Derry footballer, Conor Glass.
By John Harrington
Conor Glass believes the Derry footballers should have great expectations for 2025.
2024 was a real curate’s egg of a year for the Oak Leaf County as their Allianz League Division 1 Final triumph was followed by disappointing championship campaign, but Glass is confident they can do better this year.
“The ultimate goal is to get back to the All-Ireland semi-final and have a chance to reach an All-Ireland Final,” said Glass today at the launch of the 2025 Allianz Leagues. “Look, the sky is the limit in this team.
“We have the depth within the squad, it's just the new rules that is the grey area in everything. We're just going to take it each week at a time, learn from each game, because there's going to be a hell of a lot of learning from week to week.
“We'll focus for now on the national league and if it takes us to a league final then so be it. And then it's the Ulster Championship and we go from there.”
Paddy Tally was appointed Derry manager last November and in a short space of time has already made a very positive impression with his players.
“He's brought a sense of freshness,” says Glass. “Paddy has a lot of experience on the football front through St. Mary's and various county teams and he was with Derry in 2013 and 2014 so going back the years he knows what Derry football is about and knows the players inside out.
“He has brought a sense of freshness and a sense of authority and calmness too which us players haven't had over the last three or four years.
“Time will tell obviously with the results, but it's a good environment at the minute.”
Glass is feeling fresh in body and mind ahead of the 2025 inter-county season thanks to his first break from Gaelic football for quite some time following Glen’s defeat to Newbridge in the Derry SFC Final last October.
“I haven't done a pre-season since 2021 and that was shortly after I came home from Australia,” he says. “To get a pre-season under my belt was blessing in disguise with the new rules.
“I'm feeling as fresh as ever, thank God, and I know so are a lot of the Glen boys. Ethan Doherty has been on the go for the last four or five years as well so it was a blessing in disguise.
“We obviously didn't want to go out that early in the Derry championship but looking at the longer term and the bigger picture, it has worked out well for us because we have been able to go week on week getting a good training block and looking after our bodies.
“When you're going match on match it's just about maintaining and it can be quite draining and you can't really focus on your weaknesses within the game. We've enjoyed it and we've enjoyed the new management.”
Conor Glass of Derry catches a kickout ahead of teammate Christopher McKaigue and David Clifford of Kerry during the 2024 GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final match between Kerry and Derry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
He’s also enjoying getting to grips with the new FRC rule enhancements, hailing the ‘freshness’ they have brought to inter-county training, even if life has now become more challenging for players in his position on the field.
“The demand is up for the middle eight players,” he says. “We're sort of just finding our feet in terms of the method of play. Especially on a turnover there's so much in defence so you do have to scramble back and if it's turned over again you do have to try to get back up the pitch, so there is more of a demand on the middle eight.
“As a midfielder there are a lot more contests for kick-outs which I'm enjoying. It brings back that high-fielding aspect of the game.
“I'm really enjoying that side of things. It's just figuring out a way a play. In that middle eight you're going to struggle to play the entirety of the game so you're going to have to figure out methods where I can sit in the full-back line or full-forward line to rest for two or three minutes.
“You might find a trend of teams doing that because you can't expect the middle eight to be running up and down like headless chickens and the full-forward line just staying in offence.
“I'm enjoying it, but it is tricky. You don't really know where you stand until there's a competitive game. I guess we'll figure some things out this weekend against Tyrone.”
For all the work that managers and coaches will have done to get their players prepared for the challenge of playing under these new rules, a lot will rest on the shoulders of the players themselves to learn on the hoof once the ball is thrown in.
On-field communication is going to be more important than ever.
“Absolutely,” says Glass. “Especially when you're defending. You're not worrying about the three up. It comes down to the other players who are directly involved in the play to be communicating with everybody else because you can only focus on one thing at a time so you need to have leaders all around the pitch and that's something we've been trying to find over the last two or three years, that core leadership within the team, because it is such a young team.
“I'm the sixth oldest in the team and I'm 27. We are a young team and we're trying to find new leaders. It's a perfect time for those boys to step up and communicate more.”
