Redemption close to completion

St Brigid’s will bring to Croke Park for Sunday’s AIB All-Ireland club football final are personified in Senan Kilbride, their veteran forward who admits it’s “about getting the chance to redeem yourself”.

Kilbride could be speaking for the entire county: no Roscommon club has ever won this title, and instead lost in all seven previous final appearances – including St Brigid’s themselves, just two years ago, when taken down by the might of Crossmaglen Rangers.

Now, the redemption Kilbride refers to is close to completion. Beating Crossmaglen in last month’s semi-final, against almost all the odds, helped make up for what happened in Croke Park in 2011, and sets up the final step, with only Ballymun Kickhams standing in the way of their ultimate moment of glory.

“Well at this stage of the campaign, if you’re not in the right place, there’s nothing more you can do,” says Kilbride, who earlier this month was named provincial club footballer of the year for his role in helping St Brigid’s win a third successive Connacht title. “It’s just being about trying to tailor the training again, towards the final. But preparation has gone well, with a couple more weeks of hard work behind us, since the semi-final.”

This mix of motivation in fact goes back to 2006, when Kilbride won his first Roscommon title with St Brigid’s, who then went on to capture the provincial title too. Yet any assumption greater honours would soon follow didn’t prove true, and even in 2011, when they took down Nemo Rangers in the All-Ireland semi-final, the chance of All-Ireland success was shot down by Crossmaglen.

"We got close," says Kilbride (2-11 to 1-11), "but whenever we got close on the scoreboard, they laid down a few more points. But they were the better team on the day. I think we were quite naive, actually. But we've come a long way since then, with a stronger squad of players, and tactically as well."

Regrets
Kilbride, it seems, has more regrets about what happened last year, when St Brigid's once again came out of Connacht, only to fall to near neighbours and Leinster champions Garrycastle, in the semi-final: "I suppose the first time you make Croke Park you'd be happy enough. Then last year we felt we were a better team, but then just didn't perform on the day, against Garrycastle, and that's always the more disappointing. They out-played us, but we didn't show any desire, or do ourselves justice.

“After that loss, a lot of lads took a long break, and a very well-earned break, as well. The new management came in, took it game by game. We actually took the Roscommon league very seriously, which I think helped, playing well in that, and that kind of got lads back on track, and focused for the year ahead.

"So this year, really, it was about getting the chance to redeem yourself. Once you've made that final, you want to get back, and the feeling we had in Croke Park two years ago, walking out with the club, is a big motivating factor for us."

New management
The new management Kilbride refers too has certainly helped: former Mayo star Kevin McStay, now resident in Roscommon town, has instilled a no-nonsense approach, along with fellow Mayo man (and brother-in-law) Liam McHale. St Brigid's local Benny O'Brien completes the team, and Kilbride gives major credit to their overall ethic.

“In fairness they’re putting everything on a plate for us, with no talk of two years ago, any extra pressure on us, or anything like that. They’re excellent, really well organised, and work very hard, and have our training down to the ‘t’. Everything is snappy, but their experience on the field helps as well, they way they’re able to relate that to us. They’ve had their own disappointments, and are able to empathise with us.

“I’d have known Kevin well already, not just as the TV pundit, and he is a very clever man, very hard working. He had the pedigree too, as a manager (previously in charge of Roscommon Gaels, guiding them to a county title too). He had everything to lose, coming to work with us, but saw the potential, knew a lot of players, and knew the Roscommon scene very well.”

Kilbride is based in Dublin, teaching at St Patrick’s in Drumcondra, and by uncanny coincidence, did his primary practice last year in Our Lady of Victories, in Ballymun – alongside Ballymun defender Eoin Dolan. That raises a smile, yet Kilbride doesn’t conceal the seriousness of the task at hand, even if they, unlike Ballymun, have the advantage of playing in a previous final. “It can get to some players – and that’s why it’s so important to concentrate on the job.”