Derry risked backlash if quick return had broken Glass

Conor Glass has acknowledged that the "backlash" would have been severe if he'd been injured while playing for Derry just six days after winning the All-Ireland club final.

The former All-Star midfielder, along with Ethan Doherty and Ciaran McFaul, lined out against Kerry last month less than a week after Glen's club success.

All three players started Derry's first four Division 1 league games, resulting in wins each time, and it wasn't until the recent Round 5 tie against Dublin that Glass was given a day off while Doherty was rested.

Speaking at the launch of John West Feile 2024, Glass said it was a case of being 'in a position to be able to rest boys' for the Dublin game, with eight points already on the board.

"It wasn't necessarily not putting out a (full) team because we wanted to play them again in a league final," he insisted.

There is a danger that fatigue, or injury, could eventually catch up with Glass though he was adamant that isn't a concern and that the physio team are on top of it.

He conceded, however, that taking so little time to recover from the exertions of the All-Ireland club final was a risk.

"I suppose had one of us got injured that week against Kerry, the backlash from it would have been very, very harsh," said Glass.

"That was a risk we were willing to take. The momentum you can bring...like, any player that has gotten a bit of success can bring that into a team and it's always going to be good for us. Any energy or bit of confidence we could bring into the team was going to be good.

"It's not often you get to beat Kerry in their own patch, so it worked out well for us.

"We came back to (Derry) training on the Thursday night so we had the guts of four days of celebrations at that stage. It was more than