NEFL | Conroy hoping that Glenmuir’s faith in youth is rewarded on Friday night
NEFL Fitzsimons Cup Final | Glenmuir v Torro United
Friday, June 1st — MDL Grounds, Navan — Kick-off: 7.45pm
Wayne Conroy’s young guns head to the MDL Grounds on Friday night looking to make another mockery of Alan Hansen’s infamous claim that ’you can’t win anything with kids’ and end the club’s nine-year wait for a senior trophy.
The Blues take on Torro United in the Fitzsimons Cup final hoping to complete a unique treble of beating each of the three teams that were promoted from the third tier Two.
Division Two champions Albion Rovers and runners-up Hazel Lane United have already fallen by the wayside and Conroy is confident his players have what it takes to claim another scalp and land a trophy.
“I thought Albion in the quarter-final might have been a game too much for us,” he told Dundalk Sport. “They had just won Division Two and went 3–0 up but the lads showed some attitude and commitment to get ourselves back in the game with 15 minutes to go.
“To go out then and beat Hazel Lane in the semi-final gave us real belief but, in fairness, we’ve a very good dressing room,” he continued. “Nobody has a bad word to say about each other and there’s nobody giving out when they aren’t in the team. Everybody knows each other and they get on really well with each other. You can’t ask for much more than that as a manager.”
Friday night will be Glenmuir’s first participation in a showpiece NEFL match since 2009 but taking part in cup finals and league deciders was something of the norm at Hoey’s Lane a decade ago.
Premier Division runners-up in 2004, Glenmuir went one better four years later when Alan Clarke’s side finished ahead of Rock Celtic to win their first league title.
The Blues added the Tully Bookmakers Cup to the trophy cabinet in 2009 when they beat Trim Celtic at United Park but few would have predicted it would be the last time a senior trophy would reside at Glenmuir Park.
“It’s hard to believe that some of the lads on our team would have only been eight or nine when Glenmuir were last in a cup final,” remarked Conroy.
With the emphasis solely on first-team results, things started to unravel when Clarke and a host of ‘galacticos’ left the club for pastures new and with nobody emerging through the underage set-up, the club went into free fall and eventually dropped out of the league altogether following relegation from the top flight in 2011.
“I was at Woodview when that Glenmuir team fell apart and players were moving to the likes of Quay, Bellurgan and the Rock,” recalled Conroy. “The club had a very tough spell for a while following that.”
After a season in the NEFL Youth League, Glenmuir returned to the senior set-up in 2016 with a new approach focussed on blooding youngsters who came through their schoolboys ranks.
Under the guidance of Mark Sheils, a team of players who won the Youth League and Cup double finished in third place in Division Four which was enough to see them regraded to Division Three at the start of this season.
“Glenmuir deserve huge credit for starting again and taking all of these young lads into the set-up and the hard work from over the years is starting to pay-off now,” said Conroy.
“Five or six of the lads on our team were part of Mark’s side that won the double in 2016,” he added. “They got a real taste for it when they played in that youth league and it was a great experience for them.”
Glenmuir’s preparations for Friday night have been far from ideal. In contrast to Torro, who beat Virginia in the semi-final last Sunday, their last competitive game was five weeks ago but friendlies against the club’s U19 side and Doolargy Over-35s have kept them ticking over.
Conroy will have to plan without the services of Dundalk Gaels’ duo Eamonn Kenny and David McComish while youngster Luke Murray will also miss out as he is on holidays.
“I feel really sorry for Luke because he was phenomenal in the semi-final against Hazel Lane,” said Conroy, ”but I definitely think we have enough in the squad to do it.
“We’ve nothing to lose,” he added. There is real support around the club from the likes of Kevin McArdle, Vincey Duffy, Mark Sheils and Ciaran Caldwell. The club are running a bus to the game and there’s food and stuff in the Malt House after it so there’s a real buzz about the place.”
Winning the cup would cap a remarkable turnaround for the club — and Conroy himself.
A disastrous start to the campaign saw Glenmuir lose their opening eight matches but Conroy, who also endured a miserable spell at Bellurgan, steadied the ship when he arrived to take over from Kevin McArdle before Christmas and he is hoping to finish the season with a real flourish on Friday night.
“When I left Bellurgan I didn’t think I’d be in a cup final at the end of the season,” he conceded. “I’d be lying if I said I did and after losing the first eight games, staying up was the main ambition.
“I think, though, that when you put hard work into something, it pays off. Even if it takes a bit of time,” he added. “This is the club’s first cup final in nine years but I really think it’s just the start of things to come.
“I said when I joined the club that I was hoping to bring the glory days back to Glenmuir and that’s my aim,” he finished. “After I left Bellurgan, Kevin McArdle gave me a ring and Glenmuir gave me a second chance so I really want to win this cup for them and we’ll certainly give it our best shot on Friday night.”
