Derry star Conor Glass is set to make his debut in the Dr McKenna Cup when the competition gets underway for 2026 this weekend.

Ciaran Meenagh’s men are set to face Donegal in their opening round fixture this Sunday in Letterkenny (1.30pm), where Glass could be in line to make his first McKenna Cup appearance for the Oak Leafers.

Previous years have saw the All-Star midfielder missing out for various reasons, including Glen’s back-to-back All-Ireland club SFC final runs and, with the Ulster football pre-season competition returns from last year, Glass says he’s looking forward to lining out in it for the first time.

“I've never played in the McKenna Cup - it'll be a first for me,” he told BelfastLive.co.uk. “It was a good problem to have, obviously, when you are going well (with Glen), but it will be good to get a bit of game time before the League starts.

“I’ve always been a fan of them (pre-season competitions). It's the thing I looked about it is, teams are having challenge games anyway this time of year. So having structured games with inter-county referees, crowds as well, it's only a good thing leading into the round of the League.

“It's not about slogging players down 60, 70 minutes. It's about bringing in new personnel.

"It is about how they stand up, because if they can stand up in McKenna Cup games, there's a fair chance they can do that in the inter-county stage.

"It gives the fans something to watch in early January too - I think it’s fantastic it has been brought back after last year.”

Tweet

Most Read Stories