As they say in Kerry, he didn't lick it off the stones. Castleisland man Dan Nelligan tells Seán Moran about following in his father's footsteps.

It loomed large in his childhood and by the end of next week he will have been there for five years. Yet by tomorrow evening he could have booked his most meaningful appearance in Croke Park. One way or the other, the venue has been a recurring presence in Dan Nelligan's life.

During childhood he experienced the thrill and occasion of All-Ireland finals, the tail end of that fabled Kerry team with his father Charlie in goal.

Now, 20 years on with the stadium transformed, he goes about his daily business, which is the running of Croke Park's ticketing operation and its accelerating technologies. But as he works away, there remains the nagging regret about the pristine carpet of green in the middle of the sweeping structure that houses his place of employment.

All those years either watching his father or facilitating the attendance of others could give way to a long-held ambition: "I started work on the 26th February, 2001, but I've never actually played here."

Tomorrow afternoon in Longford his adopted club, Kilmacud Crokes, face Galway and Connacht champions Salthill-Knocknacarra in an AIB All-Ireland club football semi-final. The prize for Kilmacud's goalkeeper would be especially vivid: the opportunity after all these years to play Croke Park in his own right.

Maybe you could say he grew up in his father's shadow but when your father is a member of arguably the greatest football team in history where else is there to grow? And to some extent, that has been Dan Nelligan's choice.

Others might have balked at the inevitable comparisons but intuitively he knew himself to be a goalkeeper.

"I've played there from under-10. I couldn't say whether it was because of the old lad, that he influenced me, or that I just took to it myself, but it wasn't something that was forced on me. It is unusual never to have played outfield. When we played Parnells in the championship Stephen Cluxton (Dublin goalkeeper) was at corner forward."

His Castleisland childhood caught the final years of Mick O'Dwyer's great team and he remembers the buzz of success and celebrity by association.

"I'm the eldest and the only one who remembers him playing in big matches and All-Irelands. I used to go to training sessions with him and meet Bomber (Liston), Jacko (O'Shea) and Mikey (Sheehy). These were massive names when I was growing up and I remember telling lads at school I'd been up at training with them."

Nonetheless, as his playing career progressed, it became apparent that whereas Dan Nelligan was a good and reliable goalkeeper, he would fall short of the very elite level. It seemed like everywhere he turned there were excellent goalkeepers: at minor, under-21 and university. He didn't make the minor panel at a time when his father was the manager and though he was part of Munster-winning panels with the Kerry under-21s and UCC in 1999, he wasn't the first in line.

Kenneth O'Keeffe, the highly-regarded brother of senior goalkeeper Declan; Kieran Cremin, the county's current number two; and Cork's Alan Quirke were among the players he understudied as Kerry lost the under-21 All-Ireland final to Westmeath and UCC went out to Crossmaglen in an All-Ireland club semi-final.

"Dan was a tremendous 'keeper," recalls UCC coach Des Cullinane. "He played against Rathgormack in the Munster championship when Alan Quirke was unavailable and acquitted himself well. He was unlucky with the competition he faced. That's the way it is with goalkeepers. You've either got three or four of them or you have to go around asking fellas."

Nelligan himself doesn't pretend to have no regrets: "Like any other kid I wanted to play for my county in Croke Park and it was a disappointment that I never got playing for Kerry. It's funny but I've probably got more exposure since coming to Kilmacud."

Since his move to Dublin after graduating from UCC in 1999 with a degree in finance, he has settled comfortably into his new career. Originally he commuted to play at home with Castleisland and did some training with Kilmacud along with some familiar faces from home. "I had played in the Sevens so had that connection," he says of his introduction to the Stillorgan club.

"Conor Galvin from UCC had joined and I knew guys training there like Eoin Brosnan and Ian Twiss. I met Mick Dillon (captain of the Kilmacud team that won the All-Ireland in 1995 and subsequently club manager) and could tell he was serious about his football."

His decision to join was synchronicity. Kilmacud were struggling to find a replacement for 1995 goalkeeper Mick Pender and Nelligan met the requirement perfectly. Sharp in goal and with a good kick-out, he constantly orders his defence, barking out commands.

Since arriving he has won two county championships and one provincial and been honoured by the county awards scheme, the Blue Stars.

Life with a big Dublin club was different from what he had grown up with in Castleisland. He believes the cliche about walking around Stillorgan relatively unnoticed to be somewhat understated.

"I could walk around Glenalbyn (the club complex) and not be stopped, to be honest."

But underneath the huge catchment, famous recruits and suburban anonymity there exists, he says, a club like any other.

"I read a piece on Ballygalget (the Down hurling club, desperately unlucky to lose to Newtownshandrum last weekend) and how they had three sets of brothers on the team. We're the same and have three fathers involved.

"I'm often asked to referee under-10 and under-12 games on Saturday and Sunday or I'll be asked by our development officer, Pádraig McDonald, to meet some of the children and talk to them. We've buses going to Longford this weekend. Regardless of what size the community is there's still a club structure like any other behind it all." He brings a rural sensibility to the club, being available and helpful, and a touch of serenity to a side containing such brash, young talents as Mark Vaughan and Mark Davenport.

"He's dyed-in-the-wool GAA," says one member, "and very popular as a club man. The older fellas love him and sometimes he comes across like an old guy in a young man's body. He's wiser than his years."

After a little under two years with Ark Life in his first job in Dublin, Nelligan applied for a job in the finance department at Croke Park: "When a vacancy arose in the ticket department," he says, "I was interested because it was an area with great potential for development."

The overhaul of the ticketing system and the embracing of new technology have been his task.

It's an impressive set-up, with terminals and printers installed around the country, allowing Croke Park access to up-to-the-minute information on ticket allocations and potential returns. "Ten counties were hooked up last year," he says, "but by April all of them will be on stream."

By April he could also have an All-Ireland medal of his own. He is conscious of the limited opportunities offered by the club championship.

As with much else, there is a lesson from childhood here. His father won a club medal in 1985, a gift in some ways given it swung on an injury-time goal and the bizarre scoreline of 2-2 to 0-7, against Dublin club St Vincent's. A year later they lost the title to Burren from Down in the final.

"You have to take advantage of the opportunity when you get it," he says. "Castleisland won one and were lucky and then were surprised to lose the next one. You never know.

"When we were beaten by Portlaoise last year I felt the chance was gone and that we'd struggle to win Dublin again. You put so much effort in - I'd say three years went into winning it."

Tomorrow will be Kilmacud's first All-Ireland semi-final since beating Castlehaven in Thurles 11 years ago. It's been an eventful campaign from the seemingly interminable DRA case concerning Mark Vaughan's eligibility for the Dublin first round against St Brigid's, which saw Kilmacud expelled and reinstated during a four-month hiatus in the county championship.

"It wasn't ideal," says Nelligan, "but it was nothing we'd any influence over.

"We were moving well before Christmas having started very slowly after the break. We improved consistently and with fixtures coming hot and heavy we were really moving.

"It was over before we knew it. It's possible we could start slowly again, which would be a disaster against Salthill. I know I always tend to look at teams through their attack but they've five or six really talented forwards."

It will be a tough hurdle as he resumes the unusual quest to bring an All-Ireland back to Dublin. For all the distance that separates him from Castleisland, there is a direct line home to the father.

"I'd still ring him to ask advice and before the Vincent's game I wasn't happy with my kicking so I went home and got some advice and practice.

" It's great to have that in the background, to be able to pick up the phone and get drills from him."

A tortuous road has taken Dan Nelligan away from his father's footsteps and toward his own distinctive place in the GAA. In the words of one acquaintance: "He's making a name for himself away from it all."