Having won two SHCs inside three years, the challenge that presented itself to Pearse Og in 2005 was to try to put championship wins back to back for the first time. They came agonisingly close to working the oracle, only for the dream to be dashed in dreadful playing conditions at Haggardstown two days short of Halloween. Exciting young attacker Gerard Smith, who lived the dream of every young hurler by playing in Croke Park in August, reflects on an eventful year with both club and county. By Gerry Robinson Pearse Og could hardly have come closer to retaining the Paddy Kelly Cup. Bidding for a third outright SHC success in four years, the men from the Holy Parish crept through to the county final, wherein they squared up to competition favourites Knockbridge. After a titanic struggle, the town side was forced to bend the knee. The 2005 Louth SHC developed into something approaching a lottery. Either side could have won the original final at Haggardstown on October 22, but they were tied on 2-9 apiece after 71 minutes of intriguing action. The weather conditions that prevailed on the day of the replay rendered the game almost unplayable but the show had to go on and it was Knockbridge who manufactured the breaks to come out on top by 2-9 to 0-8. Pearse Og had closed the gap on their opponents since their opening-round trouncing, but in the end there was no arguing with the fact that Knockbridge were the best team over the course of the '05 senior hurling championship, having finished their campaign unbeaten after five games. Pearse Og, on the other hand, almost nicked it but know they can play better. Possession of the Kelly Cup seems to be alternating between these clubs on a perennial basis now and the Green & Gold are more than capable of bouncing back to reclaim the spoils in '06. The championship was once more run on an initial round-robin basis in 2005 with the top two clubs progressing to the decider. The holders opened with a disappointing 2-12 to 0-7 defeat to Knockbridge at the Ramparts but bounced back with victories over Naomh Moninne (1-16 to 2-3) at Knockbridge and Wolfe Tones (0-15 to 0-7) at the Gaelic Grounds. This was enough to secure passage to the county showcase. Winners of the last five championships between them, Pearse Og and Knockbridge served up an interesting draw at Haggardstown on the penultimate Saturday of October. Knockbridge got the first point but Gerard Smith opened Pearse Og's account on nine minutes. The challengers added 1-2 before Mark Rafferty tagged on Pearse Og's second point on 19 minutes. Despite two more Smith points and one from Aidan Callan, Pearse Og trailed by five at the interval and had it all to do on the resumption. They fell further adrift but Callan ignited their fire with a 37th-minute goal. Game On. A bad injury to Seamus McDonagh held the game up for ten minutes but, after points from Smith and Shane Callan, Pearse Og took the lead for the first time thanks to David Mulholland's 57th-minute goal. It was tense stuff as Pearse Og held out until the tenth minute of added time. Then, Knockbridge seemed to have stolen victory with two points in a minute, only for Gerard Smith to send the final to a replay with literally the last puck of the match. Knockbridge went into the game as overwhelming favourites but a draw was a fair result. Things went wrong for Pearse Og from the off in the replay. The teams returned to Haggardstown but conditions were deplorable and the gale-force wind played a part in the opening score - a Knockbridge goal. When the holders had goalkeeper Stephen Smith lined on 13 minutes, they might have guessed it wasn't going to be their day. To their credit, they surged back to lead by a point before Knockbridge - playing against the wind - pointed in injury time to tie it up at the short whistle, 1-2 to 0-5. David Dunne's second-half goal finally broke Pearse Og's brave resistance and the 15 men, who had weather as well as numerical advantage, moved on to record a comfortable seven-point success. Eighteen-year-old Gerard Smith decorated the 2005 Louth SHC with a succession of stunning points from distance. The uncannily-accurate corner forward was also the second-highest marksman in the inaugural Nicky Rackard Cup as Louth charged to a historic All-Ireland final only to be undone by an unreasonably-strong London outfit. All in all, it was an eventful year for the deadly Pearse Og sharpshooter, but he's disappointed to have emerged from two major finals without some silverware to show for all the effort. But time is very much on the side of Louth's most prodigious hurling talent - he only turned 19 on Saturday November 12 2005 - so there'll be plenty more big days in what promises to be a wonderful career. Gerard was only 15 when Pearse Og claimed their breakthrough SHC success in 2002. He sat that final out due to his youth but featured in U16 and minor county deciders in the Pearse Og colours that year, winning an U16 medal. The minor final was lost - by a point - to Knockbridge, on an identical day to that of the '05 SHC final replay. He collected a MHC medal the following year and added a minor/senior double in '04. Due to Louth's excellent run in the Rackard Cup the entire programme of hurling in Louth was pushed back in 2005. The senior hurling league had yet to be completed at the time of writing, with little or no prospect of a resolution before 'Wee County 2005' went to the printers. Thus, things were still hanging in the air somewhat when we caught up with Gerard, but the main issues had been decided. Louth had been to Croke Park and back and Pearse Og had silenced their critics with a brave, if fruitless, bid in the SHC. It was a close-run thing. "We were close alright, but not as close as we'd like to have been," says the gifted young Pearse Og man. Gerard admits that Pearse Og never quite hit top gear in the 2005 SHC: "We played every other team in the league phase. We started against Knockbridge and they routed us that day. We knew then that we had to work a lot harder, stop being so lazy and pick it up for the rest of the championship. "We beat Naomh Moninne out in Knockbridge and Wolfe Tones in the Gaelic Grounds but we still weren't firing. We were far from our best but we still thought we could pick it up for the final against Knockbridge. "We played them five times altogether in 2005. They won two, we won two and there was one draw. There wasn't much between us but unfortunately they beat us when it mattered." Was the championship effectively a two-horse race? "No, I wouldn't say that. I think Wolfe Tones would have been close but they were very unlucky. They were missing Johnny and Aidan Carter and would have been an entirely different proposition if those two were playing." How did Pearse Og approach the county final itself? "We knew we'd have to play tough and fast hurling. The weather was perfect for hurling the first day and we did well. We proved ourselves in the drawn game. Maybe there was a feeling that Knockbridge just had to show up but we weren't buying into that and we gave it a real go. Though the surprise element was gone, they still had it all to do the second day. "The replay was close for a while but conditions were terrible and it was impossible to hurl. There was a 100-mile-an-hour wind and it pelted rain from start to finish. They got a quick goal against the wind and, even though we levelled by half time, they pulled away after the break. Paul Dunne is a former Poc Fada champion and he could only hit the ball 15 yards against the wind in the first half! It was a lottery in those conditions." To say that it was a long year could be construed as an exercise in understatement. Gerard starting training with Louth as early as January 2 and the Pearse Og player was out at least three times a week from then through into November. Simply put, the year stretched out too much, placing unreasonable demands on the players. But it was an enjoyable year too, especially at intercounty level, where the Wee County enjoyed a sensational Nicky Rackard Cup campaign. "It would have been more enjoyable if we'd got our hands on some silverware," Gerard replies. "Next year, Louth will be aiming to win the Nicky Rackard Cup and to escape from Division Three of the league. We've raised the standards now and we have to keep it up. Derry are going to be the team to beat in the Rackard Cup, but we qualified for the final in 2005 and there's no reason why we can't go one step further in '06." On the club front, Pearse Og played in Division One of the Armagh senior league for the first time in 2005. Competitions in the neighbouring Orchard County were also held up due to their own Rackard Cup run and, at the time of writing, Pearse Og were locked in a relegation battle, which Gerard described as "touch and go". On the domestic front, the aim is clearly-defined - another SHC. Gerard Smith concludes: "We hoped to do the back-to-back in 2005 but it didn't work out. But we're determined to bounce back. Our oldest player is 32 and everybody else is in their early 20s. We have a steady flow of players from the 2003 and '04 minor championship winning teams coming through, so we should be in contention every year for the foreseeable future." Tweet

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