{{Short description|Irish Gaelic footballer}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} '''Stephen Attride''' (born 1993)<ref name=adjusting/><ref name=hopes/> is a Gaelic footballer who has played for the Killeshin club and the Laois county team, serving as captain of his county for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.<ref name=sewing/>
Attride was primarily interested in athletics from a young age, specifically middle-/long-distance running, at which he competed both nationally and internationally.<ref name=adjusting/> However, while in his last year at school, he developed shin splints and this affected his future progress in athletics.<ref name=adjusting/> He attended Dublin City University (DCU), where he played for the university football team.<ref name=adjusting>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/adjusting-to-leading-role-on-sidelines-37091834.html|title=Adjusting to leading role on sidelines|work=Sunday Independent|date=8 July 2018}} Age given as 24 in July 2018.</ref> Initially playing at wing-forward, Attride developed into a corner-back.<ref name=adjusting/>
Laois manager Justin McNulty noticed his progress and invited him onto the county panel in 2013.<ref name=adjusting/> He scored a goal against Dublin in Laois's 2016 Leinster Senior Football Championship quarter-final loss to the then All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title holders.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2018/0620/971971-skull-fracture-victim-attride-ready-to-support-laois/|title=Skull fracture victim Attride ready to support Laois team-mates|publisher=RTÉ|date=20 June 2018}}</ref> In 2017, the then Laois manager Peter Creedon appointed Attride as captain of the team.<ref name=adjusting/> Creedon's successor John Sugrue allowed Attride to retain the county captaincy.<ref name=adjusting/> Sugrue led Laois to the National Football League Division 4 title in his first year.<ref name=adjusting/> It meant that Attride became the first Laois captain since Ian Fitzgerald to raise a trophy aloft in the Hogan Stand of Croke Park.<ref name=sewing>{{cite news|url=https://www.skysports.com/gaa/gaelic-football/news/30543/11663940/laois-captain-stephen-attride-sewing-seeds-for-managerial-future|title=Laois captain Stephen Attride sewing seeds for managerial future|publisher=Sky Sports|date=13 March 2019}}</ref> Laois then advanced to a first Leinster Senior Football Championship final since 2007.<ref name=adjusting/>
However, Attride was unavailable. While blocking a ball during stoppage time of his county's 2018 Leinster Senior Football Championship semi-final victory over Carlow 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/laois-captain-stephen-attride-suffers-double-fracture-to-skull-1.3526538|title=Laois captain Stephen Attride suffers double fracture to skull|work=The Irish Times|date=11 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/laois-captain-stephen-attride-to-miss-leinster-final-after-suffering-double-fracture-to-his-skull-36996954.html|title=Laois captain Stephen Attride to miss Leinster final after suffering double-fracture to his skull|work=Irish Independent|date=11 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.the42.ie/stephen-attride-laois-skull-fracture-4064147-Jun2018/|title=Laois captain Attride ruled out of Leinster final after suffering horror double skull fracture|publisher=The42.ie|date=11 June 2018}}</ref> The injury also ruled him out for the remainder of the season.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-30848091.html|title=Laois captain Stephen Attride suffers double fracture to his skull|work=Irish Examiner|date=11 June 2018}}</ref> Attride's teammate Ross Munnelly and former Laois player Colm Parkinson both praised Attride's intervention.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sportsjoe.ie/gaa/stephen-attride-163438|title=Colm Parkinson pays tribute to Laois' pair of heroes after courageous acts|publisher=Joe.ie}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.balls.ie/gaa/ross-munnelly-stephen-attride-390792|title=Ross Munnelly Hails 'Unbelievable Level Of Bravery' From Laois Captain Stephen Attride|publisher=Balls.ie|date=12 June 2018}}</ref> He later recovered.<ref name=sewing/>
Attride took a break from teaching (he teaches physical education and science)<ref name=sewing/> at Knockbeg College to travel to Australia ahead of the 2020 season.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hoganstand.com/Article/Index/305243|title=Attride blow for Laois|work=Hogan Stand|date=25 October 2019}}</ref> He was accompanied by his girlfriend and others he knew.<ref name=hopes>{{cite news|url=https://www.laoistoday.ie/2020/11/05/former-laois-captain-attride-hopes-to-represent-county-again-when-down-under-journey-ends/|title=Former Laois captain Attride hopes to represent county again when Down Under journey ends|publisher=Laois Today|date=5 November 2020}} Age given as 27 in November 2020.</ref> He took up a teaching position at Bondi High School and trained with the Clann na Gael club.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2020/0530/1143576-why-three-players-swapped-inter-county-football-for-oz/|title=Why three players swapped inter-county football for Sydney|publisher=RTÉ|date=1 June 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Attride, Stephen}} Category:1993 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Dublin City University Category:DCU Gaelic footballers Category:Gaelic football backs Category:Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Category:Irish men long-distance runners Category:Irish men middle-distance runners Category:Irish schoolteachers Category:Laois inter-county Gaelic footballers Category:Science teachers Category:Athletes from County Laois Category:21st-century Irish sportsmen