Malachy O’Rourke’s right-hand-man Ryan Porter won’t be allowed on the sideline for Glen’s upcoming All-Ireland club final against Kilmacud Crokes.
Barring a successful appeal, that is. Referee David Gough confirmed to SportsJOE that the reason Porter was shown a red card in the 25th minute of the semi-final was abusive language.
There had been some speculation that a stray ball was thrown onto the pitch in a bid to halt Maigh Cuilinn momentum, and that this was the reason Porter was sent off, but it has turned out that this wasn’t the case.
Porter, the strength and conditioning coach and long-time assistant of O’Rourke’s, spent the rest of the game in the stands and that’s what he’ll have to do in a fortnight’s time too.
O’Rourke and Porter have been joined at the hip for the guts of the last decade, winning two Ulster titles with Monaghan in 2013 and 2015 before taking on their roles with the Glen.
“I’m not too sure,” O’Rourke said after the game when quizzed about Porter’s dismissal.
“One of the frees, maybe something was said to one of the linesmen, I didn’t hear exactly what was said,” he added.
“He (the linesman) must have told David Gough and, he (Ryan Porter) was sent off or whatever.
“I thought it was innocuous enough. It was in the heat of the moment, but that was the decision they came to.”
Glen went onto overcome Maigh Cuilinn without Porter’s guidance. Emmett Bradley was undoubtedly the star turn for them, bossing the game from midfield, while Danny Tallon and the galloping gazelle that is Ethan Doherty also impressed in the 1-11 to 0-11 win.
“Relief as much as anything,” said O’Rourke.
“Maybe through our own fault, we let them back into it, every time we got a bit of daylight, we let them come back down and get a score. I did think they were getting frees easier than us, but maybe you look at it like that, but look, delighted with the character the boys showed.”
Despite a few colds, flus and niggly injuries, it was clear from their lightning start that O’Rourke and Porter had Glen primed.
“Other years, you could take a break (at Christmas), because the next game wasn’t until February. Whereas this year, we knew it was this date so it was a matter of having a few days celebrating, then back into training.
“The biggest problem, as it was in society in general, was all the flus and colds going around and we were hit with that too. And a couple of niggly injuries too. At this stage, they’re not going to get that much fitter, so it’s about managing them and keeping them fresh.”
Looking ahead to the final, O’Rourke says Kilmacud will have a slight advantage on the basis that they made it to this stage last year.
“They have an awful lot of quality on the field,” he stressed. “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.
“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. And Kilmacud, I suppose, will feel that they could have won it last year.”
Sunday January 22.
There we have it ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/vH5C0dA6LS
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) January 8, 2023
Glen
Connlan Bradley, Cathal Mulholland (0-1), Ryan Dougan, Conor Carville, Tiarnan Flannagan (1-0), Michael Warnock (0-1), Eunan Mulholland, Conor Glass (0-1), Emmet Bradley (0-3, 0-1 f), Ethan Doherty (0-2), Jack Doherty , Conor Convery, Alex Doherty, Danny Tallon (0-3, 0-1f), Conleth McGuckian.
Subs: Cahir McCabe for Conor Convery (37), Stevie O’Hara for Alex Doherty (52)
Moycullen
Andrew Power, Conor Corcoran, Eoghan Kelly, Neil Mulcahy, Aidan Claffey, David Wynne, Tom Clarke, Gerard Davoren, Paul Kelly, Seán Kelly, Niall Walsh (0-1), Peter Cooke (0-2), Michéal O’Reilly, Owen Gallagher (0-1), Dessie Conneely (0-7f)
Subs: Fionn McDonagh for Niall Walsh (52), Conor Bohan for Paul Kelly (57) Daniel Cox for Micheal O’Reilly (58)
