We spoke to Armagh coach Conleith Gilligan ahead of this weekend's Ulster final. He talked about how enjoyable it is to be a part of Kieran McGeeney's backroom team and how difficult it is to pick a matchday squad with so much talent in the team.
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00:00Conneth, Ulster final upcoming, of course you overcame Throne the last day out and do you feel like you can get a real kick out of that result because things may be being a wee bit inconsistent but that can be a real springboard now can't it for the rest of the campaign?
00:11Yeah it can and look Throne are a brilliant team and like I suppose under Monaco O'Rourke you know they've got a new list of life, they've got more players back and you know Darren McCurry and Dara Canavan and players of that ilk you know to win games like that against the quality of player they have you know it does give you a bit of confidence and you know it was a bit of confidence and you know
00:29brilliant win but like you have to put that to bed now and focus on on the next thing which is Donegal.
00:34Yeah and of course probably the number one, the biggest strength arm I have is their depth, the panel and being part of the management group how tough is it to put 15 players together for a certain team and even then picking a 26 and having to leave out quality players?
00:46Yeah it's huge and sometimes picking the 26 gives more difficulty than picking the actual 15 because there's so many players and they're so deserving and they give up so much of their life and that's the hardest part
00:58and that you have to disappoint someone and to be fair to the players like they understand that too and like they're brilliant whenever they do get the disappointments but that's the hardest part and I suppose that's probably the part that Geezer has worked so hard on and is so good with and the players sort of react to that as well.
01:15Yeah and you probably had a lot of injury problems during the league maybe more so lads are starting to come back but that nearly opened the door didn't it for new faces to come in and they've all put their hand up as well.
01:23No they have you know you had Tomas McCormick and you know Calum O'Neill and Dara McMullen who had played a bit last year you know not having a mechanic up was a bit of a blow for those younger players because that tended to be the competition where they get the shop window for three or four weeks and they could really get their feet at that level so it was hard like they had to come into National League and Division 1 in really tough games and go to Killarney and Tralee and go to Salt Hill and those are hard places to learn your craft but look to be fair they did look at their chance against Antrim and the
01:53done really well and look at the chance against Tyrone and like they didn't let anybody down and you know yes the injuries got them the opportunity but they'd worked really hard and they deserved that chance.
02:00Yeah and for yourself personally being part of that management team, part of Ciaran McGuinney's team there's Ciaran Donaghy in there, Ciaran McKeever a lot of experience and must be really enjoyable to be a part of that group.
02:09It is, like all the Ciarans and you have Dennis Hollywood and you have Julie and Hugh and Ciaran McKinney you know really brilliant coaches, really brilliant people and you learn so much you know and it's only really when you're in that environment with those people that you probably realise how little you knew yourself personally and it's brilliant and they give you the time and as I say look it's hard to believe how it went so well so quick but you know look you'll take it and move on and hope for better days again.
02:38Yeah and of course Donegal now in the Ulster final you've met I think it's four times since the start of last year most of the games have been pretty tight there'll be no secrets will there between either side?
02:46Not really they know each other really well and as I say there's only been a kick of the ball in most of the games and some of them were a draw they've went to penalties and it's nip and tuck and when you have teams at that level you know there's very small things separate them and somebody has a brilliant day and the rub of the green and you know last year look we we done really good work to put ourselves in a position to win games but look we didn't see it out.
03:07And credit Donegal you know people maybe talked about we lost the game but that's very very unfair like Donegal had to come back had to show unbelievable composure you know to bring the game to extra time and then an extra time they had to do that again and you know especially with the new rules now there is no way the game can be predictable you know with two pointers you know you could be in a descendancy and get pulled back or you could be behind and get pulled in and as we've seen through the league and through the championship
03:37the game so exciting to date then like I don't expect the Ulster final to be any different because there'll be a huge crowd you know Clonus will be buzzing and you know two teams going at it and again that's ultimately what supporters want.
03:47Yeah and you touched on it there and it's probably cruel on Armagh because penalty shootout defeats the games are of course a draw and then just didn't get the result in the penalties but it obviously had happened four times but last year on the run of the All-Ireland you got over Kerry you got over Galway in tight games and then thrown last week and do you start to feel maybe that bit of confidence growing in the group that the players when it does come to the last five minutes that you know what to do to come out on top?
04:07Yeah possibly and I suppose look when you lost shootouts and in finals and in big games you probably learn more about yourself than in the sort of victories as well and you take the learning from those situations and you try and bring them to make sure they don't happen again and maybe this team had to go through those really bad days to try and find that wee bit extra for the extra time in Kerry and maybe the Galway game and maybe the Toronto game at the weekend so maybe it's in those bad times that you learn more about yourself as a group and you develop and grow and the
04:37hope is that as the case as moves on but look a new day a new game a new final you just can't predict and I suppose look that's the beauty of football.
04:46Yeah and of course they won the big one last year but there's no Anglo-Selt medals in that changing and I'm sure there's a massive hunger to win this competition.
04:52Yeah look I suppose the 10 years that they've all been going at it a lot of the more experienced players you know had very good days but really disappointing days and I suppose last year probably was validation for a lot of those players and now that they are in a position to win things that's what you want to do.
05:07You know and you don't want to be looking back at your career and wonders and the what ifs and really it's always masked and well what did you win and ultimately that's kind of where players are judged and they know that too and they're very sensible from that perspective so when you get there you know you want to win and it's no different than Donegal they're in the same boat you know Jim McGuinness has got an unbelievable record and he'll want to keep that going as well so they're two highly driven teams and with very little between them so look it has the makings of a brilliant final.