Glen 2-10 St Brigid's 1-12: 'Redemption for Glass as Glen join the greats with first All-Ireland win'

Last year, as Kilmacud Crokes basked in a dramatic and hugely controversial All-Ireland win, the pain etched on Conor Glass' face was undeniable.

Not only did he struggle on the biggest day in Glen's history - like many of his team-mates - but he was denied a match-winning injury-time goal by Crokes keeper Conor Ferris, rubbing salt in his wounds.

A talisman for Derry and Glen since returning from Australia, Glass had come up short when the biggest moment fell to him.

It has bothered him for a year.

All the way through another successful inter-county campaign with Derry, which yielded a second straight Ulster title, Glass craved another big, potentially match-swinging moment with Glen at Croke Park.

It arrived 57 minutes into a gripping All-Ireland final against St Brigid's.

For long spells on a wet and windy afternoon at the GAA's headquarters, the Roscommon and Connacht champions had bewildered the favourites.

• Win inspired by last year's controversy - O'Rourke

They were rapid in transition, took their scores and denied Glen chances. And with Cathal Mulholland having been black-carded a few minutes prior, Glen needed their big personalities to step up - and Glass answered the call.

With the clock running down, Glen trailed by three when another chance fell Glass' way. This time, he delivered in spectacular fashion, expunging the anguish of last year's miss with a powerful swing of his right boot.

Collecting a quickly taken free by Conleth McGuickian, Glass shrugged off Conor Hand, looked up to see St Brigid's keeper Cormac Sheehy well off his line and decided to go for it, blasting the ball past the scrambling Sheehy to breathe new life into Glen's challenge.

"It's one of those moment that you play on instinct," Glass said of his goal, Glen's second which levelled the score at 2-8 to 1-11.

"I was free and Conleth was able to find me with the pass, it was a difficult pass to find and I played it on instinct. That's what you have to do on those occasions."

"A lot," Glass added when asked how much he had thought about last year.

"I said to myself 'if I ever get that occasion again, I'm just going to put my foot through it'.

"If it comes off it comes off, if it doesn't at least I went for it. It was a weird one that I found myself on the end of it after what happened last year."

For Glen, last year can now be forgotten. They exacted revenge on Kilmacud in this season's semi-final and somehow completed the job despite operating well below their maximum against a St Brigid's side inspired, in the first half at least, by all-action Roscommon forward Ben O'Carroll.

While Jody McDermott's smash-and-grab goal allowed Glen to go in level at the break, St Brigid's quickly regained control in the second half with a brilliant 1-1 from Brian Derwin.

With several Glen shots going awry and St Brigid's moving four points clear in the 54th minute thanks to a fine Eddie Nolan score, it looked as though the men from Maghera were on course for an equally gut-wrenching sequel to last year's loss.

But after a Michael Warnock point, Glass' goal and injury-time scores from Emmett Bradley and McGuckian, Glen found themselves two ahead, hanging on in a nerve-shredding denouement after Shane Cunnane sent his last-gasp free wide.

"After they went four points up and we got the black card, I thought we were done and buried," admitted 2022 All-Star Glass, who has also won three Derry titles, two Ulster club crowns and two Ulster Championships with Derry since returning from Australia.

"Between the 50th minute and 60th minute, that 10-minute spell just went by like that and there were multiple times when I thought the game was done and buried.

"The point Michael Warnock got to bring it back to a one-score game was absolutely huge. Our shot selection all day was absolutely terrible, but we just got on with it. Short-term memory.

"Forget about those misses and focus on what we can control and what we could control was the next kick-out, the next attack.

"It shows the character this team has.

"I definitely questioned it over the last 12 months, would we ever get there, especially with Derry as well. Although I didn't say that, those thoughts go through your mind 100%."

Glen have now won three Derry titles, two Ulster crowns and an All-Ireland within five years of their first appearance in a senior county final

In addition to wrapping up Glass' quest for redemption, Sunday's victory caps Glen's remarkable rise to the top.

Before 2021, they had never won a Derry title. Before 2019, they'd never even graced a county final.

Now, though, they have firmly established themselves as the dominant force in Derry and Ulster and can rightfully claim to be the best club in Ireland, completing an unprecedented clean sweep of All-Ireland club titles for Ulster after Arva and Cullyhanna's triumphs at the Junior and Intermediate grades.

They have been guided masterfully in this journey by Malachy O'Rourke, a manager of vast experience and acumen who took a good team and transformed them into serial winners.

O'Rourke has been linked with a return to inter-county management over the past year. He chose to stay with Glen and oversee their quest to return to the All-Ireland final.

He made the right call, but as he sat back in his chair in the media room of Croke Park on Sunday evening, he was quick to direct all praise on to the players.

"The joy I get out of it, as I've said before, my life's not going to change much whether I win an All-Ireland or not," said O'Rourke, who led Monaghan to two Ulster titles and The Loup - another Derry club - to provincial success in 2003.

"The joy I get out of it is seeing the boys growing as a group of players and developing, that hunger and will to improve and to test themselves at the highest level of club football.

"In fairness to the club, there wouldn't have been silverware for a long time but they put in great facilities and everything else. When these lads came through, the infrastructure was there.

"The amount of work that was done at under-age level with the boys has also had a massive impact on what happened today."