GREAT GLASS ELEVATORS
Derry ace Conor enjoyed his break after sitting out Dubs clash but he’s ready to raise his game again for crack at a final
CONOR GLASS admits he would have “absolutely loved” to have played in Derry’s recent Celtic Park defeat to Dublin.
And the Oak Leaf star (right) says a Division 1 League final would be “a fantastic place to be.”
Glass was one of those rested in the defeat to Dublin 11 days ago with some suggestions afterwards that Derry weren’t interested in reaching a Division 1 final.
The League decider is three weeks out from their eagerly-awaited Championship opener against Donegal at Celtic Park. But Glass says it was more a case of Derry, with four wins out of four, having earned the opportunity “to pick our fights.” After two long years with Derry and Glen, which culminated in an Allireland triumph back in January, Glass says he feels fresh and ready to go ahead of this weekend’s encounter with Mayo.
A Derry win would leave them very close to a League final spot, with a final round win at home to Roscommon guaranteeing it.
“I got a rest against Dublin which was fantastic to have,” said Glass, speaking at the launch of the John West Feile in Croke
Park yesterday. “Then obviously the week off last week as well. We’re able to pick our fights to a certain degree after having eight points on the board after four games.
“That was sort of always the plan. It was good to have that break and it wasn’t just myself.
“Ethan (Doherty), Paul Cassidy, Conor Doherty, Paudie Mcgrogan - some of the boys who have put in the effort over the last two years, especially doing pre-season as well. Having that rest and being able to pick your fights to a certain degree was good for us.
“We have a fantastic conditioning team in Matt Godfrey and Sean Quinn and the rest of the team.
“Whether it be managing us throughout the week to perform at the weekend, there’s multiple ways to be able to (do that) - not rest us until the All-ireland series finals.
“But there’ll be a time to peak and I’m sure they’ll be fully aware of that. I don’t think fatigue will come into play, no.”
Glass insists he “100 per cent” would have loved to play against Dublin, where he would have gone up against
Brian Fenton. And he maintains that Dublin are still the team to beat.
He said: “Of course they are. They’re All-ireland champions for a reason. They haven’t been near full strength at all this year and they’re sitting second in the League.
“They are the standard bearers but they’re there to be chased down.
“We’re going to put our best foot forward to try and close the gap between them as well. “They’re a serious, serious outfit and it’s a testament to those players.”
Derry ended up losing the Dublin game by five points, but are still top of Division 1, two points clear of Dublin, Mayo and Kerry.
“As a competitor I would have
absolutely loved it [playing against Dublin],” continued Glass. “Down in your home patch against the Dubs, a packed house, absolutely.
“It would have been some craic. But, unfortunately, I have to pick my fights and maybe we’ll see them in the League final.
“I wouldn’t say boys were rested to look forward. “It was more just we had eight points and were four points clear from everyone else so we were in a position to be able to rest boys.
“It wasn’t necessarily, ‘We’re not putting out a team because we want to play them [Dublin] in a League Final.”
Glass says Derry “absolutely do” want to play in a League final. The likes of Mayo and Galway – last year’s Division 1 finalists – don’t appear to have any interest in playing in the Allianz decider.
“Connacht is obviously a bit different in so far as they’re out the week after the League final, whereas we have a couple of weeks’ leeway afterwards,” said Glass.
“A League Final would be a fantastic place to be. Especially for boys who haven’t played in one.
“I think Chrissy Mckaigue might be the only person to play in a League final and that was 30 years ago for Chrissy! It would be a good experience for us if we do get there.”
Glass always believed Derry would be “back dining at the top table again.”
“To be able to go this quickly into it, probably not,” said the Maghera man. “But we have the players and it was always in my mind that we’d be able to get there at some stage. “It is a long-term thing. We want to be staying in Division 1 as long as possible.
“We’ve been in Division 1 before. In the space of four or five years, we were in Division 4.
“We’re in a good place at the minute. Not only on a football front, whether it be ladies football, camogie, hurling. It’s all going well for Derry at the minute, thank God.”