Football

Tears flow as Glen lift the elephant off their backs

<span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; ">Glen celebrate winning the John McLaughlin Cup for the first time. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin</span>
Glen celebrate winning the John McLaughlin Cup for the first time. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin Glen celebrate winning the John McLaughlin Cup for the first time. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin

O’Neills Derry SFC final: Glen 1-13 Slaughtneil 0-7

JOHN J McKenna’s tear-stained eyes tell you all you need to know about what this means to Glen.

Lost in the warmth of the celebrations, he buries his head into the welcoming shoulders of the men that last night brought the John McLaughlin Cup back to the house he helped build.

Connor Carville referenced John J alongside his own grandfather Mickey McKeefry, another trustee of the club that Connor was able to bring the trophy to on the pitch and say: ‘This is for you’.

Glen are the champions of Derry for the first time in their 73-year history, and they did it in a way they couldn’t even have dreamed of.

It’s one thing to win your first county title, but to do it beating the best team in the land and beating them so emphatically, there can be no disputing it.

All year they’ve played the best football in the county and while Slaughtneil resisted the temptation to tinker too much in a bid to contain them, it might not have mattered.

Ciaran McFaul has been the best footballer in the county for three years and turned in an awesome man-of-the-match display that included ridiculous three points from play in the first half.

Ethan Doherty turned the Slaughtneil defence inside out, the endless incisions coming to feel like death by a thousand cuts for the reigning champions.

Conor Glass came home from the AFL for days like this, and he stood up with a towering performance at midfield.

Glen had hit a brick wall when Magherafelt retreated two years ago, but this time they were patient, composed and then ruthless when the gaps appeared.

After choosing to play against a typically persistent Celtic Park wind, much of the work was done by the first water break. Glen had all the energy and with McFaul landing two huge scores, the Watties led by 0-5 to 0-0.

The game settled a bit in the second quarter and Brendan Rogers, who tried his heart out, kicked his side’s first score. But with the five-point margin still sitting in first-half stoppage time, Danny Tallon struck for the green flag that effectively settled it.

Conor Glass was brave as he threw himself to get fingertips on the ball and poke it into Tallon’s path. He whipped a brilliant finish past Antoin McMullan from the ground and Glen were going in 1-6 to 0-1.

Everything Slaughtneil were trying was breaking down. Shane McGuigan, having run riot in last year’s quarter-final meeting, was under lock and key. Ryan Dougan was excellent and between Michael Warnock and Tiarnan Flanagan dropping in front, the winners hacked off any space that existed.

Bradley completely reshaped his team at half-time and it did have an impact. In one of five positional switches, Padraig Cassidy went to centre-forward and was outstanding in the second half. Keelan Feeney’s switch to wing-forward helped massively limit Ethan Doherty’s influence.

But while Glen retreated, an eight-point lead was a huge lead with a wind at their backs. Conor Glass landed an enormous free from the ground and a big score from play, meaning that Slaughtneil’s four points in the third quarter made practically no dent.

Fionnbhar McGuigan’s outstretched leg bowled Jack Doherty over and earned him a black card that didn’t help matters for Slaughtneil and Glen hit the next three points, the pick of them from Glass again.

Christopher Bradley hit two outstanding scores late on for Slaughtneil but it was evident from a long way out that this was to be the day their neighbours broke the glass ceiling.

It will be a tough road to travel from a preliminary round tie against St Eunan’s in Ballybofey on Sunday week, but now Glen have a taste of silverware, they could be hard stopped.

MATCH STATS


Glen: C Bradley; M Warnock, R Dougan, C Carville (0-1); T Flanagan, C McFaul (0-3), E Doherty; C Glass (0-3, 0-1 free), E Bradley (0-2 frees); E Mulholland, J Doherty (0-1), C Convery; P Gunning (0-1 free), D Tallon (1-2, 0-2 frees), C McGuckian


Subs: C McDevitt for E Mulholland (44), C Mulholland for Carville (54), S O’Hara for Gunning (54), A Doherty for Convery (56)

Slaughtneil: A McMullan; P McNeill, B Rogers (0-1), K McKaigue; F McGuigan, C McKaigue, K Feeney; P Bradley, P Cassidy (0-1); G Bradley, C Bradley (0-4, 0-2 frees), M McGrath; R Bradley, Shane McGuigan (0-1 mark), B Cassidy


Subs: C McAllister for R Bradley (26), Sé McGuigan for G Bradley (35), S Cassidy for F McGuigan (54), M McGuigan for P Cassidy (57)


Black card: F McGuigan (43-53)


Yellow card: M McGrath (23)

Referee: S Curran (Faughanvale)

Attendance: 7,435