Ulster Club Senior Football Championship Final: Glen (Derry) v Kilcoo (Down) (Sunday, Athletic Grounds, 1pm)
As a player, Conleith Gilligan won Ulster and All-Ireland titles with his native Ballinderry. The South Derry side defeated Cork’s Nemo Rangers in the 2002 All-Ireland club title while Gilligan won a second provincial title when the Shamrock’s defeated Michael Murphy’s Glenswilly in the 2013 Ulster Club Final.
As assistant to the legendary Mickey Moran last season, he was re-acquainted with both the Seamus McFerran and Andy Merrigan Cups.
Now, having succeeded Moran as joint-manager of the All-Ireland champions along with Richard Thornton, Gilligan is plotting the downfall of a Derry club with Watty Graham’s of Glen their opponents for Sunday’s Ulster Club SFC in Armagh.
Read more: Conor Laverty will bring mindset to Down squad that 'they've never seen before'
No team managed to trouble the Maghera side in Derry and they defeated rivals Slaughtneil by eight points in county decider and Gilligan knows they are a team on the rise.
“I would probably be at a lot of the Derry club championship matches - I would go anyway and went this year and last year,” said Gilligan.
“I saw a fair bit of them (Glen) and they won Derry at a canter and they were just so strong and they set the benchmarks for all the Derry clubs to try and replicate.
“They just have so many options and they can play the game anyway. If a team sets up defensive, they can break them down and if they want to play football, they will kick it and they are all round very good.”
Following in the footsteps of such a popular and reserved figure was never going to be an easy gig and backing up their Down, Ulster and All-Ireland success put an added pressure on the management duo and the Kilcoo players.
They routed both Ballybay and Enniskillen Gaels in Ulster, but needed penalties to defeat Clonduff in the Down quarter-final while Warrenpoint brought them to extra-time in their county final.
Prior to their first Championship outing this season, the hard-earned three pieces of silverware were sent away and the message to the players was that, if they wanted to see them again, they’d have to win them again.
“It was genuinely let’s see if we can win Down. There were around only 10 teams that retained county titles this year, so every day we had to be on it, especially when you go into them as favourites - there is an element of pressure,” said Gilligan.
“But to be fair to the Kilcoo players, complacency wouldn’t be a thing.
"The first round of Down they are really down to earth and there are no airs or graces, we need to be better and we need to work harder and every time they try and get better and they are a really good bunch for that.
“Winning the county title and I have said it, genuinely, once the championship started everything was off the table. Cups were put away or sent back to wherever they went and that was that gone and we had to earn the right again.
“There would be a perception that we get an easy run in Down, but I suppose anyone that follows it closely knows that every game is a point here or a point there or extra-time and penalties.
“The standard in Down is way better than I suppose people give it credit for. It leaves you in a good place when you have been taken to the extremes of extra-time and you have been able to come through it and it gives you a confidence that you have been there and if it goes there again then you will have it in the tank.”
Kilcoo certainly appear to be in a better place for their exertions in the Down Championship.
They defeated Ballybay in their Ulster opener by 10 points in Clones and had 11 points to spare over Enniskillen Gaels in the semi-final.
While Gilligan is pleased with his side’s form, he doesn’t think they’ve necessarily peaked at the right time and feels more will be required to retain their Ulster title at the expense of Glen on Sunday.
“I don’t know if it is peaking at the right time, when you get to this stage of the season you have to improve every week,” added the Kilcoo boss.
“The preparation for those games (against Ballybay and Enniskillen) went really well in terms of the Ballybay game we got a really good start and built on and, very much like Enniskillen, we had the breeze and I we got the goal at a good time and that gave us a platform.
“They had to come out and leave gaps. It is just about trying to impose your style on the game as early as you can and hope that you can get on the scoreboard.”
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