“After 2019, it was going through your head…were we ever going to win a championship?"

What a difference four years can make. With 44 seconds of Sunday’s final gone, Ciaran McFaul took a pass from Jack Doherty before looking at the posts.

With an instantly recognisable kicking style, complete with follow through, McFaul planted his foot through the ball to land the opening score.

Close to the same spot four years ago, he dissected the same set of posts just seconds after John Joe Cleary’s final whistle ended his hopes of saving Glen from defeat to Sunday’s opponents.

IN PICTURES: Fans out in force for finals day in Celtic Park

Photos: nwpresspics

“Obviously….in 2019 we didn’t do ourselves justice,” McFaul said of a game they didn’t overly focus on ahead of Sunday’s latest clash of the clubs.

“We concentrated on ourselves. If you get caught up in matchups too much, your head will be all over the place. 

“We knew they would target a few boys but just we concentrated on ourselves and tried to get a performance.

“After 2019, it was going through your head…were we ever going to win a championship? 

“There were so many doubters but that is a serious group of players there.”

McFaul spoke of Glen’s “early start” on Sunday and how Magherafelt “turned the tide” to lead 0-5 to 0-2.

“They probably dominated the whole of the first half. It took us a while to get going,” he said.

“They kept the ball and it was a bit like Slaughtneil (in the semi-final), it was nip and tuck but thankfully we pushed on in the second half.

“I obviously wasn’t there last year but some of the boys were saying it was like the Errigal (Ciaran) game,” McFaul said of the Glen dressing room at half time.

Sunday was similar in that it was a chance to regroup before delivering another winning performance.

Once the jets were calmed and any tactical tweaks were made, Malachy O’Rourke’s message was simple.

Would Glen be content if the Magherafelt team two doors away picked up their second title? Or did Glen want to push on for three?

“Thankfully we raised the bar in the second half…the first 15 minutes were massive, the same as the Slaughtneil game in that third quarter,” McFaul continued.

“Cathal’s (Mulholland) goal was massive too and he always seems to get into those positions.

“When Cathal is scoring goals and (Connor) Carville is scoring points, you know you are in luck.”

Sunday’s win clinched three-in-a-row and McFaul explained how their manager dropped that topic into their mindset on Thursday night.

He told the Glen group they’d be perceived as a decent team after winning back-to-back titles, but winning a third in succession would raise the bar, putting them in a club that already had Bellaghy, Slaughtneil and Ballinderry as members.

“That was massive for us, it was a driving force,” McFaul said. “From Thursday night, Malachy was talking about it.

“That is an elite group of teams and it is very hard to get to three in a row, there is a lot of work and you saw Slaughtneil getting three and four.

“People don’t put Glen in with those teams and the tradition because we are only starting to win championships but thankfully we got there.

“The character and leadership are now there. I was away last year and the way they got to an All-Ireland final was unbelievable.

“We are having our purple patch; every team has one and thankfully we are getting it now,” said McFaul who had a final word on youngster Danny McDermott who lined out alongside him in a first county final appearance.

“He is a spring lamb,” McFaul laughed. “He is up and down the pitch; his GPS stats are ridiculous.

“It is good to see him in with the county and no doubt he will be playing football for Derry in the next few years.”