Glavin:“It's a huge opportunity for us to do something special” 

Persuasive phone calls from brother-in-law, Karl Ennis and the then Chairman Eamonn O’Flaherty helped persuade Ross Glavin back into management with Maynooth after taking a break from a highly successful spell with his own club, Moorefield which yielded county and Leinster titles.

“I think one thing I knew coming into Maynooth was that I was taking over from a man like Declan McCabe, who’d been here for a few years, and I'd be taking over a team that had a good culture and was a fit and disciplined team, Ross told The Kildare Nationalist at the Maynooth Open Training Night in advance of the Joe Mallon Motors SFC Final in Cedral St Conleth’s Park on Sunday at 3pm.

“Underage success was also an attraction for the now Ballyteague resident too.

“It’s a credit to all the mentors up here in Maynooth and all the underage coaching and work that's gone into Maynooth. I think it was probably all these things combined and then with the family connection, it was an opportunity that just probably worked for me and where I'm living, the age my own kids are at and obviously I was a few years away from not managing but look the GAA is a big part of my life so it was a good opportunity for me to get back into it too,” the Maynooth manager explained.

Glavin took over mid-season last year, just before championship 2025, and he believes that the team had put a lot into the League in 2025.

“Then when I came in the middle of summer. I was new they didn't know me, and I didn't know them and I needed to see them,” Glavin informed us.

“We probably didn’t freshened things up as much as we'd like pre-championship and I think that showed then when it came to the knockout stage of championship. We were a little bit flat. We still had good footballers and we were still set up well but the game where we got knocked out by Moorefield, for example, we just didn't have enough in us at that stage It helped me understand where we were as a group and what I thought we needed to do after that,” he added.

A reset took place following a preseason meeting with his management team which includes Karl Ennis, Paul Flood and Mickey Gillick.

“That game we lost last year stung a little bit,” Glavin explained.

“Not because of who we were playing but because of how, and I've used this to the players, when we got a punch in the face, we didn't react well, we went into our shells and I think we retreated a little bit. That's not the type of team that I would have played in or would have managed or would like a team to represent my style of football,” he declared. “we had to build a little bit more of an edge and a bit more resilience and mental toughness. And I think we've proven now already that we have achieved that,” he said.

The League, where they used forty players, went according to plan according to the manager. The plan was to build squad depth and a good team spirit. I put a good group around and camaraderie at the top of anything when it comes to building a team and team spirit and I think we've done that and we have that in abundance now,” Ross told us.

“Since Neil Flynn made his appearance the last day, he was 28th player used in five rounds of senior championship this year so that shows the faith of management team in the players and it also shows the amount of players who have earned the opportunity and are taking it,” the Maynooth manager added.

Resilience, Ross Glavin believes, was vital in Maynooth overcoming the past two county champions in Athy and Naas, after extra time in the quarter final and semi-final of this year’s SFC.

“Any group that's going to win big games or be successful or has come from not winning big games in the past, they have to have those mental characteristics and that kind of toughness mentally,” he believes.

Maynooth been one final in 110 years so belief doesn't just happen. It's nearly like you have to work hard to generate that belief but you have to win a big game that will really generate that belief, “he added.

“Showing that character, showing that resilience, to looking quite confident through extra time and beating those guys to now going into a Final against Sarsfields. I think we have proven that we deserve to be there and we've great opportunity now to cross the next bridge,” said Glavin.

What about Sunday’s opponents, Sarsfields, we ask?

“They have a lot of young guys that haven't experienced County Finals either but they have some experienced players like the Ryans and Mattie Byrne. They know how to prepare for County Final Day but there will be a lot of pressure on them too, being relatively young enough group as well,” he added.

“It should be a really good game, it should be a really fast-paced game and I think the way our Referees are at I think it's going to be a high tempo and there's going to be a lot of tackles and collisions in it as well. We know a little bit about what Sarsfields are about. We’ll do our homework, we’ll refine a couple of things that we want to do ourselves tactically,” he went on.

Concluding Glavin said, “Our squad is buzzing right now and morale is high but we can't pat ourselves any more for victories over the last few weeks either. All we've done is get to the final. It's probably getting an extra bit of attention because it's been so long. We are the challengers, but it's a huge opportunity for us to do something special too.”