Glass gets away with breaking the golden rule – The Irish News

Cahair O'Kane at St Tiernach's Park

14 May, 2023 20:13

IN all the annals of advice a penalty taker might find, one line will stand out in enlarged, bold text, underlined in red whatever else you do, dont change you mind.

Conor Glass changed his mind.

The best aesthetic penalty of the eight taken in Clones had millimetres to spare beneath Ethan Raffertys crossbar, with the Grange man looking back at it from the other side of his goal.

Hed seen Ethan Rafferty go to his left on the first two and banked that he wouldnt go there for a third.

I changed my mind in the run-up, literally a second before I kicked the ball. I seen Ethan Rafterty kept going across himself.

I would have gone to my left on the previous penalties and thats where I was going to go. So I said, I have to change my mind here. Thankfully it went in underneath the crossbar. I couldnt tell you what I was thinking.

You dont know what youre going to do until youre actually there. I was going to go the other side of the net. I dont know, my mind just froze and I said, Right, Ill go the other way. You dont actually know until the circumstance comes up.

We practice penalties messing about. Gareth McKinless probably thinks hes the best penalty taker in the country. Weve done it probably taking the piss more so.

Thats just the confidence we have in each other. It was always going to be 50-50 regardless. Youre just proud that we got there. The mental toughness saw it out for us.

Read more: How the Derry players rated

Glass was excellent again as Derry claimed back-to-back Ulster titles.

They looked gone having fallen two points down early in the second half of extra-time but Shane McGuigan strapped them up on his back and carried them towards the line.

The fact they had the legs left to get up and squeeze Armaghs kickout so as to force it long gave Conor Glass his own platform in that spell. He ruled the sky. Derry came back from the dead and won.

McGuigan is a considerably better forward now than he was 12 months ago. His was a display of pure leadership.

Hes the best forward in the country at the minute, between him and Clifford and Con OCallaghan, hailed his team-mate from just across the fields between Maghera and Slaughtneil.

"Theyre just freaks of nature. Shane is just full of confidence. He said at half-time, get the ball to me and we did and he came up with the big plays.

That just shows the mental toughness he has and the resilience he has. and just the leadership to say, Im going to grab the game by the balls, Im going to win it for us. Thats just Shane. He does that every night.

Clutching the Anglo Celt, he couldnt have cared less about Clare, Donegal and Monaghan coming down the road at them.

Ulster isnt dead yet.

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Glass gets away with breaking the golden rule - The Irish News