Daniel Duffy: Glen sweep aside Croke Park fear factor to book All-Ireland final place

It was the day Glen had waited a lifetime for, a first senior visit to Croke Park.

And was it worth the wait? Absolutely!

After defeating reigning all-Ireland champions Kilcoo to get their hands on the Seamus McFerran Cup, attention quickly turned to Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final clash with Galway champions Moycullen.

In a pulsating game, the men from Maghera duly delivered with a two point win with the help of Tiernan Flanagan’s second half goal.

On reflection, the ‘Wattys’ big players stood up, Emmett Bradley and Ethan Doherty in particular who of course are no strangers to Croke Park after their county exploits last year with Derry.

If anything personified Glen’s commitment to the cause it was Ryan Dougan’s first half block to deny MoyCullen a certain point.

Michael Warnock put in a fine showing a day after his thirtieth birthday while the effervescent Danny Tallon put in a player of the match performance.

Manager Malachy O’Rourke admitted it was a relief to have booked their place in the showpiece.

He said: "It's a massive thing, you know, the boys have worked really hard and as I said after the last game, last year was the first year we won the county title and then this year to come back and back that up to win Ulster and now into an All-Ireland final it's happened so fast.

"I'm just delighted for the boys and the club, and now we're looking forward to another big day out."

The Maghera faithful will head back to Croke Park for the biggest day in the club calendar, Kilmacud Crokes and Shane Walsh stand in their way, a daunting task but no doubt Sunday's win at GAA Headquarters will only have helped acclimatised the Ulster champions to their surroundings.

They’ve had all the answers so far this campaign, one final question remains in this year’s examination.

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