All-Ireland finalists Glen, Maghera have decided against appealing the red card awarded to selector Ryan Porter during the semi-final win over Moycullen.
The Derry club face Kilmacud Crokes in the Andy Merrigan Cup decider this Sunday, and will be without their highly-regarded trainer, after he was sent to the stand by referee David Gough following a number of decisions that the Tyrone man felt aggrieved by.
Speaking at the Glen press event before this Sunday’s decider, manager Malachy O’Rourke confirmed they had had momentarily considered an appeal.
“We just wanted to get a bit of a clarification about what it was for,” he explained.
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“Once we got that, we didn’t follow it up. Ryan was the first to say. He wasn’t going to start telling lies or denying anything he did. He held his hands up and said in the heat of the moment, he made a comment that the officials didn’t like, so we just took our medicine.”
O’Rourke admitted their semi-final being hosted in Croke Park has been an element of getting rid of the “wow factor” of the stadium, especially seeing as their final opponents have accrued extensive experience of playing at headquarters over the last couple of Leinster and All-Ireland campaigns.
Glen went down a day early before their semi-final and had a walk around Croke Park and the dressingrooms to familiarise themselves with the task before taking on Moycullen.
“It was a big thing for us to get to play the semi-final there. I think I heard someone saying that they had played something like seven of the last 10 games there in Croke Park, through Leinster and the All-Ireland series from last year,” said O’Rourke.
“I suppose it is like Dublin at intercounty level as well. There is no doubt it does help. You become very familiar with the place. It is a different ground so it gives them an advantage, I would say that.
“But, the fact we played there the last day and the boys got a feel for the place, just the whole surroundings and everything else, will hopefully stand to us. At least that takes the advantage away a wee bit, anyway.”
As a manager, this is the first time O’Rourke has taken a team to an All-Ireland final. He played and won a Sigerson final in 1989, and brought Monaghan to the All-Ireland semi-final in 2018.
One of his strong points as a manager is his ability to simplify their task and take the pressure off the playing panel.
“If it’s a case of trying to take a bit of pressure off, well then that’s what you have to do. Other days, you might add a wee bit of pressure to it, depending on what the circumstances are,” he said.
“I think coming up to games like this here, it’s a matter as well of keeping it very routine. I think the biggest danger is doing things they hadn’t been doing before and building it up into something.
“At the end of the day, it seems a very simplistic thing to say, but it is a game of football. From the day you play the first round of the Championship there is more at stake. But still you have to keep a sense of perspective and know that you have to perform.”
He added, “Sentiment doesn’t come into it. It can be a brilliant occasion and everyone behind you. But if you don’t go down and perform, you won’t win. So it’s very much focused on what you have to do to perform to your best.”
