THE only place to start this week is to offer my sincere congratulations to the Glen club.

To win the Ulster Club Championship once is extremely difficult but to do it back-to-back is simply amazing.

We have all been well-aware of this talented group that the Glen club had coming for a number of years now since their underage success.

Like many clubs across the land will know only too well, it’s one thing having a talented group come through with potential but it’s a whole different ball game bringing them through to senior level and getting success at the highest level.

The club deserve great credit here because they have made sure that the right people are at the helm to maximise this potential.

Back to the football pitch and I actually don’t think that this Glen team have found their grove yet this year.

To have won Ulster without being at their best says all you need to know about their potential.

In the semi-final win over Naomh Conaill, I thought that it was the worst performance I had seen from them since this group came onto the senior scene but they still found a way to win that game.

In last week’s decider again, I didn’t think that they were at their best but they came good just at the right time and their experience saw them over the line.

They now have the prize that they wanted which is another crack at All-Ireland champions Kilmacud in the semi-final.

You can be sure that this fixture has been spoken about in the Glen dressing room from the first get together this year.

They will want to avenge that All-Ireland defeat and now the footballing Gods have afforded them that opportunity.

Make no mistake about it, Kilmacud will be a huge task but knowing Ryan Porter, he will have their run planned to perfection and we might just see Glen start to hit their best form as we head into the home straight.

It will be a cracking contest and it’s one that I’m sure we are all looking forward to with huge anticipation.

There is one other topic that I’d like to touch on this week and that is the managers and backroom team expenses that some county boards published last week.

Let me be clear to anyone who may not be aware of this but the GAA is a huge financial business in everything but name.

Do you think for one second that most intercounty managers out there are doing what they are doing for the love of the game?

If you think that, then why not ask Croke Park to clamp down fully on manager’s expenses. Then, you will see how many managers still take up their positions.

It takes big money nowadays to put the best backroom team possible in place around you so it’s inevitable that the yearly bill goes well over the 100k mark to keep these lads in place.

Success costs money and those who may offer you the best chance of success will cost the most money.

I’m afraid to say that those are waters we are swimming in at the minute and it doesn’t look like changing any time soon. In actual fact, it looks like more sharks are making their way into those waters.