Glen Rovers have dined at Cork hurling's top table since 1926. That's at stake now
ROVERS RETURN: The Glen will be hoping to avoid an unwanted piece of history this weekend.
A history lesson to begin with.
The Cork hurling anoraks and proud people of Blackpool can skip ahead here, this next bit is old hat to them.
And anyways, the latter group might prefer not to be reminded of all that their famed club has won on a week such as this. A week laced with trepidation, trapdoors, and jeopardy.
Glen Rovers, the club of Jack Lynch, Christy Ring, and Patrick Horgan, boast an exhausting roll of honour.
Involvement in the county final on 45 occasions since their debut decider back in 1930, winner for 27 of those. Second only on the local roll of honour to the Rockies.
Break the numbers down and, on average, they've reached a county final every second year and gone the distance every three and a half years.
Of course, there were Munsters and All-Irelands too.
At the height of the storied Glen-Barrs-Rockies rivalry in the 1970s, twice - 72/73 and 76/77 - they did the treble of Cork, Munster, and All-Ireland.
Their cup didn’t always overflow, mind.
Relegation from the top tier of Cork hurling was introduced in 2006. Had it come a year earlier, the Glen would have been among those in line for the chop having lost their first and second round outings that 2005 season.
This Saturday in Fermoy, the green, black, and gold hooped shirt is very much on the block.
County intermediate champions in 1925, the Glen have dined at Cork’s top table since 1926. This weekend, that 97-year top tier involvement is at stake.
A team that contested a three-in-a-row of county finals from 2019-21 and has plenty of survivors from the back-to-back successes of 2015 and ‘16 now sits one hour from the drop.
So, how did they get here?
Their group saw them pitted against the 2020 and ‘21 champions Blackrock and Midleton respectively, both of whom had overcome the Glen to reach the summit. Both again had the Glen’s number in recent weeks, meaning a Round 3 sink-or-swim clash against perennial strugglers Bishopstown.
The Glen were expected to comfortably thread water, Bishopstown sink. Instead, the latter pulled off a shock 2-21 to 2-19 victory.
Glen manager Richie Kelleher, who obliged in taking our call this week and who isn’t hiding from the challenge at hand, first sorts through that Round 3 upset.
“We had beaten Bishopstown a few times the last couple of years, so I think we took our eye off the ball. I think we saw Bishopstown as an easy touch and maybe that dropped our standards and respect of the opposition,” Kelleher began.
“On the day, they were far from a soft touch. Everything you want in a team, Bishopstown brought that day, and unfortunately we failed to.”
The boxes that weren’t ticked a fortnight ago that have to be against Kanturk are the non-negotiables of intensity, aggression, and work-rate.
The training ground evidence of the past 10 days tells Kelleher they’ve turned a corner in that department.
They spun down to West Cork over the weekend, put in a good session and had a bit of grub afterwards before coming back up the road. Time away in each other’s company to brace themselves for the pressure-cooker coming and what needs to be done to outlast the heat.
“We need to bring everything about Glen Rovers that we have in our blood. If we do that and if we do the best we can, we'll take the result either way.
“That's all I can ask of my players; go out, do the best you can, and get stuck in. It might be old school, but you've got to work your socks off. The game hasn't changed in that sense.
“Hopefully our fellas will go and give it all. We’ve one last chance. We have stuck together through all this, there have been no fallings out. There have been harsh words, of course there have, but we've stuck together. We'll win and lose together.
“The support from within the club too has been unbelievable, phone calls and texts offering to do anything, which is great because it just brings unity.”
The question has to be asked how much the Glen’s past lends pressure on a week such as this. After all, this is a club known for its legendary talents and accumulation of silverware.
Survival and relegation are not part of the Glen vocabulary.
“It does [lend pressure], but again, we just got to break it down. Don't play the occasion.
“We are playing a hurling match and we have done that a hundred times in the last few years. Whether it is first round of the league, first round of championship, a county final, or relegation playoff, we want to win. If you approach every game the same, it doesn't matter what the consequences are. It is a game we want to go and win.”
It is a game Kelleher wants to win for the next generation of Glen hurler. The club’s second team are in a Premier Junior quarter-final. There was a county minor annexed two years ago. There is, says the senior boss, “fierce potential” coming through.
“Our duty is to go and perform for Glen Rovers. We want to keep the Glen up. Sometimes fate is against you, but that's no control of ours. Our control is to get the players' heads right, get them training, get them confident, and go and play.
“We want to stay senior for a million years, but so does every other club in Cork. Only 12 teams can be there. It is up to the 12 who are there to fight tooth and nail to stay there.”
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