Improving year by year
December 30, 2009Added to this is the fact that they continue to make progress at underage level, and while this all adds up to a relatively successful year, there is no lack of disappointment that the main prize, the Senior Championship crown, once again proved elusive.
Despite high hopes at the start of the year, Pearse Óg once again came up short in the championship and suffered the heart-break of losing to Knockbridge in the final for a fifth successive year.
The game played on September 13th at Dowdallshill, saw Pearse Óg compete well in the opening half and were still very much in contention early as the match moved towards the final quarter.
However, the contest turned in Knockbridge's favour when they grabbed the first goal of the game and their experience showed as they were able to hold out for victory.
It was a disappointing end to a season that up to that stage had gone reasonably well but despite their best efforts, the Dundalk men were unable to dethrone the champions.
One man who was well placed to judge the performances over the season was Junior team manager, and senior team selector, Gary Brodigan. He revealed that there was a great sense of disappointment that they failed at the final hurdle following a lot of hard work.
"We started back training in January and as every year you have aiming with winning the Senior Championship title. It is 2004 since we last won the final and 2002 before that, so we were really hoping to make an impression this time around."
Working alongside manager, David Mulholland, and fellow selectors, Noel Walsh and Brendan Mulholland, Gary saw a big effort put in by players at the start of the year.
"We took in Barry Teather to do the fitness training in January and he did a lot of very good work, so that was a really good start for us."
That effort certainly paid off as the Junior team were in impressive form throughout their competitions.
"We started our games around March and played through to June, by which time we had won both the league and the Maurice Murphy Cup for the championship so that was a great boost for us.
"The Junior competitions are for players not involved in the Louth set-up so that meant that we were down six or seven of our leading players, but it was the same for most of the bigger clubs.
"The good thing about it is that the players on the fringes of the team get the chance to play first team hurling and it was great to see them respond with some fine performances," revealed Gary.
Given the emergence of those players and the confidence created by winning trophies, Pearse Og went into the Senior Championship determined to make an impression, but they knew that it was going to be a difficult task to take the title from Knockbridge, as Gary points out.
"We played Knockbridge in the Louth League at the start of the summer and lost by just one point and despite the defeat we took a lot of encouragement from that game.
"However, Knockbridge had learned from that match and by the time it came to the championship, they had upped their game considerably. When we played them in the championship group stages, they came out on top by eight points. Therefore, we knew exactly what was required of us at that point and that we needed to work to bridge that gap.
"As a result, we knew what we were up against in the final but went in determined to give it our best shot. I felt we played well in the first half and it was a very tight game with Knockbridge just two points at the break. It remained close for the first ten minutes of the second half but then they got the first goal of the game and really proved crucial.
"After that it was always going to be difficult for us and although the players battled away until the end, we just couldn't get back into the game," revealed Gary.
Despite the disappointment, all involved with Pease Óg remain upbeat and next season will be hoping to build on the progress they have made, as Gary points out.
"Already we have a few ideas for next season to try to improve things once again and we will certainly be looking for some of the young players to come through and play a leading role. We will also be hoping to continue our strong representation on the Louth team and perhaps some of the younger generation can get involved at the level," added Gary.
Overall, Brodigan feels that things are going well at the club but the main challenge over the coming years is to continue to work at underage level to ensure there are players coming through to the adult teams.
"We are happy with the way the club is going at the minute but because we have a small panel of players we are affected by retirements, while a number of players are nearing the end of their careers.
"Unfortunately, we have a big gap from the adult teams back to the juveniles and that is why we have been working hard at that level to ensure we have players for the future.
"The likes of Jonathan Reid, Aidan Callan, Martin Myles and Mattie Boland have put in a great effort with the juveniles and that is already reaping a reward with up to 30 training at every session so hopefully those young lads will come through to be the stars of the future.
"We have also been working closely with Cooley with Gerry Hoey, Kevin Cullen and Seamus McDonagh coaching their under-age hurling teams. Under the guidance of Damien Callan we have been working hand-in-hand with Cooley and it is proving to be a great benefit."
Gary continues to point out that all at Pearse Óg are grateful to Na Piarsaigh and DkIT for the use of their facilities over the course of the season.
The Louth Senior Championship Hurling Final ended with Knockbridge winning by 2-13 to 0-9, with the Pearse Óg line-out as follows:
Kevin Brady, Kevin Cullen, David Mulholland, Mick Martin, Donal McArdle, Eddie McCarthy, Brian Hasset (0-1), Shane Callan, Donach Callan, Brian McCabe(0-5), Gerard Smith(0-2), Sean Conroy, Aidan Callan (0-1), Raymond McCann, Conall Lavery. Subs: Gary O'Brien, Paul Callan. Tweet
