Conor Glass: ‘We didn’t get over the line. Was that management? Probably not’

GLASS HALF FULL: Conor Glass in action for Derry during the Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.

Six seasons. Four managers. Since returning from the AFL, Conor Glass has become uncomfortably familiar with the off-season search for a new boss.
Derry have dealt with their fair share of instability. No one emerges unscathed from that.

Glass joined the panel in 2020 under Rory Gallagher. In 2023, Gallagher resigned following allegations of domestic abuse. Mickey Harte and Paddy Tally both lasted a single season before Ciarán Meenagh took over ahead of 2026.

Such churn inevitably had an impact on their performance. Derry were relegated from Division 1 and failed to progress out of their Sam Maguire series group. On the same weekend as the All-Ireland semi-finals, Tally stood down. Within days of the final, Meenagh was appointed. Donegal’s Luke Barrett and former players Benny Heron and Chrissy McKaigue are part of his backroom team.

But Glass was not kept in the dark during the gap between regimes.

“As captain, not really. I have a bit of input. I am there, I’m involved and not involved if that makes sense. It is an awkward one because I’ve been through it too many times now over the last three or four years, even with the club and county the last couple of years. 

"Paddy came in at an awkward time last year, it was this time last year really. He obviously didn’t have an easy start. It just didn’t work out.” 

What does he make of their year now? Derry did not win a game, although there were numerous close calls.

“It still hurts, obviously. When I look back on it, we were competitive a lot of the time. Could have easily won 70% of games. The Kerry game, both Galway games, even the Dublin game, there were countless times where we could have got over the line but at the end of the day, we didn’t get over the line.

“Was that management? Probably not. As players we had ample opportunities to get over the line. There is a bit of self-reflection to go into it and a bit of down time.” 

Conor Nash is a former teammate and a close friend. At Hawthorn, his coach Sam Mitchell has a creed: 80-20. The first half of each week, 80% is about the team. How can they get better, how can he make the players beside him better. 20% is Conor.

Once the second training session comes on a Thursday, it switches. 80% Conor, 20% team. The emphasis narrows. Focus on yourself.

Glass smiles at the memory of it. He returned from a professional environment like a prophet bearing new knowledge. It was inevitable he would be involved in those off-field conversations. It is taxing too.

“It is a tricky balance, to be honest. It is weird. I didn’t think about it too much. As players, you just get on with the off-field stuff. I am involved in the GAA 24 hours a day. It is a lot of phone calls and it can he hard to step away from, then there is media. You are in the shop and people are asking you questions about it. It can be hard that way. I just want to focus on myself and making the team better.” 

Derry face Donegal in the Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup on January 4. Their league kicks off in Croke Park against Meath. The driving ambition is to prove this dip is a temporary condition, not a terminal slide. Glass cites young prospects like Matthew Downey, James Sargent and Ruairi Forbes as a generation ready to make their mark.

As for the Glen man, he is 28 years old. Still relishing it. In the midst of a gruelling pre-season but loving the edge that comes from that. The passion that Meenagh brings is precisely what the squad require at this moment.

So, confident that 2026 will be a good one for himself and his county?

“Absolutely.

“I have chatted to a few people about it now, you think about Derry’s trajectory since Covid really. Up until last year, it was nearly like that,” he says, drawing an invisible line upward.

“No graph keeps going like that. You are going to plateau and dip at a stage. This is our plateau. We learned from last year and will get better for it. Division 2 is highly competitive, it is not like it is going to be easy, it will be highly competitive.

“If we can firstly get a good McKenna Cup campaign and get our confidence and swagger back, who knows where it can take us. 2022 showed if you can get a few good games under your belt, the sky is the limit. We just looking forward to getting back to that stage.”