Gilmore gunning for Skibb summer sojourn

While O’Donovan Rossa captain Pat Gilmore is in his late 30s, this is just his fifth county SFC campaign with the club.

Originally from Galway, the former Cortoon Shamrocks man moved when his wife took up a paediatrics posting in Cork in 2009 and has established himself as one of the most consistent midfielders in the county.

Tomorrow, the Skibbereen side get their championship campaign underway against another West Cork club, Dohenys, in Drimoleague, hoping to build on last year’s semi-final appearance.

Gilmore is looking forward to it, but admits that adapting to Cork football after years in Galway took some getting used to.

“I suppose the biggest challenge for me personally was trying to get used to playing the Cork style of football, it would be different to what I was used to,” he said.

“In Galway, if you get a ball around the middle your first instinct is to look up for a 40- or 50-yard ball and hit it into space. I’d have done that a bit in the first couple of years and I’d be asked why I didn’t run another 20 or 30 yards before I did that!

“It was a learning experience for me, but the way football has gone now, it’s all about carrying the ball and maximising possession and not giving it away cheaply.

“A long-ball lottery, like in Galway, might make things more exciting, but even having seen games up there lately, it looks like it’s gone away from that and they’re moving to a running game, not leaving it in as much as they used to.”

Having surprised many with their first foray into the semi-finals in nine years, the challenge now for Skibb is to show that last year was a foundation rather than just a one-off. With a young panel, featuring a large contingent of the 2011 county U21-winning side, was naivety a factor in the last-four defeat to Duhallow? “You can always make an argument for that,” Gilmore said.

“It was a new experience and we were a young side, but at the same time you have to give credit to Duhallow, they had a good gameplan and they worked it very well.

“We probably needed a game to show us where we are and, more importantly, where we need to improve.

“It comes back to consistency, that’s something that we’ve been trying to work on for the last few years. We would have a feeling that we have good footballers in Skibb and that, on our day, we can play with the best in the county.

“We’re looking to get there, our record in the championship has shown that we’ve lost to sides who’ve gone far, and we haven’t lost by much, so we’ll be looking to make a good long summer of it.”

As one of the panel’s elder statesmen, Gilmore does his best to impart wisdom to younger panel members, but he does not paint himself as a shouter.

“I don’t say a lot, I’d be more about trying to lead by example,” he said, “but with these guys it doesn’t take much, they’re working away on their own and doing their bit in the gym, and it’s actually a spur for me to try to get to the levels that they’re at!”

A spur for Skibb as a whole is that their neighbours Castlehaven are the current county champions. Though he has not grown up with the intense rivalry like many of his team-mates, it is something that he was well-acquainted with before his arrival.

“I would have been aware of that before I came down as Shane Crowley, who played for Skibb for years, was in college with me in UCG,” he said.

“We haven’t got control of them being county champions, but I do remember after we beat them in the U21 and went on to win the county, I was involved with that team and the Haven manager came in afterwards and said that the two clubs lift each other.

“They’re setting the bar now and we’re trying to get there, maybe our U21 win lifted them, I think they motivate each other.

“There’s good banter and there’s a good rivalry, it’s healthy.”