Former Derry star Derry forward Conleith Gilligan feels Gaelic football playing standards have never been higher than at the present time.

Gilligan brought the curtain down on his football career on Thursday, having won two Allianz League medals with the Oak Leaf County and been a maintstay of the Ballinderry senior team for the last 20 years.

Speaking to The Irish News, Gilligan, who will turn 39 in December, feels there’s no question in the rise in playing standards.

“Some of the hits you are taking, young players now are incredibly powerful,” he stated. “Everybody gives young players now a bad press, and football at the moment a lot of negativity, but for me, players have never been as good, they’ve never been as talented, they’ve never been as well prepared.

“In some regards, they’ve never been as committed, in other regards, they’ve never been as uncommitted. Because football is so defensive, for teams to score 15, 16, 17 points in the modern game, it just shows how good forwards are, that they can create space out of nothing.

“Ten, twelve years ago, that wasn’t happening. We lost an Ulster final 0-5 to 0-3. We lost a county final 0-9 to 0-8, and that was with no blanket defences. These games happened as well.

“Everyone looks back with rose-tinted spectacles. I’ve had the misfortune to watch back a couple of games recently with Adam (his son) and I was horrified by the standard of football – games that I thought were real classics, and they were anything but. Young players now are better than they’ve ever been.”

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