Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WE TRAINED ASSES OFF.. IT PAID OFF
SUCCESS is often preceded by dark days and Conor Glass reckons the pain of a narrow loss to Donegal last year has inspired Derry to bigger and better things.
Oak Leaf boss Rory Gallagher has been cracking the whip and Glass believes that 0-16 to 0-15 defeat in Ballybofey is a key milestone in their recent upward trajectory that has brought them to the Ulster final.
“It was a learning experience up in Ballybofey that day,” said Glass (below, after that game).
“That was the main game for this group of players – it was our first big Championship game playing together.
“We put in a good performance, but we didn’t get over the line.
“It was a massive learning curve for the likes of Ethan Doherty, Paul Cassidy, men who are now stalwarts of this team.
“We bounced back from it well and it did us the world of good this year.
“We’ve trained our asses off over the last year and a half with Rory Gallagher and, thankfully, the reward is starting to come now.
“We are looking forward to coming up against Donegal in the Ulster Final. We obviously had a great battle with them last year so it will be good to get another crack at them.”
A few hundred Derry fans entered the pitch at Healy Park when Rory Gallagher’s men defeated the All-ireland champions Tyrone by 11 points on their home patch at the beginning of the month.
A couple of thousand then swarmed on to the field at the Athletic Grounds when Derry defeated Monaghan by four points to book their place in the final.
With the provincial decider heading for a sell-out, the scenes of jubilation if Derry win their first Ulster title since 1998 will surpass what’s been witnessed in Omagh or Armagh.
The Derry footballers have endured many tough moments in recent times and Glass says the entire county will enjoy the build-up to Sunday’s decider having already defeated two Division One sides en route.
“That’s the way you want to do it – we’ve got the hardest route this year,” said Glass.
“It is probably a good thing for this group of players that there is a short turnaround to the Ulster final so we don’t get caught up in the occasion too much.
“We are still going to look forward to it. It is great to be heading back to play in Clones with the chance to win some silverware for Derry.
“We’ve been working hard for the last 18, 20 months – we feel it is welldeserved.
“It was quite hard to come down from such a high against Tyrone.
“The leaders of our team, the likes of Chrissy (Mckaigue), (Brendan) Rogers and Rory (Gallagher) helped steer us in the right direction and we didn’t get carried away.
“It was very close towards the end, but we came out on the right side of the game.
“That’s Monaghan – that’s what they’ve been doing over the last number of years. They are a quality side.”
We bounced back from it well and it did us the world of good this year..