Peter Reilly got a fright around two years ago. Having played for months with a niggling knee ailment, he was informed that his cruciate ligament was gone. This infamous injury mightn't finish careers any more but it's not the news any footballer wants to get in the spring with the football championship on the horizon.

"I picked it up against Dublin without realising it in the last league match before Christmas. There was no training because we'd had a long championship and I didn't find the knee painful. In the new year I played a bit of Railway Cup but eventually had a scope by Ray Moran (brother of soccer international Kevin and a top surgeon). He told me the cruciate was gone.

"I hadn't realised it. You can keep going if you build up your legs and support the knee and I've fairly strong legs. I couldn't believe it when he told me. I thought if you'd a cruciate problem, your knee would be locking and you'd be collapsing and none of that was happening."

His experience was consistent with what was happening to the county team. Having won the Ulster title in a blaze of glory in 1997, Cavan's fall from grace was swift. Manager Martin McHugh departed after three years in charge and Liam Austin was appointed in his place.

A poor pre-Christmas league run wasn't rescued in the new year and, almost inevitably, the provincial title was lost that summer. In the midst of all this, Reilly's injury was a blow but not one which cut him too badly as his academic commitments - he was studying construction economics in DIT - were mounting.

"I was very busy in college," he says. "It was one of the tough years so the injury was a blessing in disguise. The injury didn't knock the stuffing out of me."

Rehabilitation after surgery in July 1998 was a lonely business - "the hardest thing is doing exercises on your own. It's a long, laborious haul" - but isolation wasn't an unmitigated hardship. Reilly missed the controversial coup against Austin which saw the Down All-Ireland medallist ousted at the beginning of last year to a blast of sour publicity and recrimination.

"That was an awful business for Cavan football. I was doing my finals and glad to be out of it. It was sad and helped no one."

Returning from serious injury is a slow process but Reilly felt particularly inhibited by his incomplete fitness. "I hadn't trained for a year. My game is about running and roving and it was obviously restricted."

By this stage Cavan had a new manager, IT Tralee's Sigerson-winning coach Val Andrews - "Val's been excellent, a very good coach with great drills" - and Reilly's role in the team was to be different. In the championship matches against Derry, he played in the half backs.

"I'd had plenty of experience. I played centre back for the under-21s and against Down in the 1996 Ulster championship. I don't know what the thinking was last year. Probably we'd a lot of forwards. It wasn't my decision but I didn't mind either.

"Both positions have their advantages. At half back you can express yourself more because the half forward's not likely to breathe down your neck all day. I wouldn't really mind where I play, as long as it's not corner back."

This year, he is restored to the forwards where his energy and intelligence earned him an All Star nomination for Cavan's Ulster-winning season of three years ago. In addition to the usual duties he has the added responsibility of taking frees.

"That's more by accident than design," he says. "Up to '97, I kicked right-side frees with Ronan Carolan taking them from the middle and on the left. Ronan's not available this year so I ended up taking them. Some days it goes well, others not so well. But there's no panic about it. Dermot McCabe can take them from the hand and Anthony Forde on the left."

Tomorrow's date with Ulster favourites Derry recalls last year's experience when, after nearly shocking the same opponents at Casement Park, Cavan got drummed off the pitch in the replay. This year Derry look even stronger, even allowing for the distractions of a drawn league final a week ago.

With success at under-age and in the Ulster final of three years ago, Reilly feels that Cavan won't be intimidated. "We beat them off the field at under-21 in 1996 and Sean Martin Lockhart, Ronan Rocks and Enda Muldoon were all on that team. It's not an unfavourable position we find ourselves in. Derry have nothing to gain except reaching the next round. For Cavan a win would be a great stepping stone."

And Reilly himself is in his best form since 1997. "Yeah. My game's all about working. It's the same for any half-forward. Trevor Giles - supposedly the best player in the country - plays there, but gets most of his ball in his own half of the field. If you're not fit for that, the half-forward line's not a place to be."

Tomorrow, though, he'll be there.