Malachy O’Rourke: ‘Maybe it was just that wee bit of desire and hunger that got us across the line’

When the storm subsided, St Thomas’ and Watty Graham’s Glen were left standing. In their wake, scattered around Croke Park, lay the broken dreams of O’Loughlin Gaels and St Brigid’s. The closing salvos of both All-Ireland club finals landed like unsparing tornadoes, with Éanna Burke and Conor Glass doing the damage.

But All-Ireland club finals these days tend not to pass without some blizzard of contention and the hurling decider delivered this term. O’Loughlin Gaels were left frustrated by what they felt was a legitimate goal not awarded during the first half of their one-point defeat, when Owen Wall’s shot was stopped by Fintan Burke while the defender was falling over the goal-line.

“Unfortunately there was a massive call missed in the first half with the goal decision,” O’Loughlin Gaels selector Nigel Skehan told KCLR afterwards.

“A ridiculous decision, to be honest with you. And I’m going to be straight about it, I’m not going to beat about the bush – a ridiculous decision. How they got it wrong, I have no idea.”

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But how Éanna Burke fired over his match-winning score from the Hogan Stand sideline in the fourth minute of injury time is anybody’s guess too. He can dine out on that one forever more.

With Burke’s momentum taking him away from goal and surrounded by a forest of bodies, his over-the-shoulder shot sliced through Storm Isha and sailed over the crossbar to earn the Galway side their second All-Ireland club title.

If that was one of the most extraordinary points to ever win an All-Ireland final then in the football decider Glass delivered one of the most influential performances by any player to guide his club to glory.

Remarkably this inaugural All-Ireland title arrives just three years after the south Derry side claimed their first county championship. And it is no accident their incredible journey has coincided with Glass returning home from Australia.

His leadership was the difference as they overcame a four-point deficit late on to beat St Brigid’s – in particular, his 58th-minute goal from the 20-metre line altered the momentum of the contest.

“I couldn’t believe he pulled the trigger on that goal,” said Glen captain Connor Carville afterwards. “It was absolutely incredible what Conor Glass done on that pitch today, we are so lucky to have that man in our club. He’s a complete leader for us.”

And yet for so much of the contest, Glen played like a team frozen by a fear of possibly losing a second All-Ireland final on the bounce, an inability to move out from beneath the shadow of last year’s All-Ireland final loss to Kilmacud Crokes.

There was a tightness about the Ulster champions, bad decision-making in front of the posts, skewed shots, mis-hit passes, the full gamut.

“We nearly saved our worst (performance) until last, we just couldn’t get going at all,” remarked Glen manager Malachy O’Rourke. “Possibly we were a wee bit nervous, you can mask it all the way you want but after losing one All-Ireland you don’t want to lose a second one.”

They are the first side from Derry to claim an All-Ireland club SFC since Ballinderry in 2002, and the first senior team from the county to win a final at Croke Park since the Oak Leaf footballers lifted Sam Maguire at the venue in 1993. The 2002 club final was played in Thurles.

I think that strengthened the whole club and it meant that everybody was going forward together

—  Malachy O'Rourke

And if it is something of a redemption story for Glen after last year, Glass admitted there was a sense of history repeating itself in how he found himself staring down St Brigid’s goal in the closing stages on Sunday.

In the dying seconds of last year’s final Glass had a shot saved by Kilmacud goalkeeper Conor Ferris, and that moment has flashed through his mind on several occasions during the last 12 months.

“I said to myself if I ever get that opportunity again, I’m just going to put my foot through it,” commented Glass. “If it comes off, it comes off, if it doesn’t, at least I went for it. Thankfully it happened today, I was able to get that opportunity again.

“It is a weird one that I found myself on the end of it, compared to last year.”

So much of Glen’s year was carved from the disappointment of last January. They battened down the hatches and chased down an All-Ireland title.

“After last year, and the way it ended, this year really started with last year,” continued O’Rourke. “There was a lot of talk from different sources and a lot people on the outside were giving their tuppence worth, but we always said whatever was the right thing for the club, we’d do that and we followed through on that.

“I think that strengthened the whole club and it meant that everybody was going forward together. A lot of tough battles along the way, it looked as if we were going to come up short again but maybe it was just that wee bit of desire and hunger that got us across the line.”

When the storm subsided, St Thomas’ and Watty Graham’s Glen were left standing.

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