Malachy O’Rourke feels Glen’s Ulster final victory over last season's champions Kilcoo instilled a belief in his charges that they could compete with the best teams in Ireland.
The Maghera men are now just 60 minutes away from emulating the achievements of the Down side after defeating Moycullen 1-11 to 0-12 in Sunday’s All-Ireland Club SFC semi-final at Croke Park.
Wing-back Tiarnan Flannagan netted the vital goal at the start of the second half, but Glen were the better team throughout a tense and absorbing contest.
Read more: Glen edge Moycullen to book their place in the All-Ireland Club Football final
“Kilcoo, we said before the game, are the standard-bearers,” said O’Rourke.
“Their record is second to none. They were in an All-Ireland final, came back to win Ulster and then the All-Ireland.
“So you can’t get much better than that. So we were judging ourselves off them.
"The fact that we came so close the year before and were then able to come back and beat them, no doubt it does help the confidence. We knew if we got our own game right, we wouldn’t be far away.”
He added: “(It is) relief as much as anything. We were in a good position and maybe through our own fault a lot as well, we made a couple of mistakes and let them back into it.
“Everytime we sort of got a wee bit of daylight, we sort of let them come back down and get a score back at the other end.
“I did think there were a few frees maybe, they were getting the frees easier than us but maybe that's, you sort of look at it like that. I am just delighted with the character of the boys, we went to the very end and I think we deserved the win.”
Glen were beaten by Kilcoo after extra-time in last season’s Ulster semi-final and their opponents on Sunday, January 22 also suffered a painful loss to the Magpies last term.
Kilmacud Crokes looked set to be crowned 2022 All-Ireland Club champions before Jerome Johnston’s dramatic goal at the end of extra-time in Croke Park last February.
The Dublin outfit held off the challenge of Kerins O’Rahilly’s in Sunday’s opening semi-final and the adage that you’ve got to lose one before you win one was to the forefront of O’Rourke’s mind when he addressed the media following his side’s win over Moycullen.
“Probably history does show that it is an advantage in that a lot of teams that are beat, come back and win it the next year,” stated O’Rourke.
“And Kilmacud, I suppose, will feel that they could have won it last year.
“They have an awful lot of quality on the field. They also have an awful lot of experience playing in Croke Park.
“They have played a lot of their games there, so they have a lot of advantages in their favour.
“But that’s another part of the challenge. There’s nothing we can do about that. We can only do our own side of things right and see where that takes us.”
Read next:
- Rodney Kerr hails Brídíní Óga heroics after All-Ireland Camogie victory
- Former Kilcoo boss Conleith Gilligan set for new role with Tyrone club
Donegal players must step up following Michael Murphy retirement says Paddy Carr
Recap as Armagh begin Dr McKenna Cup with facile victory over Antrim
Division Three teams all chasing Sam Maguire Cup slot says Down selector
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.
