‘I wouldn’t change it for the world’

For Senan Kilbride, this festive period has certainly been different.

Despite the weather in Abu Dhabi being in the region of 25 degrees Celsius on the day Kilbride chats to the Roscommon Herald, the former intercounty forward insists there is nowhere else he would rather be than being back at home preparing for his fifth All-Ireland senior club football semi-final.

Kilbride relocated to the UAE (United Arab Emirates) five years ago, but his second coming to play a part in the latter stages in St. Brigid’s county, provincial and now All-Ireland journey has caught everyone off guard.

“I couldn’t have envisaged this, especially back in July. I wouldn’t change it for the world now, to be honest. It has been fantastic,” outlined the primary school teacher at Cloonakilla National School.

“In the moment you can get bogged down with ‘oh it’s raining today’ or the weather isn’t fantastic, or we are doing these runs today. But when you take a step back and realise how many people in Ireland would give any amount of money or their right hand to be doing the same as us for their club, it gives us a bit of perspective and helps us realise how lucky we are to be here.

“I think when you do that, you get a bit more gratitude for where you are and what you are doing, and you start to enjoy it a little bit more. You try and keep that balance and understand that we are in a very privileged position. We just want to try and make the most of it,” he noted ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Scotstown.

It is often suggested that a team training together in harsher weather conditions, especially on long winter nights, can form a tighter bond through their collective effort. So does Kilbride feel the sacrifices made by players at this time of year ensure that closer bonds form?

“It can do although the celebrations bring people together as well,” smiled Kilbride, pausing momentarily before continuing.

“When you understand that we have worked as hard as we can for each other and we will be leaving it all out on the field for each other, whatever happens at the final whistle happens. But at the end of the day you go into the dressing room, you shake everyone’s hand, you look everyone in the eye and you say, ‘I gave everything for you, you gave everything for me’ — there is nothing more we can do beyond that."

Although St. Brigid’s will be trying to improve on their Connacht final performance, Kilbride is experienced enough to know that semi-finals are a hurdle that simply need to be cleared by any means necessary.

“When we won it in 2013, we won the semi-final and final by a point. It was very much a case of just dragging ourselves over the line.

“Semi-finals are there to be won. You don’t get any prizes for winning them, but they give you an opportunity to get the big reward at the end of it.

“We know the next day is going to be extremely tough against Scotstown. They are a very battle-hardened team and they have been around for a very long time. They have been winning Monaghan titles over the last number of years. They have been close in Ulster, so they know what it takes to win and they will get a big boost from the win over Kilcoo the last day. It is going to be a great game either way,” he predicted.

“Both teams are going to give it absolute socks. When you cross the line, you do everything you can to get the win. Afterwards, you shake hands, accept the result whatever way it goes, and we see if we have another game or not,” he concluded.