It’s Mother’s Day 2013 and Cathal Glass is seated in the Oakleaf Restaurant at the foot of the picturesque Glenshane Pass. He is browsing the menu; pondering what to order. Raising, looking after and feeding three strapping sons entails a busy schedule. Not today. It’s time for some quality, family Sunday time and his wife Clare is being treated to dinner.
Shea, Conor and Cathair Glass are sat around the table but soon the tone of the conversation changes. Conor Glass’ life is about to take an unexpected but exciting change of direction.
Two days earlier an email dropped in his father’s inbox. He had never heard of Mark McKenzie before but as he read down through the mail, the pieces began to come together.
McKenzie was a Recruitment Manager for Melbourne based AFL club Hawthorn and his son’s progress, skill and athleticism was raising a few eyebrows down under.
For now he kept it a secret from his son who was preparing for a Hogan Semi Final the following day in Brewster Park against St Gerald’s Castlebar.
Glass Junior needed his game face on and being a two-time Sigerson winner, his father ‘s decision to keep stum was an informed one and correct one.
Playing at wing back, the versatile fifteen year old Glass scored two goals in a man of the match performance.
He may have only been a fourth year pupil but Martin McConnell and Sean Marty Lockhart entrusted him with an attacking role and knew he had the game intelligence to fit the bill.
Seated in the Oakleaf, Glass was only there in body. With the steaks ordered, his father Cathal has broke the news of the Hawthorn contact. The butterflies are going ten to the dozen in his stomach, young Glass was moving his dinner around the plate.
His mind was miles away, it was working overtime and was doing somersaults. Is this real? A natural athlete, fanatical about sport and the dream of being a professional sportsperson was his lifelong ambition.
He had an early experience of AFL players but it’s didn’t make much of an impression on Glass. “Glen took us on a trip one year [to the compromise rules] down to Croke Park. It was a very violent match, just fighting flat out. They didn’t focus on the football too much.”
In his early teenage years he was scouring the internet looking for clips of the AFL. He was taken in by the ‘big hits’ and the ‘big catches’ and ironically it was the brown and gold of Hawthorn that featured heavily among them. The first sign their paths would cross, perhaps.
If the opportunity was to present itself the Glen, Derry and St Patrick’s Maghera star was in no doubt. He was going. It was as simple as that.
We caught up with Glass last weekend in Glen gym. The U16s and Minors have finished their session and the ladies keep fit group have just started. It is a hub of activity.
We quiz him about his decision to sign the contract. Was it a decision you ever thought of turning down?
“I never thought about turning it down at all. It’s not a big decision, not at fifteen years of age. All you want to do is be a professional footballer and I just can’t wait to get over at the start of July.”
For such a young man, he definitely knows what he wants.
Where do you see yourself in ten years? “Hopefully still playing, it just depends on how it goes. Hopefully playing for the next ten years and come back and win a senior championship with Glen after that.”
Initially, like countless other ambitious teenagers, his dream was of a life in professional soccer. Playing up front with fellow Glen man and close friend Tiarnan Flanigan, the ‘little and large’ partnership powered Draperstown Celtic to the U16 Foyle Cup Final but they lost in the decider to a Donegal Select team.
No scouts came calling and the soccer was put on the back burner as GAA took full control in Glen’s underage revolution. When the duo teamed up in the red and white of Derry, Flanigan played an important role in what Glass classes as his career highlight so far.
His goal just before half time was the key score as Derry won the first Ulster title in thirteen years. “It’s the bunch of boys we have in Derry at the minute. Damian McErlain led us and he put a lot of work and tactics into beating Donegal and it set us up to beat Cavan.”
“My highlight would be Derry winning the Ulster, just captaining it, the crowd and the buzz. I want to replicate it.”
It is not surprising that Glass has had such an amazing underage career. He is a natural athlete with Derry and Ulster Cross country medals. His mother Claire McIlhatton played camogie for Loughgiel and her brothers wore the Shamrock’s jersey with great distinction.
Glass’ earliest sporting memory involves his father. “Going down to the pitch with my dad, kicking about, learning the basis skills. It kinda went on from there, kicking about the house and up against the wall or on the roof. ”
He confesses to breaking a few tiles or windows but it was all par for the course, perhaps that’s where his interest in architecture comes in. Perhaps he’ll design his own house with a ‘windowless’ gable wall. We’ll see!
Glen spent four successful winters trudging through the Shaw’s Road in Belfast, the home of St Paul’s. It was fitting that his first GAA memory involved a trip up the M2, this time Eddie Doherty was the man in charge.
“My first good memory of Glen underage would have been at U10 and playing in the Carryduff Cup. We went on to win it and it was a great day out.”
Why were Glen successful? “It was just the bunch of players we had and we needed somebody to lead us. Along came Enda [Gormley], Fergal P [McCusker], Stevie [Murtagh], big Damian [McCusker] and all those boys. It took the right management.”
When St Patrick’s Maghera powered their way to the Hogan Cup title in 2013 it was classed by many as the perfect footballing performance. The foot passing and scoretaking was straight out of the top drawer.
With Mark McKenzie’s Hawthorn colleagues scouring the underage talent on show and four minutes to half time a flame haired left half-back came forward and curled over Maghera’s ninth point into the Railway goal in Croke Park. Conor Glass would have another tick beside his name.
It’s a day he won’t forget in a hurry. “Winning in Croke Park at fifteen years of age, in a Hogan Cup is something you’d dream about. You can’t describe it.”
The two goals against Castlebar in the semi-final put him on the map in terms of college football. Drafted in late in the season he made his debut in the MacRory Quarter final against Enniskillen but was soon to be a permanent fixture from that moment on.
“I started the semi final against Colman’s when Conor Carville got sick the night before. I didn’t have a clue I was going to start and Marty McConnell just told me in the warmup. I was going in to do a ‘man marking job’ on one of their best players. I was in at the deep end.”
He didn’t have time to think too much about it but his mentors had every faith in him. From then onwards Glass was starting to blossom on the big stage.
Resilience is going to be a welcome comrade for Glass when he travels down under but it has been something he was been developing year on year. After beating Bessbrook to land the MacRory Cup, Glass was the victim of an abusive twitter campaign from South Armagh.
He kept his head down. It has been something he has been used to and Glass tends to just focus on the football. Professional sporting clubs spending money need to be sure they have an asset and not a liability. Attitude is one of the first things they look for.
“They [Hawks] research the person more that the athlete. When they met me they talked to me to see what sort of person I was. They don’t really want a cocky boy or anyone like that, it’s all about attitude.”
“The recruiters were at the Hogan Final and they commented that for a fifteen year old I held myself well, my attitude to the game was perfect. My Dad has helped me with this, he’d be the main one."
"As a young child I’d have lost the head maybe in primary school, would have threw off the gloves and stormed off the pitch. I’ve been learning each year and trying to build up a good attitude."
In the weeks and months that followed, the Hawthorn link was kept open with phone calls and emails exchanged but then things got more serious. Cathal and Conor Glass were invited to meet with two recruiters at the Glenavon Hotel.
“We just talked about AFL and about Gaelic, just a friendly chat and a bite to eat. They showed me how to kick the oval ball. The first time I kicked an AFL ball was on a wee grassy patch out in front of the Glenavon. Maybe not the best place to start but you need to start somewhere.”
Very few people would know about that meeting and that the wheels were in motion. Very little was said, Glass let a few of his close friends in on his secret. He also sought advice from a couple of men who had stood in his shoes.
“I got advice from Dermot McNicholl, I had a couple of kickabouts with him down at Glen pitch. I made contact with Chrissy [McKaigue] to see what path to go. They’ve given me tips and helped me through it.”
Glass has signed on a two-year deal and will depart almost immediately after his A Levels. “As soon as my last exam is finished, I’ll leave probably the week after.”
The rest of his classmates will be knuckling down to study for their exams and the pressure of getting the grades to meet their all important UCAS requirements. For Glass, there isn’t the same pressure!
His motivation will come from within and with sound advice from home he is forgetting about his new adventure for now. The focus is on his education! It is easy carried and is an important vehicle on life’s journey. A professional sporting career can be shortened and long term injury needs to be factored in.
“My family keep me going. They say ‘just forget everything about the Aussie Rules, you already have that’ and they tell me to concentrate on this year [A Levels]. This is for life after football. Your football could last two days or twenty years.”
When he isn’t playing MacRory football or for Glen U21’s Glass is keeping his ‘head down’ and gets his homework done. During our chat, he highlights the importance of staying busy and being organised but was also full of praise for his teachers.
“I want to do something in architecture or design and I love drawing. I am doing Maths, PE, Construction and IT at the minute so I’m really keeping my options open. Hawthorn are putting me through a university course. I can start it while I’m playing.”
The Glen man’s move to the Hawks really was written in the stars. It was meant to be. “I have family out there. My Dad’s first cousins are out there and they support Hawthorn as well.”
“I was also at a BBQ at Liam Shiels’ house.” Twenty four year old Shiels is a three time premiership player with the Hawks. His father and mother are from Fanad Head in Donegal and he has connected with Glass already.
Blood, [well Irish blood anyway] is thicker than water and Shiels will be a terrific confidant for Glass as he finds his feet. His door is always open.
As our conversation reaches a conclusion we talk about going from being an elite footballer here in Ireland to going over to the AFL. For want of another term, the Glen man will be an average Joe in the Hawthorn roster.
Herein lies the challenge. It is one he accepts and is excited by. “I’ve built myself up as an elite footballer so I want to establish myself as an AFL footballer. I’ll be playing half back at the start of my career because the way I can play behind the ball and read the game.”
Glass talks about his GAA career and the weight of expectation he felt going into games. He is targeted by opponents and their game plans. Abbey didn’t kick the ball near him in the MacRory recently and Omagh’s instruction was to ‘wrap him up’ and surround him when possession.
When he touches down in Melbourne this July, Glass is starting on a level playing field “It takes pressure off me. In Gaelic I’ve been under a lot of pressure trying to perform to my best in each game. But I can’t wait to get started over there.”
“I have an international rookie contract. It last two years and it includes flights back to Ireland, so they’re really looking after me with return flights back home for my family.”
“After the two years are up, I want to get a contract extension and stay as long as I can really.”
I was talking to Hawthorn assistant coach Damian Carroll about Glass. They were very impressed with him and in particular his kicking. The Glen man will have plenty of challenges ahead but having the fundamentals of kicking already in his locker will be head start.
On the treadmill behind us Glen stalwart Mickey McKeefry senior is in for his constitutional. His grandson Connor Carville was the man who inadvertently through illness provided Glass with his MacRory debut.
Callum Mullan-Young has kicked countless kickouts in his direction over the years. JD [Jack Doherty] has played ‘one-twos’ with him over the years on pitches across Derry and Ulster. These are his peers.
He never once thought of passing up Mark McKenzie’s opportunity but once he puts his pen down in the St Patrick’s Maghera exam hall this June, Glass will have to say goodbye to Glen.
How hard is it going to be to jump on that plane?
“It’s leaving my friends and family behind. Glen is always going to be here when I come back. Ten years isn’t going to make much of a difference, I might miss out on a John McLaughlin or few but hopefully I can get one when I come back.”
It’s all in front of him, a terrific opportunity. For now it’s all about books, A-Levels, St Pat’s back pitch, then MacRory Cup and also Glen U21s.
When he arrives in the Hawthorn East suburb of Melbourne his host family will look after him. Hawthorn teammate Liam Shiels will be there to take him in under his wing.
Glass also confesses that he will be starting cookery classes. It’s all about survival. One class he didn’t sign up to was Paul Gunning’s Irish dancing academy. If the flame haired Glen man is lucky enough to end up on the Premiership winner’s podium, he won’t be following in Tadhg Kennelly’s footsteps.
That’s a long way away but dreams are very important. If you have nothing to aspire to then you cannot create that inner drive. Glass is looking forward to making the first step and knows despite the support structures, he is very much on his own.
“I have to do stuff for myself. I’ll be disciplined, self motivated and focus on myself. Hopefully it’ll be a good journey!”
Shea, Conor and Cathair Glass are sat around the table but soon the tone of the conversation changes. Conor Glass’ life is about to take an unexpected but exciting change of direction.
Two days earlier an email dropped in his father’s inbox. He had never heard of Mark McKenzie before but as he read down through the mail, the pieces began to come together.
McKenzie was a Recruitment Manager for Melbourne based AFL club Hawthorn and his son’s progress, skill and athleticism was raising a few eyebrows down under.
For now he kept it a secret from his son who was preparing for a Hogan Semi Final the following day in Brewster Park against St Gerald’s Castlebar.
Glass Junior needed his game face on and being a two-time Sigerson winner, his father ‘s decision to keep stum was an informed one and correct one.
Playing at wing back, the versatile fifteen year old Glass scored two goals in a man of the match performance.
He may have only been a fourth year pupil but Martin McConnell and Sean Marty Lockhart entrusted him with an attacking role and knew he had the game intelligence to fit the bill.
Seated in the Oakleaf, Glass was only there in body. With the steaks ordered, his father Cathal has broke the news of the Hawthorn contact. The butterflies are going ten to the dozen in his stomach, young Glass was moving his dinner around the plate.
His mind was miles away, it was working overtime and was doing somersaults. Is this real? A natural athlete, fanatical about sport and the dream of being a professional sportsperson was his lifelong ambition.
He had an early experience of AFL players but it’s didn’t make much of an impression on Glass. “Glen took us on a trip one year [to the compromise rules] down to Croke Park. It was a very violent match, just fighting flat out. They didn’t focus on the football too much.”
In his early teenage years he was scouring the internet looking for clips of the AFL. He was taken in by the ‘big hits’ and the ‘big catches’ and ironically it was the brown and gold of Hawthorn that featured heavily among them. The first sign their paths would cross, perhaps.
If the opportunity was to present itself the Glen, Derry and St Patrick’s Maghera star was in no doubt. He was going. It was as simple as that.
We quiz him about his decision to sign the contract. Was it a decision you ever thought of turning down?
“I never thought about turning it down at all. It’s not a big decision, not at fifteen years of age. All you want to do is be a professional footballer and I just can’t wait to get over at the start of July.”
For such a young man, he definitely knows what he wants.
Where do you see yourself in ten years? “Hopefully still playing, it just depends on how it goes. Hopefully playing for the next ten years and come back and win a senior championship with Glen after that.”
Initially, like countless other ambitious teenagers, his dream was of a life in professional soccer. Playing up front with fellow Glen man and close friend Tiarnan Flanigan, the ‘little and large’ partnership powered Draperstown Celtic to the U16 Foyle Cup Final but they lost in the decider to a Donegal Select team.
No scouts came calling and the soccer was put on the back burner as GAA took full control in Glen’s underage revolution. When the duo teamed up in the red and white of Derry, Flanigan played an important role in what Glass classes as his career highlight so far.
His goal just before half time was the key score as Derry won the first Ulster title in thirteen years. “It’s the bunch of boys we have in Derry at the minute. Damian McErlain led us and he put a lot of work and tactics into beating Donegal and it set us up to beat Cavan.”
“My highlight would be Derry winning the Ulster, just captaining it, the crowd and the buzz. I want to replicate it.”
It is not surprising that Glass has had such an amazing underage career. He is a natural athlete with Derry and Ulster Cross country medals. His mother Claire McIlhatton played camogie for Loughgiel and her brothers wore the Shamrock’s jersey with great distinction.
Glass’ earliest sporting memory involves his father. “Going down to the pitch with my dad, kicking about, learning the basis skills. It kinda went on from there, kicking about the house and up against the wall or on the roof. ”
He confesses to breaking a few tiles or windows but it was all par for the course, perhaps that’s where his interest in architecture comes in. Perhaps he’ll design his own house with a ‘windowless’ gable wall. We’ll see!
Glen spent four successful winters trudging through the Shaw’s Road in Belfast, the home of St Paul’s. It was fitting that his first GAA memory involved a trip up the M2, this time Eddie Doherty was the man in charge.
“My first good memory of Glen underage would have been at U10 and playing in the Carryduff Cup. We went on to win it and it was a great day out.”
Why were Glen successful? “It was just the bunch of players we had and we needed somebody to lead us. Along came Enda [Gormley], Fergal P [McCusker], Stevie [Murtagh], big Damian [McCusker] and all those boys. It took the right management.”
When St Patrick’s Maghera powered their way to the Hogan Cup title in 2013 it was classed by many as the perfect footballing performance. The foot passing and scoretaking was straight out of the top drawer.
With Mark McKenzie’s Hawthorn colleagues scouring the underage talent on show and four minutes to half time a flame haired left half-back came forward and curled over Maghera’s ninth point into the Railway goal in Croke Park. Conor Glass would have another tick beside his name.
It’s a day he won’t forget in a hurry. “Winning in Croke Park at fifteen years of age, in a Hogan Cup is something you’d dream about. You can’t describe it.”
 |
| Pic from Margaret McLaughlin |
“I started the semi final against Colman’s when Conor Carville got sick the night before. I didn’t have a clue I was going to start and Marty McConnell just told me in the warmup. I was going in to do a ‘man marking job’ on one of their best players. I was in at the deep end.”
He didn’t have time to think too much about it but his mentors had every faith in him. From then onwards Glass was starting to blossom on the big stage.
Resilience is going to be a welcome comrade for Glass when he travels down under but it has been something he was been developing year on year. After beating Bessbrook to land the MacRory Cup, Glass was the victim of an abusive twitter campaign from South Armagh.
He kept his head down. It has been something he has been used to and Glass tends to just focus on the football. Professional sporting clubs spending money need to be sure they have an asset and not a liability. Attitude is one of the first things they look for.
“They [Hawks] research the person more that the athlete. When they met me they talked to me to see what sort of person I was. They don’t really want a cocky boy or anyone like that, it’s all about attitude.”
“The recruiters were at the Hogan Final and they commented that for a fifteen year old I held myself well, my attitude to the game was perfect. My Dad has helped me with this, he’d be the main one."
"As a young child I’d have lost the head maybe in primary school, would have threw off the gloves and stormed off the pitch. I’ve been learning each year and trying to build up a good attitude."
In the weeks and months that followed, the Hawthorn link was kept open with phone calls and emails exchanged but then things got more serious. Cathal and Conor Glass were invited to meet with two recruiters at the Glenavon Hotel.
“We just talked about AFL and about Gaelic, just a friendly chat and a bite to eat. They showed me how to kick the oval ball. The first time I kicked an AFL ball was on a wee grassy patch out in front of the Glenavon. Maybe not the best place to start but you need to start somewhere.”
Very few people would know about that meeting and that the wheels were in motion. Very little was said, Glass let a few of his close friends in on his secret. He also sought advice from a couple of men who had stood in his shoes.
“I got advice from Dermot McNicholl, I had a couple of kickabouts with him down at Glen pitch. I made contact with Chrissy [McKaigue] to see what path to go. They’ve given me tips and helped me through it.”
Glass has signed on a two-year deal and will depart almost immediately after his A Levels. “As soon as my last exam is finished, I’ll leave probably the week after.”
The rest of his classmates will be knuckling down to study for their exams and the pressure of getting the grades to meet their all important UCAS requirements. For Glass, there isn’t the same pressure!
His motivation will come from within and with sound advice from home he is forgetting about his new adventure for now. The focus is on his education! It is easy carried and is an important vehicle on life’s journey. A professional sporting career can be shortened and long term injury needs to be factored in.
“My family keep me going. They say ‘just forget everything about the Aussie Rules, you already have that’ and they tell me to concentrate on this year [A Levels]. This is for life after football. Your football could last two days or twenty years.”
When he isn’t playing MacRory football or for Glen U21’s Glass is keeping his ‘head down’ and gets his homework done. During our chat, he highlights the importance of staying busy and being organised but was also full of praise for his teachers.
“I want to do something in architecture or design and I love drawing. I am doing Maths, PE, Construction and IT at the minute so I’m really keeping my options open. Hawthorn are putting me through a university course. I can start it while I’m playing.”
The Glen man’s move to the Hawks really was written in the stars. It was meant to be. “I have family out there. My Dad’s first cousins are out there and they support Hawthorn as well.”
“I was also at a BBQ at Liam Shiels’ house.” Twenty four year old Shiels is a three time premiership player with the Hawks. His father and mother are from Fanad Head in Donegal and he has connected with Glass already.
Blood, [well Irish blood anyway] is thicker than water and Shiels will be a terrific confidant for Glass as he finds his feet. His door is always open.
As our conversation reaches a conclusion we talk about going from being an elite footballer here in Ireland to going over to the AFL. For want of another term, the Glen man will be an average Joe in the Hawthorn roster.
Herein lies the challenge. It is one he accepts and is excited by. “I’ve built myself up as an elite footballer so I want to establish myself as an AFL footballer. I’ll be playing half back at the start of my career because the way I can play behind the ball and read the game.”
Glass talks about his GAA career and the weight of expectation he felt going into games. He is targeted by opponents and their game plans. Abbey didn’t kick the ball near him in the MacRory recently and Omagh’s instruction was to ‘wrap him up’ and surround him when possession.
When he touches down in Melbourne this July, Glass is starting on a level playing field “It takes pressure off me. In Gaelic I’ve been under a lot of pressure trying to perform to my best in each game. But I can’t wait to get started over there.”
“I have an international rookie contract. It last two years and it includes flights back to Ireland, so they’re really looking after me with return flights back home for my family.”
“After the two years are up, I want to get a contract extension and stay as long as I can really.”
I was talking to Hawthorn assistant coach Damian Carroll about Glass. They were very impressed with him and in particular his kicking. The Glen man will have plenty of challenges ahead but having the fundamentals of kicking already in his locker will be head start.
On the treadmill behind us Glen stalwart Mickey McKeefry senior is in for his constitutional. His grandson Connor Carville was the man who inadvertently through illness provided Glass with his MacRory debut.
Callum Mullan-Young has kicked countless kickouts in his direction over the years. JD [Jack Doherty] has played ‘one-twos’ with him over the years on pitches across Derry and Ulster. These are his peers.
He never once thought of passing up Mark McKenzie’s opportunity but once he puts his pen down in the St Patrick’s Maghera exam hall this June, Glass will have to say goodbye to Glen.
How hard is it going to be to jump on that plane?
“It’s leaving my friends and family behind. Glen is always going to be here when I come back. Ten years isn’t going to make much of a difference, I might miss out on a John McLaughlin or few but hopefully I can get one when I come back.”
It’s all in front of him, a terrific opportunity. For now it’s all about books, A-Levels, St Pat’s back pitch, then MacRory Cup and also Glen U21s.
When he arrives in the Hawthorn East suburb of Melbourne his host family will look after him. Hawthorn teammate Liam Shiels will be there to take him in under his wing.
Glass also confesses that he will be starting cookery classes. It’s all about survival. One class he didn’t sign up to was Paul Gunning’s Irish dancing academy. If the flame haired Glen man is lucky enough to end up on the Premiership winner’s podium, he won’t be following in Tadhg Kennelly’s footsteps.
That’s a long way away but dreams are very important. If you have nothing to aspire to then you cannot create that inner drive. Glass is looking forward to making the first step and knows despite the support structures, he is very much on his own.
“I have to do stuff for myself. I’ll be disciplined, self motivated and focus on myself. Hopefully it’ll be a good journey!”
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