Conor Glass: 'I am not here to win a Division Three title. I am here to go all the way'
Derry's Conor Glass in action. Picture: INPHO/John McVitty
He'll admit to it now.
When uncertainty over a new contract with Hawthorn made Conor Glass decide what to do with the rest of his life, he decided to come home. To Glen. To Derry. To the prospect of a county career that showed reservoirs of promise as a teenager.
At the time, he was moving from a society that had made a success of containing Coronavirus, with the cafes and public spaces in Melbourne open, to one that was enduring a hard lockdown. There were moments when he doubted himself.
“The first couple of months I was questioning it. ‘F***, did I do the right thing here?’ Absolutely,” he maintains.
Now settled into a winning Derry team, pursuing an accountancy degree in Jordanstown and shaving a year off it by working in the accounts office of Creagh Concrete, he knows he came to the right conclusion.
This weekend’s Division Three final against Offaly sees him renew his acquaintance with Croke Park. It was there he played his last major game of Gaelic football in 2015, flying in from Australia where he had been making final preparations and flying straight back out again to start a new life after losing the 2015 All-Ireland minor semi-final to Kerry.
For the record, he would still recommend the AFL to any prospect. Many others had trod that road including Tadgh Kennelly, Chrissy McKaigue and Conor McKenna. To varying degrees they succeeded, but all were drawn home by the pull of their own game.
“I guess that has been bred into us from when we were growing up. It was all we done, part of our life,” he explains.
“I am sure all those boys can say when they were 10, 11, 12 you never had any aspirations to go out to Australia and play AFL. Their dream was to play for their county and win All-Irelands for their county.
He continues, “I was the same as Conor (McKenna), I wanted to go out there and try my best. You cannot go out there and be half-hearted. I didn’t want to think I was going out there to give it a couple of years, I wanted to put everything into it out there.
“It didn’t work out. I wanted it to but I am better off for it and now I am back home, playing Gaelic and it is what I love doing.”
There are other reasons why life is good. His Glen club appointed Malachy O’Rourke as manager over the winter. The training schedules of club and county overlap so it is difficult to get to attend club sessions, but the vibe is good.
Even getting stopped in the shop by ebullient veteran Derry fans is a pleasure given how positive the team have performed in wiping out Longford, Fermanagh and Cavan on their way to today.
“What should be a five minute journey… you are staying there for 50 minutes just chatting people!,” he laughs.
Under Rory Gallagher in his second year, there is a different look to this Derry group. Faces such as Gareth McKinless have returned, and the likes of Paudie Cassidy and Chrissy McKaigue are in new positions. There’s an imagination to them.
Although just 23, there is something in Glass that reminds one of the yarn about Kieran McGeeney being asked as a student on a night out what he wanted as a county footballer. His answer of ‘Sam Maguire’ was received with beery laughs all round, but McGeeney made it to the summit. It’s no different for Glass.
“To be honest, I am not here to win a Division Three title. I am here to go all the way. That was one of the reasons for coming home and one of the things growing up that I wanted to win an All-Ireland with Derry and get back to that ’93 stage, where Derry should be.”
he bottom line in intercounty Gaelic football is always fitness and conditioning. But Gallagher and Derry’s strength and conditioning coach Peter Hughes are putting layers on top of layers with their approach.
“They are focussed more on the mental aspect and buying into the gameplan and playing for one another, playing as a team really and we are seeing the benefits of that now,” says Glass.
“I know some of the older boys are saying they notice there is a big change of how coached this Derry team is to one another in a short period of time.”
It’s something Glass is consumed by. When he was 15, he was handed his first Sherrin football to prepare himself for Aussie Rules. He barely left it out of his sight. He’s switched that focus now to the O’Neill’s football and been responsible for a new pre-session culture.
“A lot of the coaches are doing it now, going out 15 minutes before training starts and doing the basic skills. Progressing them then, doing them under pressure and then putting them into match situations,” he explains.
“If you have no interest in getting better at it, you can go through the motions of just going through the drill – kick off right, kick off left. But when you focus in on it, that’s when you get better.
“I see it as three stages; do your basic skills, under no pressure. Then you progress it to doing it under pressure. Then you put it into a match situation; where you would execute the skills. Those three stages is what I learned the last five, six years, that’s what they do in Oz. How they develop it.
“And you can relate that to other sports. You see Steph Curry (Golden State Warriors), he goes out and has, I don’t know how many free throws and shots before a game. Maybe 30 of them.
“Then golf, you can imagine how much the likes of Tiger Woods has put in. And that’s the same shot, over and over again. So it is with any sport.”
Derry are the beneficiaries.
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