Pearse Og may not have regained the Louth SHC in 2006 but the Dundalk club reached another county final and lost by only three points. They also captured the Armagh Division Two league title with a series of powerful displays. All in all, midfielder Mick Martin is confident that the club is still moving forward. Pearse Og were disappointed to be placed in the second flight of the Armagh senior league for 2006 and they duly made their point - loud and clear - by romping to the silverware with a solid run of ten successive victories. Though they were clearly punching below their weight, it was still nice to garner a trophy for their season's endeavours. Back home, despite a couple of disappointing defeats along the way, Pearse Og still managed to book their place in another county SHC decider. Having lost to Knockbridge after a replay at the same stage twelve months earlier, they squared up to the villagers again but this time went under by three points, 1-14 to 2-8, at Louth village on Sunday October 15. Most of the damage was done in the first half as the winners tore into a 1-11 to 1-4 interval advantage. But Mattie Boland's goal just before the short whistle had given Pearse Og heart and they battled back gamely in the second period. When Mark Rafferty found the net two minutes from time, the champions of 2002 and 2004 were within a point but it was Knockbridge who finished strongest, sealing the issue and retaining the Paddy Kelly Cup with two injury-time points. Looking back on the events of the year, Offaly-born midfielder Mick Martin can salvage some positives from the ashes of county final defeat: "Obviously, it's always going to be disappointing when you lose a county final but, in general, we made a lot of progress in the standard of hurling we are playing. Unfortunately, Knockbridge must have raised the bar as well..." "Overall, we're happy enough and we gave some great performances in the Armagh league in particular, and we also introduced some new faces into the team, so it wasn't a bad year and hopefully Pearse Og have something to build on." Pearse Og's senior championship campaign opened with a surprise 2-8 to 0-12 defeat to Wolfe Tones in early September but they recovered to beat Knockbridge with a last-gasp Shane Callan goal. With Naomh Moninne having withdrawn from the championship, the remaining round-robin results meant that a three-way play-off would be required between the clubs left standing (who had a win and a defeat each). The draw paired Pearse Og and Knockbridge together in the first game, with the winners going through to the decider and the losers facing Wolfe Tones in a second play-off for a final place. Pearse Og lost to the 'Bridge but recovered to avail of their second opportunity, beating the Tones by 0-8 to 0-7 in terrible conditions to book a third championship meeting of the year with their arch rivals. Thus, the players were within 60 minutes of realising their objective for the year. "At the start of the season, our target was to win back the championship," Mick confirms. "We were very disappointed with the way things panned put in 2005, when we lost such a close final to Knockbridge (after a replay). They beat us fair and square, but our goal was definitely to get back to the final and win it. "We were also keen to do well in the Armagh league. We weren't particularly happy to be in Division Two in the first place but the organisers put us in a position where we had no choice. We felt strongly that we shouldn't have been playing at such a level and that gave us the motivation to go on and give a decent account of ourselves. We blitzed every team in it and won the title emphatically. I think that sent out a clear message that we should have been in the top division to begin with." Looking at the overall picture, Mick was sad to see one of the four traditional clubs pulling out of the 2006 championship: "The first thing that was disappointing was that Naomh Moninne weren't there. The more games you get, the better it is for everybody. It would have been a more exciting championship with them involved and it's always better when there are more obstacles to overcome. "We were very disappointed when it was reduced to just three teams. We lost to Wolfe Tones at the start - they were really fired up on the day and that result gave us the wake-up call we needed. After the two games against Knockbridge, we managed to beat Wolfe Tones in a play-off for a place in the final. They had a few back and really put it up to us but we were happy with our response and we showed that we could pull out a win when the championship came down to the latter stages and the pressure was on. "That win gave us the confidence we needed to go on against Knockbridge in the final and we also had the bonus of having Shane Callan back." It was the third and decisive 2006 SHC meeting of these familiar foes and the defending champions managed to hold on for a slender victory. Originally from the St Rynagh's club in Offaly, Mick Martin is now based in the bustling border town of Dundalk (he's getting married to a local girl). He represented Louth in 2006 but intends to concentrate solely on club hurling during the coming year: "There will be added incentive to get one back on Knockbridge. They have done really well and they have great strength in depth at the moment. They have definitely raised the bar again and the challenge for us now is to try to move with them. They have done well in Leinster and that's also something we'd like to do." At the time of writing, the Louth senior hurling league had yet to be finished, with Knockbridge and Pearse Og due to meet in the final: "It's a pity it wasn't played earlier in the season when the quality of hurling would have profited from better weather. There's no reason why the competition can't be played off sooner in a county with just three teams. "In general, I would like to see more attention paid to hurling in the county. There is good support for the game but I don't know if the County Board is supporting it as much as it could. I can understand that football gets priority but there are a lot of people working hard to keep hurling alive in the county and they deserve more recognition and support." Pearse Og - 2006 Louth SHC finalists: Stephen Smith; Finbar McArdle, Brian Hassett, Martin Myles; Noel Callan, David Mulholland, Sean Conroy; Shane Callan, Mick Martin; Mark Rafferty (1-0), Donagh Callan (0-2), Gerard Smith (0-5); John O'Brien, Philip McFaul, Mattie Boland (1-1). Subs: Brian Minogue, John Anderson. Tweet

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