw him limp out of the Championship opener against Fermanagh.
That’s down to bringing home more than an encyclopedic knowledge of coffee beans from Melbourne.
‘I was with Hawthorn from 16 years of age and they put me through what they called an injury prevention programme.
‘It didn’t include any weights, it was pretty much body-weight stuff.
‘That was probably what helped for the last ten years or so. I haven’t had any serious injuries. Being in a professional environment for five years put me in a good place, knowing how to look after my body and what resources are available to athletes these days.
‘I probably would put it down to the early days of the Hawthorn programmes,’ he explained.
Protecting the body is one thing but, long-term, how long can a player mentally sustain a roll-off, roll-on schedule between club and county?
‘The only downfall of the split season is that if your club and county are successful you don’t get much of a break.
‘I’d rather be playing matches than doing a preseason, I love playing matches, that’s the best part about it and David Clifford said that last year about his busy schedule for 12 months.
‘If Derry are successful this year and Glen goes on to be successful over the next five to 10 years I’m going to have to find ways to deal with it because it’s going to overlap a lot.
‘I’m learning from it, there’s no easy answer because the mind is such a difficult place — you could be fine one day and absolutely shattered the next
‘There’s different mechanisms that you can use throughout the year to refresh your batteries and your mind whether it’s going away for the weekend and having a weekend off or not over-consuming yourself during the week with football.’
Or for that matter, not obsessing about results. In the space of 12 months, he has lost an All-Ireland final and two semi-finals in Croke Park, a run that risks some mental scarring.
‘The best athletes have the shortest memories,’ he insists.
‘Yes, we all want to learn from last year but there’s no point in dwelling on it and overthinking it. The boys in Glen have a shortterm memory — we’ve parked last year and we’re ready to move on.
‘There is that in the back of your head: “We’ve lost two semi-finals and a final, is this ever going to happen?”.
‘Let’s hope it happens this weekend.’