Trevor confident Glyde can learn from final heartache

I have a jar at home that I put the medals in, but if I had a championship medal I’d get it framed. the final last year and felt he could have helped us, and I think it was at the back of his mind then to come back. ‘Apart from them it’s the same team.’

Having gained promotion to the Division 2 league, Glyde made a terrible start, losing their first five games, but they subsequently won four out of five to secure their status even before the last-round match against St Mochta’s. Three of the victories were by one kick of the ball and O’Brien feels those tough matches will stand to Glyde against a Young Irelands team who won 11 consecutive matches in Division 3 by an 18-point margin on average.

‘I was at Young Irelands’ last game against Roche [semi-final] and it was a close, low-scoring match. Dean Maguire and Derek Maguire up front are good lads, but they get players behind the ball.

‘The rumour is that they are favourites, but I feel that we will beat them - I probably shouldn’t be saying that!

‘Surviving in Division 2 was a big achievement for us. We know how hard it is to come up from Junior - most teams have gone straight back down and we had a bad start, but we had a lot of difficult games.

‘We beat the Fechin’s who are in the Intermediate final, so if we could get back to that level I’d be confident that Division 2 football will stand to us, the same as Glen Emmets last year.

‘All the talk then was about us, not having lost a game, but you can only play the game that’s in front of you.’

With a number of Glyde players entering the twilight of their careers, there will be speculation about one or two retirements whether the Tallanstown win or lose next Sunday, but O’Brien for one isn’t considering hanging up the boots any time soon, even if the opportunity arises to go out on a high by lifting the Christy Bellew Cup.

‘I won the intermediate league twice, but you don’t remember them,’ he replied when asked about his career honours.

‘I have a jar at home that I put the medals in, but if I had a championship medal I’d get it framed. That’s the plan!

‘I’m 32 now and I have a kid and another on the way, but what else would you be at? I’d be at home watching the telly or playing a bit of golf, so as long as she lets me go out to training I’ll keep going!’