WE LOOK BACK at an incredible day at the All-Ireland club finals, with both football and hurling games being decided by the tightest of margins.
1. Leadership is a habit
Only for Conor Glass, Glen would have lost the football final to St Brigid’s. Not only that, but they would have gone back up the road with a mountain of regrets, knowing they were for long stretches, second-best.
Conor Glass made the decisive plays and provided the leadership. Naturally, his goal that levelled the game was a thing of beauty.
But his reaction prior to it, of setting the ball on the ground after a transgression was called, was the perfect illustration of professional sportsmanship. Too many players in these situations let emotions override their actions.
In truth, Glass played his usual game, and added a spectacular goal. Those that think he played above himself aren’t paying attention.
2. Wonder points
One group of men who must have looked on in intense frustration were the hurlers of Ruairí Óg, Cushendall.
Midway through the second half of their semi-final against O’Loughlin Gaels, they hit four wides in a row. It was painful and denied them a place in the All-Ireland final.
A million different elements win tight games, but seeing players hit points for the ages goes an awful long way. Éanna Burke’s two late points for St Thomas’ were sensational, particularly the final one in injury-time.
The difference between nailing routine chances and nailing the impossibles means everything in a couple of finals separated by a single point, and the losing side having a final chance from a free to bring it to extra-time.
3. Brewing up a storm
The quality served up by all four teams at various stages on Sunday, with Storm Isha rearing up now and again, was something to behold.
Hurling rarely disappoints anyway, but the football final showed us that, when played on a sound surface, anything to be gained is by playing in a positive manner, such as Brigid’s in the first half and Glen in the second.
In light of the storm, the Glen club took the sensible decision to cancel a homecoming parade out in the open, postponing it to later today. As Tony Scullion might say, ‘Maghera, it will be bleck with people.’
Scenes in Maghera when the pubs open again pic.twitter.com/9Q4l7QrOHO
— James Quinn (@JamesQuinn87) March 23, 2020
4. No excuses
In your moment of triumph, it might be tempting to reach back and look fondly over your failures and dress them up in a way that paints you in the best possible light.
Ask Éanna Burke about the All-Ireland semi-finals they have lost in recent years though, and he will say they deserved nothing out of them, because they were outworked and outplayed.
Or Conor Cooney, who will say the following; “Look, the criticism was probably fair that we hadn’t performed in semi-finals. We got to a final against Ballyhale and we were badly beaten.
“We lost Fintan that day to a bad injury and we lost other lads as well. That’s immaterial, we were always beaten by the better teams. But like you say, it certainly validates all the effort to come back and get to the top and give everything and ultimately to get over the line in difficult circumstances.”
And no team had an invitation to host a pity party as Glen had after the way their All-Ireland final last January ended. You believe them when they said they parked it as soon as they could.
5. Club players don’t always make county players
Every team of county champions will be guaranteed that their quota of players for county duty will receive a bump in numbers.
Winning , especially regularly winning, bathes some players in a light shared by their team mates and has the potential to make them look slightly better than they are.
That’s why calls for players to get call-ups for the county team after club success are always to be taken lightly.
We go back to the forthright Éanna Burke on this issue, when asked about his ambitions with Galway.
“I’m 28 now, 29 next year. I was there for probably eight years in and around the panel, but I just haven’t been good enough to make the team,” he said.
“If I genuinely felt I could make a difference to the squad, I’d love to play for Galway. It’s not that it’s a different game but it’s just probably another level of physicality that maybe I’m not at. You have to hold your hands up as well with that. If I felt I could make a difference, I would. But I was there for eight years and if I was going to make a difference I would have made it by now. That’s the way it is.”
6. Where now for Malachy?
Malachy O’Rourke now becomes the first Fermanagh man to manage a team to a senior All-Ireland title.
The question left now is where does he go from here?
He has a number of options.
But first, it must be tempting after three long seasons to put the feet up and rest after a job well done. His stock now is so high that he will be connected to every and any job worth considering.
Tyrone? Their present manager agreed another three seasons prior to this year, and they have never had an outside manager before.
In any case, the intense attention afforded to Tyrone may not suit him.
Right now though, any number of options will become available to him.
