The St Brides first team didn't have much to celebrate in 2006 but the return to full fitness of influential midfielder Pierce Murphy certainly came as a welcome boost in an otherwise forgettable campaign. After 18 months on the sideline, Pierce shook off his personal injury nightmare and was his usual dependable self, though most of the season was "a non-event" due to the uncompetitive nature of Division 1A. Cruciate and medial knee ligament damage robbed St Brides of Pierce Murphy's services for a year and a half. For the player, it was a long road to recovery but he persevered and got his just rewards with a first-team return in '06. Murphy's presence bolstered the team centrally but, unfortunately, the Knockbridge men only had three meaningful matches in the entire season and an uncharacteristically early championship exit left them kicking their heels as summer drew to a close and a long winter beckoned. It was all or nothing for the Brides as they faced into a very difficult section in the 2006 Louth SFC. They were pitted in Group D alongside defending champions Mattock Rangers and under-rated local rivals Kilkerley Emmets and Glyde Rangers. The Knockbridge men went into the competition with a superb recent record of reaching the knockout stages, but knew they had their work cut out to make the Last Eight again. Adding to the pressure was the fact that, due to the County Board's restructuring plans, there was very little to play for in the top flight of the league. As teams appeared to be going through the motions in Division 1A, they knew their year would effectively be over if they failed to clinch a place in the business end of the Joe Ward Cup. As it transpired, the Brides misfired in the premier competition, failing to win any of their three outings. Elimination left them high and dry, much to the obvious frustration of everyone associated with the club. Thus, while the Brides have been knocking on the door of a major breakthrough since taking their place in the top ranks, another year has passed without senior success and the players have been left with a lot of soul-searching to do over the cold, dark winter months. Reflecting on the events of '06, Pierce Murphy admits that everything was geared towards the championship: "With the leagues being restructured, all the teams in Division 1A were guaranteed their senior status again in 2007, so the league really was a non-event from Day One. It was just used as preparation for the championship and there was no intensity to the games whatsoever. So we set our sights on the championship and everything was geared towards May…" After beating a horrific knee injury, Pierce returned to full training in January. He'd been out of action for 18 months. Surely it was farcical to be then faced with a season that hinged entirely around the results of just three matches? Hardly an ideal scenario? "Definitely not. As things turned out, a lot of people threw in the towel once we went out of the championship. It was a disappointing year and we saw very little meaningful competitive action." Teams from the top division were forced to place all their eggs in one basket and it went spectacularly wrong for the Knockbridge men, who lost their impressive recent record of reaching the quarter-final stage of the SFC. "We were always fairly consistent in the league and that served us well going into the championship. But this was the first time in four years that we failed to progress to the knockout stage and we were unsure where to go after that, especially with the league set-up. It got to the stage where we were just going through the motions and fulfilling fixtures. "It was the same for everybody. Any players I talked to from other clubs said it was the same with them. Once they went out of the championship, training dropped from three times a week to once a week. There was no intensity to it at all and the season just petered out." Alas, in a county famed for the competitive nature of its club fare, football in the Wee County's top tier was almost non-existent for much of 2006. This was in stark contrast to previous seasons and seemed ironic given the great strides made by the county team under new manager Eamonn McEneaney. The irony is not lost on Pierce, who played every minute of the Brides' ill-fated Group D programme. They got their campaign off to an unfortunate start against Glyde at The Grove on Saturday June 3. The 14-man Tallanstown representatives led by 0-7 to 0-6 with three minutes left and were then awarded a highly-dubious goal which resulted in the abandonment of the match. Glyde were subsequently awarded the points, though Brides could argue that it was officiating as much as their own inadequacies that had cost them such a poor start. Defending champions Mattock provided opposition at Louth village on Thursday July 7 and the Brides' championship prospects received a major blow when they succumbed to a 1-5 to 0-5 defeat in a scappy, uninspired contest that they really should have won. It was 0-3 apiece at the interval and seven missed chances inside the third quarter summed up Brides' night. St Brides could still have forced a three-way play-off for the runners-up spot in the group if they had managed to defeat Kilkerley at Dowdallshill seven days later. However, much to their dismay, the Emmets snatched a draw - and qualification - when Donal McElroy's injury-time punt somehow managed to work its way over the crossbar. The Brides had scored more in that match (0-12) than their previous two outings combined (0-6 + 0-5) but they were out of the 2006 Louth senior football championship. An injury to their most important player at the worst possible time didn't help the Brides cause: "We lost Aaron [Hoey] a week before the first championship match," Pierce explains. "He had been in very good condition and was as fit as he has been in years, and that was one of the reasons why we were really hopeful, so it was a big blow to lose him. Aaron is very much the focal point of the attack and we need him there. He never fully recovered and that definitely worked against us. "Having said that, we still had a strong enough team to progress. The goal that was allowed in the Glyde game and the trouble that followed unsettled us a bit because we weren't sure where we stood. "Once the dust settled, we were still hopeful of progressing and just concentrated on our football again. In the second game, we knew that Mattock had a severely weakened team due to a combination of holidays and injuries. We had decided to move on and produce the performance we were capable of, so that game was a major letdown. We had our strongest team out; owned the ball; had 70% of the possession; and created plenty of good opportunities…" A paltry return of five points was embarrassing and the Brides' championship survival now hung by a thread. If they could get a draw with Kilkerley in their last group game, they might still force a three-way play-off (if Mattock defeated Glyde) but Pierce agrees that the Mattock result was the defining point of their season: "I would have thought so. Going into the Kilkerley Emmets game we needed to win and for the other result to go our way. As it turned out, the other result went for us but we only got a point ourselves." In fairness, it was a difficult group and any two of the four teams could have progressed. "We would consider Glyde and Kilkerley to be derby matches and Mattock had beaten us in the 2002 senior final, so it was three teams that we knew well and they were always going to be tight games. But we were still hopeful that we'd go through to the quarter-finals," Pierce reflects ruefully. With Down man Declan Mussen brought in to train the team, St Brides prepared well and expected a big push in '06. Ultimately, however, was it a step backwards? "It probably would be as we didn't get to another quarter-final, but I watched a lot of the senior championship games after we went out and we'd still consider ourselves to be there or thereabouts. As a group, we are kicking on a bit though. The average age is up to about 27 and we don't have a lot coming on, so time is starting to run out. If this team wants to do something, we'd better do it quickly." The Brides were playing junior football when Pierce Murphy joined the first team as a 16-year-old a decade ago. They've made substantial progress in the meantime and are now a firmly established senior power. They reached the 2002 SFC decider and lost a semi-final replay the following year. Impressive stuff, but one gets the impression that this group of players needs to win a Joe Ward Cup to be able to say that they realised their full potential. Can they mount a genuine challenge in 2007? "The players have to accept the blame for what happened in 2006 and we have to admit that it simply wasn't good enough," Pierce concludes. "We'll have the same squad again next year and hopefully everybody will make a greater effort. If the attitude is right, then hopefully we'll reap the rewards we deserve. You also need a little bit of luck to progress and hopefully we'll also get a few breaks in 2007, because we didn't get too many last year." Tweet

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