Stephen Attride (born 1993) is a

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er who has played for the

Killeshin Killeshin () is a village in County Laois, Ireland on the R430 regional road. Killeshin is a small rural community situated five kilometres west of Carlow town and overlooks the picturesque Barrow Valley. The church at the foot of Slievemargy ...

club and the Laois county team, serving as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of his county for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons. Attride was primarily interested in athletics from a young age, specifically middle-/

long-distance running Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running come two di ...

, at which he competed both nationally and internationally. However, while in his last year at school, he developed

shin splints A shin splint, also known as medial tibial stress syndrome, is pain along the inside edge of the shinbone (tibia) due to inflammation of tissue in the area. Generally this is between the middle of the lower leg and the ankle. The pain may be du ...

and this affected his future progress in athletics. He attended

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

(DCU), where he played for the university football team. Age given as 24 in July 2018. Initially playing at wing-forward, Attride developed into a corner-back. Laois manager

Justin McNulty Justin McNulty MLA (born 15 November 1974) is an Irish politician, a Gaelic football manager, and a former player at senior level for the Armagh county team. He has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Newry and Armagh si ...

noticed his progress and invited him onto the county panel in 2013. He scored a goal against

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in Laois's

2016 Leinster Senior Football Championship The 2016 Leinster Senior Football Championship was the 2016 installment of the annual Leinster Senior Football Championship held under the auspices of Leinster GAA. The competition ran from 14 May 2016 to 17 July 2016. Dublin came into the compe ...

quarter-final loss to the then

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

title holders. In 2017, the then Laois manager Peter Creedon appointed Attride as

of the team. Creedon's successor John Sugrue allowed Attride to retain the county captaincy. Sugrue led Laois to the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

Division 4 title in his first year. It meant that Attride became the first Laois captain since Ian Fitzgerald to raise a trophy aloft in the

Hogan Stand Hoganstand.com is a news website and the online face of the monthly Gaelic games magazine ''Hogan Stand'', which is distributed throughout Ireland. The magazine is named after the main stand in Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games ...

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

. Laois then advanced to a first

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster GAA, Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

final since 2007. However, Attride was unavailable. While blocking a ball during stoppage time of his county's

2018 Leinster Senior Football Championship The 2018 Leinster Senior Football Championship was the 2018 installment of the annual Leinster Senior Football Championship organised by Leinster GAA. Dublin county football team, Dublin, the defending champions, won their eighth consecutive ch ...

semi-final victory over

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

at Croke Park, Attride collided with the knee of an opponent, was knocked unconscious, stretchered from the field of play and spent a night in the Mater Hospital after sustaining a double fracture to his skull. The injury also ruled him out for the remainder of the season. Attride's teammate Ross Munnelly and former Laois player

Colm Parkinson Colm "Wooly" Parkinson (born 1978 in Meelick, Portlaoise) is a retired Irish Gaelic footballer, and journalist. Playing career Club Parkinson was a decorated underage player with Portlaoise, winning county titles at every underage grade before ...

both praised Attride's intervention. He later recovered. Attride took a break from teaching (he teaches

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

and

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

) at

Knockbeg College St Mary's Knockbeg College () is a Roman Catholic, all-boys secondary school located on the Laois/Carlow border in Ireland, approximately 3 km from both Carlow town and Graiguecullen, County Laois. A former seminary school for the diocese ...

to travel to Australia ahead of the 2020 season. He was accompanied by his girlfriend and others he knew. Age given as 27 in November 2020. He took up a teaching position at Bondi High School and trained with the Clann na Gael club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attride, Stephen 1993 births Living people Alumni of Dublin City University DCU Gaelic footballers Gaelic football backs Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Irish male long-distance runners Irish male middle-distance runners Irish schoolteachers Laois inter-county Gaelic footballers Science teachers Athletes from County Laois 21st-century Irish sportsmen