Glen Rovers squad depth to the fore in stars' absence

Glen Rovers have had to use their squad depth during the RedFM Hurling League Division 1 campaign, but they remain in the mix for a place in the final.

The Blackpool outfit have four players on the Cork senior panel. While county team captain Robert Downey, his brother Eoin and Patrick Horgan have naturally been off-limits for Tomás Mulcahy’s side, they have on occasion been able to call upon Micheál Mullins, who transferred from Whitechurch at the beginning of the year.

Overall, though, the absence of the star men has meant that others have had to step up for the Glen. That impetus has left them in a share of third place in the league table, two points off leaders Sarsfields, with two rounds of fixtures remaining.

Next up for the Glen is a trip to Carrigtwohill on Sunday evening and selector Graham Callanan is pleased with how the squad is evolving and developing.

“We have some very experienced players obviously, but when young fellas are coming in it brings a real energy. You can’t be depending on the same fellas all the time.

“The lads that have come in have shown great energy, great fight and, you know what, no shortage of skill either, to be fair.

“We're happy enough with all those young players, the way they’re going, their attitude is fantastic.

“To be honest, that's all you can ask for at the end of the day, so we’re happy.”

Last time out, the Glen staged a superb comeback to reel in Blackrock and claim a 3-20 to 2-20 win, with Dean Brosnan, Luke Horgan and Eoin O’Leary all scoring goals while Diarmuid Wall finished with eight points.

“Yeah, to be fair, I think we were very disappointed with the first half,” Callanan said.

“They just seemed to have the legs on us but we made one or two changes there at the start of the second half and they seemed to work and we got back into it.

“Obviously the goals counted for a lot and, to be fair, Dean Brosnan was excellent there coming down the stretch and I think fellas just realised what they had to do, they were in a game.

“In fairness, they woke up in the second half and got over the line, we were happy enough, obviously.

“We're on to lads all the time about showing character and, in fairness, that was a good example of it.

“Blackrock are as good a team as we're going to meet, they have some very good players, very physical players and we were very happy with the win in the end because it was a test on our character, it was a test on everything for us really, and we managed to get over the line.”

Another win this weekend would at worst have the Glen still in contention for a place in the top two going into the last round of fixtures. It would obviously be a nice way to be heading into the championship – having bounced back to premier senior at the first time of asking following the relegation of 2023, they have Erin’s Own, Fr O’Neills and Sars for company in Group 1.

However, Callanan isn’t thinking in such terms.

“Honestly, and I know it’s cliché, but we are just taking game by game,” he says.

“With injuries and all that stuff and with lads involved with Cork, we don't know who we have, kind of from week to week.

“Obviously, we are taking it game by game and we're happy enough with the way things are going.

“After the loss to Charleville, we were very disappointed but beating the Rockies then was obviously a positive.

“It’s been a bit up and down but, overall, we're happy enough.”