Derry's Conor Glass admits that the All-Ireland Club SFC final between Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) and Glen (Derry), which ended in controversial circumstances this year, should have been replayed.
Crokes won the game 1-11 to 1-9 and secured the Andy Merrigan Cup last spring. However, this wasn't the end of it.
The game was left with a sour taste as it was found that Kilmacud finished the game with 16 players, one more than the standard 15.
At a meeting today the C.C.C.C formally awarded the 2023 AIB All Ireland Club Football Championship to @KCrokesGAAClub. #GAABelong
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 9, 2023
With Glen looking to score in the dying seconds in the Croke Park final on 22 January, Kilmacud made two substitutions. But video showed Dara Mullin, one of the players substituted off, defending his goal line as Glen prepared to take a 45.
And 17 Kilmacud players appeared on the pitch during the last play as Paul Mannion slowly walked towards the dugout area after being substituted.
An official objection was sent by Glen to the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee [CCCC (Central Competitions Control Committee)].
Soon after, a replay had been ordered by GAA's CCCC to play the game again. Crokes went to the Central Appeals Committee to appeal against the replay and were finally awarded the win after a long drawn-out battle.
A statement from the GAA stated that 'no deliberate action and that no fault was attributed to Kilmacud Crokes for the situation they found themselves in'.
Glass, who played for Glen that day, was speaking at an event at Croke Park and went on to say that he wanted to replay the game, but as time went on, the eagerness started to wane. “I wanted the replay.
“When I was on the bus on the way home, I wanted the replay, 100%, and the rest of the team was like that," said Glass at the RS Recruitment GAA World Games launch at Croke Park.
"The management was like that, the whole club was like that, but the more it dragged on, the more it started to fade off. Emmett Bradley was getting married three weeks later, boys had holidays planned, so the longer it went on, the less emotional I was about it, and I was happy enough to move on then. But 10 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours after the game, albeit I was drinking, but I wanted a replay.”
Despite wanting a replay, Glass also admitted that any sort of medal won by Crokes or Glen is and would have been 'tarnished' going forward.
“They broke the rules. The rules are there for a reason, and if you break them and we’re entitled to a replay, so be it," he added.
"If they had beaten us the second day, we would have accepted that as well, but the rules are there for a reason.” And while accepting that had they won a rematch, the All-Ireland medal would be devalued, he says that that is the case with Kilmacud’s victory in any event.
“Well, it’s tarnished now. There’s an asterisk over it either way. So if we had won it, we would have accepted it, but it would have been tarnished. There would have been an asterisk either way. There’s an asterisk over it now, and there’d be an asterisk over it if we had won (the replay)," he added,
“Everyone was let down” by the manner in which the GAA handled the affair.
“It was emotionally taxing alright. It wasn’t ideal circumstances for both teams. Everyone probably thinks that we were harshly done by, but the whole circumstance, Kilmacud suffered from it, and we did.
“Any of the teams weren’t going to win from it. The GAA probably should have come out, whether it be 24 hours after it, and said what the result of the game’s going to be and what’s the way forward. The way it dragged on wasn’t ideal.”
Up next for Derry is Monaghan in the Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship semi-final this Saturday.
‘I wanted a replay’ – Glen star Conor Glass says Kilmacud Crokes’ All-Ireland title win is ‘tarnished’https://t.co/N1Vns2smd6
— Independent Sport (@IndoSport) April 26, 2023
