IN THE blink of an eye, Declan Glass was celebrating a rare league double.

The teenage footballer spent the first six months of the football season on loan at Cove Rangers before returning to Dundee United at the end of 2019.

Earlier this month, the SPFL (Scottish Professional Football League) ruled the football season was over and the league positions were final.

It meant Glass, 19, could celebrate a League Two triumph with Cove, who were 13 points clear at the top of the table, and Championship glory with his parent club.

The Tranent-based midfielder said: “I was on the phone to the assistant manager [Gordon Young, at Cove] and he mentioned it.

“I was heavily involved at Cove but he said ‘that will be you getting two medals’.

“I might feel a bit cheeky taking one at United – they almost had the league wrapped up in January.

“I’m not sure if anybody has won two medals like that before.”

Glass, who does not turn 20 until June, signed for the Tannadice side’s academy after moving from Edinburgh’s Hutchison Vale in 2014.

A debut came in October 2017 when he replaced Billy King for the final few minutes away to Dumbarton.

Since then, he has increasingly become part of Robbie Neilson’s squad, who sat 14 points clear at the top of the Championship when the season was ruled over, and enjoyed a loan spell at Airdrie, where he scored on the last day of last season against Stranraer.

The former Ross High School pupil then made the move to Paul Hartley’s Cove side, who were making their SPFL debut after winning promotion from the Scottish Highland Football League.

Glass was a regular at the heart of the midfield at the Balmoral Stadium as the newly-promoted side avoided defeat in their first seven games. The teenage midfielder would also find the net seven times, including a last-minute winner against Cowdenbeath, as Cove threatened to run away with the title.

He said: “Seven goals is not bad.

“I don’t know how many assists there were but there would be a good few of them.

“I don’t know how many games I played but it is a good return and I think I played a key part in them winning the league.

“The loan spell was great and obviously did me wonders.”

The performances saw Glass rewarded with a new deal until 2022 at The Arabs.

The SPFL decision to award the league titles came as Glass and his team-mates were entering a fifth week without a game.

Many footballers have been limited to going for runs to keep their fitness up, although Glass told Courier Sport he was now looking forward to a break with the season having officially been declared finished.

He said: “It feels like a lot longer [time has passed] but when you say five or six weeks it still feels like a long time. It feels like a lifetime.”