If you were to ask any player who has just won an All-Ireland club trophy with their club in the past six days where would you be, the pub or in bed recovering from drinking in the pub for the previous five days would be your most likely answer.
Well, they are a different breed up in Derry as less than a week after securing their first title, Glen trio Conor Glass, Ethan Doherty, and Ciaran McFaul all started for Derry tonight as they opened their league campaign with 0-15 to 2-8 victory over Kerry.
The decision from Mickey Harte to start the trio came in for some criticism before throw-in, with Sean Cavanagh saying it 'felt wrong' to bring them back into the fold so quickly.
However, it seems the players themselves were more than happy to take park.
READ HERE: Sean Cavanagh Criticises Derry Boss Mickey Harte Over Handling Of Glen Players
Glen man defends decision to make swift Derry return
Speaking to RTÉ after the game, Ciaran McFaul said had no problems putting on his county jersey as he was delighted to get back in with his inter-county teammates after a few days on the beer.
Derry's Gareth McKinless and Ciaran McFaul are happy to come away from Tralee with the two points.
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Not really (tired), to be honest. Anytime you get the reward to wear the Derry jersey, you will take it with open hands, so getting back in with the boys is good. We knew how tough it would be to come down to Tralee, and thankfully, we can contribute.
We got a couple of days to celebrate. We were back in on Wednesday, so it was good to shake off the cobwebs and go back at it again.
All three Glen players would make a big contribution in the game despite being only six days removed from their big win in Croke Park last weekend.
Gareth McKinless admitted he and the rest of the Derry players were glad to see Glen lads come back into the fold immediately, going on to praise Mickey Harte for the what he has done with the group so far.
It was a good battle and a good start to the year to get two points on the board. It's not easy coming down here anytime in the league to get points off Kerry.
We dug in deep there and conceded two bad goals, but we still battled against the breeze.
Ah, look, we want to start the league well, and once the Glen boys returned, we had a full panel to choose from. Look, we were always going to field our strongest team any day we could. It was good to have these boys back out on the pitch battling again.”
[Mickey Harte] has been brilliant so far. He's just set the bar high as soon as they came in. This group is already ready.
Even in the last few years, we have been training very hard and playing at the top level, so just trying to continue and build from that to come down here to Kerry is another building block for us to progress to where we want to be.
The new manager will have a few things to work on after Derry nearly threw away the game despite leading 0-11 to 0-7 with 12 minutes of play left thanks to two Kerry goals down to mistakes by the Ulster side with Jack O’Connor side having numerous goal chanced throughout the game to secure the win.
However, from Harte’s perspective, he will never say no to a win over his old rivals.
SEE ALSO: Colm Cooper Couldn't Resist Cheeky Mickey Harte Dig After Derry Win Over Kerry
