The fog never budged all day, but neither did Glen. At the end of a murky evening in the Marshes, the only clarity was that Glen were back in an All-Ireland club senior football final.
The Derry champions, beaten in last year’s decider by Kilmacud Crokes, will face St Brigid’s in this season’s showdown at Croke Park on January 21st after the Roscommon side battled out a 1-11 to 0-10 victory over Castlehaven in Thurles.
Still, the story of the day was difficult to see as it unfolded. After waiting 12 months for a rematch between Glen and Crokes, the game took place under a grey blanket of fog at Páirc Esler in Newry.
Kilmacud’s All-Ireland defence ended on a day resembling something borrowed from some hazy 1980s TV footage of a Cup Winners’ Cup tie from eastern Europe as Red Star Belgrade travelled to face Steaua Bucharest or CSKA Sofia.
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It was impossible for spectators to see what was happening at the far side of the pitch in Newry on Sunday. Shane Walsh’s injury-time goal caused confusion around the ground as many had not seen the ball hit the back of the net. It bordered on farcical.
There were several short power outages of lights in the stand and in the press box, while the big screen went on the blink occasionally throughout the match. It all combined to provide an eerie and almost surreal All-Ireland semi-final experience.
The debate on whether the match should have gone ahead won’t change the outcome now. And heaven knows, of all fixtures this one has had its fill of debates.
If Crokes were the better team last January, then Glen were the better team this January. Perhaps it was fitting the last course in one of the messiest sagas in modern club Gaelic football should be served up in a bowl of fog.
There were times you couldn’t see the ball up the far end. It was difficult but it was the same for both teams
— Michael Warnock
“You were looking up the pitch wondering what side the ball was coming,” admitted Glen defender Michael Warnock afterwards.
“There were times you couldn’t see the ball up the far end. It was difficult but it was the same for both teams, you just had to get on with it.”
Several GAA fixtures fell foul of the heavy fog sitting across much of the country on Sunday – including the Munster SHL clash between Cork and Limerick, the Walsh Cup matches involving Carlow versus Kilkenny and Westmeath against Antrim. The Offaly-Galway match did go ahead but was called off after 55 minutes as conditions deteriorated.
Visibility at Páirc Esler also faded as the game progressed but at no stage were there any indications the contest would be stopped.
Kilmacud Crokes manager Robbie Brennan it would not have gone ahead in other circumstances but was keen not to use the conditions as the reason for his side’s disappointing performance.
“I thought it was bananas to be honest, but the same for Glen, you have to take your hats off to them,” he said.
“But if that was round two of a local championship, it wouldn’t go ahead. You couldn’t see what was happening in the far corner, we could have turned it over and won the ball and you wouldn’t have known. But it was the same for Glen, I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses, they were far the better team on the day.
“We could have stolen it (at the end). One dropped short, but to be honest it would have been robbery. They were by far the better team.”
Both managers said there had been no discussions with referee Conor Lane about the possibility of the game getting pulled.
“No, it was never really mentioned to us, to be honest,” said Glen manager Malachy O’Rourke. “Nobody said anything to us, we took it the game was going ahead.
“It was (hard to see), to be honest, I couldn’t really see what was going on down in the bottom corner, the visibility was very poor.
“I suppose it was on the edge whether the game should have really been played or whatever, look we were just in the mindset that if it went ahead we were going to play it and give it all we had. It wasn’t perfect by any means but I suppose we are happy now.”
For St Brigid’s manager Jerome Stack, happiness wasn’t the chief emotion after his side got over Castlehaven to book their place in the final at Croke Park.
“Relief,” he said. “Absolutely delighted for the players and delighted for the club and everybody involved with it.
“We’ve got there and we’ll be facing what is in most people’s eyes an impossible task, I don’t see it as anything like that, I see it as another challenge that we’ll go after. And once we prepare properly and bring our best, we’ll take whatever happens on the day.”
Back up in Newry, O’Rourke was asked about the fallout from last year’s meeting with Crokes and how much that controversial All-Ireland final played in the build-up to this semi-final.
“We weren’t really looking at it like that at all,” he said. “We have parked last year’s game a long time ago, we just wanted to get a really good performance.
“We felt last year we gave them a little too much space to play and the Newry field isn’t as big so we felt that would help as well.
“It was just a case of being disciplined at the back and working really hard and then it was about being better in possession as well.”
Crokes end the season as three-in-a-row Dublin and Leinster champions, but back-to-back All-Ireland titles has proved to a hurdle too many. Almost inevitably their defence ended at the hands of Glen.
“If we were to lose to anyone this year, and people mightn’t agree or believe me, but I was glad it was them after all that happened last year,” said the Kilmacud manager.
“They deserve their shot at it now and I hope they go on and win it.”
From the fog of war came a line in the sand for Crokes and Glen. Clarity, of sorts.
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