"Every day is a blessing, every day is a bonus for me from here on in"
August 26, 2015Dermot Niblock hasn't played a senior championship match for St Gall's since 1999 but he hopes to make the panel for their Antrim SFC quarter-final against Cargin on Friday week.
The 35-year-old's burgeoning gaelic football career was put on hold after he was hit by a car on Belfast's Malone Road on December 28th, 2009.
He and his team-mates had been out celebrating the Saffrons All-Ireland B Championship final victory over Fermanagh.
"I think about it the odd time," he told The Irish News, "especially after what happened to Ronan Clarke.
"I was wondering how he was, but I tend not to dwell on it and a lot of the St Gall's boys wouldn't even know about it. I was just very, very lucky - they told my mum that I probably would die. Every day is a blessing, every day is a bonus for me from here on in - even that I've got a job and that I'm okay.
"When you see head injuries… I was lucky to come out of it 100 per cent, a lot of people don't. There was a case study for medical students in Queen's, there was a study about me saying that I should have died - so I'm just very lucky.
"I read that Ronan [Clarke] was overwhelmed by the support he got, I was overwhelmed by the support too, but I wasn't even in a position to think about that because it took me about two years to get over it. I thought I was okay, but in hindsight I wasn't. I remember my mate saying 'you only tell me things three times now' because I used to repeat myself all the time.
"My short-term memory was gone and I struggled walking. When I got out of hospital, my granda passed away and I can hardly remember being at the funeral. Your family and your friends get you through."
The elder brother of Antrim star Kevin was a part of the All-Ireland winning squad in 2010. "Lenny [Harbinson] and the management were very good.
"We all did the warm-up, although I wasn't in the 24 - I think I was 31 - but we all got a medal, they were very inclusive."
He concluded: "I'm feeling fit and it's just good to be still playing.
"Every time we play Cargin, they give us a belly-full of it and we don't expect anything less. We have a lot of championships, but we always need another one and we'll be as hungry as ever, every man will just give everything.
"The Cargin team are filled full of household names, so we have to bring our 'A' game and see if we can shade it because there's never much between the teams.
"Whether I make the panel or not, as long as we win that's what it's all about."
