St Brigid’s are the country’s form team says Glen skipper

By Michael McMullan

CAPTAIN Connor Carville insists Glen have a vital period of preparation ahead of their All-Ireland showdown with 2013 champions St Brigid’s.

After the euphoria ebbed through the fog after their semi-final win over Kilmacud Crok’s, the Glen players were whisked to the dressing room before being swamped by the hordes of fans.

In their eyes, it was a gesture that indicated that the Andy Merrigan Cup was as far away as ever.

The Wattys saw their hopes dashed in last year’s final at the hands of Croke’s. Amidst the extra man controversy last January, goalkeeper Conor Ferris got a hand to parry a snapshot from Conor Glass. A goal would’ve won the game.

“We’re hurting at the minute, but we have shown in the past that we can take losses and learn from them,” a broken Carville said outside the Glen dressing room, in the bowels of Hogan Stand.

“There are plenty of learnings to take from today. We’ll hurt for a couple of days, we’ll regroup and rise and try to fight again,” Carville continued.

Glen did just that. They hurt, they got themselves together to secure the John McLaughlin and Seamus McFerran Cups. On Sunday, they saw off Kilmacud Crokes in a blockbuster they were cruising in before needing to win the game again.

You don’t need to be talking to him for long before you realise why Carville has been captain of virtually every team he has played for. And they’ve all been winning ones.

The words are well chosen. The sentences are thoughtfully put together. And, there is no fuss.

Sunday was a huge game, but Carville put it in context. It was a semi-final. Getting over the line is the only currency.

“We are delighted to be back (in a final) but from watching a few of the St Brigid’s games, it’s fair to say they have been the form team in the All-Ireland Club Championship this year,” he said.

“They dispatched of a very good Corofin and they won today (against Castlehaven). We have a big two weeks ahead of us to prepare for that.”

The Glen skipper also gave an insight into the surreal experience of playing a seismic game and still not being able to tell the colour of the jersey on the silhouette in view. Was it Glen man? Was it a Croke’s man? Who knows?

He didn’t see Shane Walsh’s goal hit the net in real time. It was the same when he glanced at the TG4 footage on the big screen at the corner of Páirc Esler.

“You nearly had to get close to a man to give him support and we didn’t do that well,” Carville said. “We would be very disappointed with the way we played in the second half.

“Kilmacud are All-Ireland champions for a reason and they made it very tough for us in the second half.

“We said at half-time that we were going to expect a reaction out of them. It came; they squeezed up on them (Glen’s kick-outs) and made it tough.

“We did enough to claw over the line and we are not overly delighted with our second half performance, there is plenty to improve on for the final.”