Conor Glass: 'Years down the line I know it’ll be pretty special to look back on'
I WISH I WAS BACK HOME IN DERRY: Conor Glass of Derry with supporters after the Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship Semi Final match between Derry and Monaghan at O’Neills Healy Park in Omagh, Tyrone. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
It was three years ago in front of a corner café in sun-drenched Melbourne with a cherry blossom and carpet of greenery all along Richmond way. Conor Glass was sitting outside A Thousand Blessings, explaining why this paradise was a rest-stop on route to his own promised land.
In March 2020, Glass and then fellow Hawthorn player Conor Nash met this writer to chart his career move to Australia. Nash comes from Simonstown and is a towering figure in the Hawks midfield now.
When he left, Meath desperately pined for him. Now they urgently need him. Yet the reality, he explained, is more complex. If the AFL never came calling, the likelihood is he would have thrown his lot in with Leinster rugby. The centre had been in the academy and it was on the cards.
Glass was dealt a different hand. In the Hogan Cup, he was an underage sensation and a prospect earmarked for a long career in red and white. It was while playing in that competition that an AFL scout spotted him and realised a club had already been in contact.
Hawthorn operates differently to other clubs with Irish recruitment and do not rely on the AFL-authorised combine system, instead trusting their own scouts. This particular recruiter watched how Glass boxed off space before fielding. He saw a teenager able to leap for the ball off his left and right leg. It was obvious an AFL skills coach had been working with him.
Hawthorn first made contact when he was 15. Glass had played in an Ulster club minor final and was involved in the MacRory Cup with St Patrick's College, Maghera initially as a sub goalkeeper.
When a starting player pulled out sick before they were due to play Newry neighbours St Colman's College, he was selected to slot in at centre back. Three games later, the AFL outfit reached out.
They agreed a contract while he was still in school. When he turned 18, he left and played over 20 games. All the while Derry were calling. Glen was the source. He would be back. He said exactly that in 2020.
“I still have that hope. Whether it be next year or ten years down the line. I always wanted to play for Derry. I’ve never even played county championship with my club. I will definitely do that at some stage.” Already he had began to prepare. A party from the county had visited the club on a learning mission. Glass pointed to one of his future team-mates and explained how he utilised his Aussie rules experience.
“I look at Chrissy McKaigue. He spent two years with Sydney Swans and has done so well with Slaughtneil. I personally think he took stuff from the Swans and implemented those tactics back home.
“I think a similar thing with Dublin. They have so many scenarios. What to do if you are a point up, what to do if you are a man down, everyone on the same page. That is so important in the AFL.”
Fast forward to last Saturday. It is ticking towards 7.30pm in Healy Park and Glass is still on the field with a swarm of fans all around him.
He will stay there until just shy of an hour after the final whistle. Relishing it. How could he not be? Since coming back the accomplishments have been awesome: An Ulster title. All-Ireland semi-final. All-Star. Ulster club title. All-Ireland club final. Now back in an Ulster final.
“I hope the Ulster championship is here to stay because it brings out days like this,” he says with a gesture towards the ongoing festivities on the field.
His professional sport experience has stood to him. Within Derry’s set-up he refers to “one brain.” The idea that that as a group they must know how to deal with every situation and think collectively. It is an expertise that grows after every game. Every day.
“We found ourselves in a good position, but we did against Monaghan last year as well. I think they came to within three points then, so we weren’t going to let them back albeit they got a couple of goals. I thought we saw out the game pretty well and it is a good starting point for us moving forward.”
He kicked two points in the Ulster semi-final and chipped in with several key defence contributions. In two weeks’ they will march on Clones and look to defend their 2022 crown, but beyond that they have aspirations of a bigger prize later this summer. So, three years on from articulating the dream, has it been everything he hoped it would be?
“100%. When we were sitting in that café in Richmond, myself and Nash, I knew then it was in the back of my mind. Did I know it was going to happen this early? Probably not. It is just amazing to be here to be honest. I can’t really reflect on it because we are in the heat of it but five, ten years down the line I know it’ll be pretty special to look back on after stepping off the plane two years ago.”
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