Derry's Conleith Gilligan, centre, turns to celebrate after scoring his side's second goal in the Allianz National Football League, Division 1 Final against Kerry in 2008
The time off served him well. In his last Ulster Championship match, the 2008 Ulster semi-final against Fermanagh, he had a penalty batted away by Ronan Gallagher, before pointing the resulting ‘45’. Striking dead balls is one of his strengths, and observers claim that he has one of those kicking actions that are God-given. He doesn’t share the belief.
“When you see free kickers you can think that they are naturally like that. It’s not really like that for me. I don’t really have a natural ability to kick balls, it’s just something you have to go through; 20 or 30 kicks at the end of training from the sort of angles you might find yourself in. It’s more repetitive practice rather than a talent thing.
“You just put yourself in a situation where you say, ‘Right, I’m 25 yards out to the left. I kicked nine out of the 12 attempts from this angle on Tuesday, so I know I can do it.’ It’s more scientific than inspiration.”
John Brennan wanted Gilligan when he succeeded Cassidy. When the call came, there was no punching the air or getting too emotional about it.
“I suppose I had a good year with Ballinderry, and thought that there was a chance, but I hadn’t really given it much more thought than that. You know, John is somebody who up until that phonecall, I had never spoken to. He was on the sideline for other teams, managing against us, but I never had any contact with him before.
"Everyone wants to come and go on their own terms. I wasn’t sure whether it would work out in any way but I said I would give it a try. If it didn’t work out I would be back with Ballinderry, and nothing ventured, nothing gained.
“There’s a huge difference in terms of fitness and everything between club and county. Even in matches with the time you have on the ball, the difference is night and day, so it just took a wee while to get back into the groove of that.”
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