By Michael McMullan

GLEN and Derry star Conor Glass is a student of Dublin football and has delved into Brian Fenton’s style to help his transition back into the Gaelic football environment.

Sunday’s Ulster Club clash with St Eunan’s will be only be his eighth ever senior championship game for Glen, including an appearance against Banagher in 2015 before his spell playing in the AFL.

In the case of Glass, it was a case of county before club.

Rory Gallagher handed him his debut against Longford as a 55th minute substitute in the 2020 league campaign and he has started in all eight of Derry’s games since.

“The thing I struggled with was the game style,” Glass said about his return to GAA.

“Gaelic has changed a lot since I left. I left at minor and underage level, so there was a big step up to senior.”

Glass said his Ulster championship debut against Armagh, at the heel of last season, was a case of ‘in at the deep end’ without fully knowing his role.

His initial focus was ‘learning’ the game and watching footage of Dublin, taking a specific interest in footage of former footballer of the year Brian Fenton.

“Rory Gallagher actually told me to watch out for him and watch his vision and watch his game. “That’s literally what I did. I modelled my game on him and whatever he does well, try and implement some the stuff he does well into my game.”

Glass highlights Fenton’s strengths. An athleticism that allows him to mix forcing turnovers with getting up the field to lands scores.

“I have similar physical attributes to him,” Glass said. “The more times I can get up and down the pitch, whether it is to create turnovers or get on the scoreboard, I will do it.

“It has obviously worked for him in the past and he has been footballer of the year on multiple occasions, so he is obviously doing very well.”

With a natural defensive mindset, having played at full-back on Glen underage teams in the age bracket above himself, Glass’ positional sense and engine has moulded him into a box to box midfielder, with an instinct to mind the house.

One of the first tactical decisions Malachy O’Rourke made when he took over Glen was to move Ciaran McFaul, their attacking heartbeat, to centre-back.

The presence of Glass permitted this change of shape. When McFaul attacks, Glass sits. And vice versa. McFaul kicked three points in the first half of their county final win over Slaughtneil earlier this month, something Glass repeated after half-time.

“His communication is serious,” McFaul said after game. “Conor’s talking throughout the game was unbelievable.”

Glass can see the link from club to county, with Glen having six on duty with Derry last season.

“It was about sussing out where he fitted into the Derry and Glen jigsaws,” he points out.

“Once I was able to establish that, I was able to go out and perform. In the likes of my first game against Armagh, I didn’t really know my role in the team,” he said.

“Whereas now, I think I do and I have been performing that role in the team well and it has put us in a good stead over the past year.

“We had a successful year with Derry and I had built up that confidence throughout the year and once I came back to club level, I was able to carry that on.”