A Chat with Steven Trimble
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Things move pretty quickly in top flight football. Nobody will know this better than Drogheda United goalkeeper Steven Trimble. Only a few months ago the Swords man was preparing for a life on the fringes of First Division football with Shelbourne. He now finds himself firmly established as Mick Cooke’s number one, and is turning plenty of eyebrows following a string of top class performances.
When I interview him, it’s the morning after Drogheda’s heart-breaking last second defeat to reigning champions Shamrock Rovers. You can’t blame him for adopting a “what might have been” attitude.
“I woke up this morning still devastated from it” he begins. “I looked at the clock and knew there could only have been ten seconds left. I was sure we were going to come away with the point, but to lose it like that was really hard to take.”
To lose any game in the fifth minute of additional time is always a bitter pill to swallow, and considering the calibre of the opposition and where Drogheda are coming from this season, it’s easy to sympathise with the 21 year old shot stopper who played the 95 minutes with a broken finger he picked up in a training exercise during the week.
However, the former Sporting Fingal recruit believes there are more positives than negatives to take from the defeat. “We can take great confidence from a performance like that. I always knew we were capable of playing like that and to do it against (Shamrock) Rovers proves we can do it against the best in this league.”
He goes on to reveal how the mood in the Drogs’ camp is very high at the moment, but knows this was not always the case. Following a slow start which saw the side go 14 games without a win, Drogheda were mired at the foot of the table. Indeed many pundits had already chalked them off as relegation bound and there seemed little hope for the Claret and Blue.
Photo taken by Larry McQuillan
However since then, the club’s fortunes have improved somewhat. And the goalkeeper has played his part in the revival. He is in no doubt as to when the turning point arrived. “I think it was the game against Dundalk”, he says referring to Drogheda’s unprecedented away win over the club’s Louth rivals at the beginning of last month.
“That’s when we really started to gel as a team. And since then, Mick has managed to bring in some good players and we’ve started to play football to the level we can.”
Upon mentioning Mick Cooke’s name, Trimble is keen to praise the manager who left his job at Monaghan to take over at Hunky Dorys Park at the start of this season. However, the modest keeper can also take a lot of credit for the team’s resurgence after some impressive performances which saw him wrestle the number one jersey out of David Quirke’s clutches.
He has since gone on to claim man of the match performances in the defeats to Bohemians away and more recently Derry at home when he denied the league’s top goal scorer Eamon Zayed on more than one occasion. However Trimble downplays his achievements.
“It was after the game against Rovers (a 4-0 defeat in at the start of April) when Mick made a good few changes to the team. Quirkey (David Quirke) was unlucky to lose out because there wasn’t much he could do about it. I’m glad to have got the opportunity and hopefully I can stay in there now that I have it.”
Drogheda currently lie six points ahead of the much maligned Galway United who occupy bottom spot. While it may still be too soon to make predictions as to which club are going where, Drogheda have managed to ease relegation concerns for now. And next Friday’s clash with Galway offers the chance to both further extend the gap between the two clubs, and move closer to UCD who are seven points ahead of Drogheda.
Trimble fully recognises the importance of Friday’s game. “Hopefully we can make up for last night’s disappointment with a win over Galway next week. We know we have to keep the pressure up on UCD. We play them at the start of that final phase of games so that is going to be a huge match.”
You get the impression talking to the goalkeeper, who tips Sligo to pip Rovers to the league title, that he is loving his introduction to life in Premier Division football. There’s plenty of work yet to be done for the Louth club, as Trimble knows but he’s relishing every minute of it.
When I interview him, it’s the morning after Drogheda’s heart-breaking last second defeat to reigning champions Shamrock Rovers. You can’t blame him for adopting a “what might have been” attitude.
“I woke up this morning still devastated from it” he begins. “I looked at the clock and knew there could only have been ten seconds left. I was sure we were going to come away with the point, but to lose it like that was really hard to take.”
To lose any game in the fifth minute of additional time is always a bitter pill to swallow, and considering the calibre of the opposition and where Drogheda are coming from this season, it’s easy to sympathise with the 21 year old shot stopper who played the 95 minutes with a broken finger he picked up in a training exercise during the week.
However, the former Sporting Fingal recruit believes there are more positives than negatives to take from the defeat. “We can take great confidence from a performance like that. I always knew we were capable of playing like that and to do it against (Shamrock) Rovers proves we can do it against the best in this league.”
He goes on to reveal how the mood in the Drogs’ camp is very high at the moment, but knows this was not always the case. Following a slow start which saw the side go 14 games without a win, Drogheda were mired at the foot of the table. Indeed many pundits had already chalked them off as relegation bound and there seemed little hope for the Claret and Blue.
Photo taken by Larry McQuillan
However since then, the club’s fortunes have improved somewhat. And the goalkeeper has played his part in the revival. He is in no doubt as to when the turning point arrived. “I think it was the game against Dundalk”, he says referring to Drogheda’s unprecedented away win over the club’s Louth rivals at the beginning of last month.
“That’s when we really started to gel as a team. And since then, Mick has managed to bring in some good players and we’ve started to play football to the level we can.”
Upon mentioning Mick Cooke’s name, Trimble is keen to praise the manager who left his job at Monaghan to take over at Hunky Dorys Park at the start of this season. However, the modest keeper can also take a lot of credit for the team’s resurgence after some impressive performances which saw him wrestle the number one jersey out of David Quirke’s clutches.
He has since gone on to claim man of the match performances in the defeats to Bohemians away and more recently Derry at home when he denied the league’s top goal scorer Eamon Zayed on more than one occasion. However Trimble downplays his achievements.
“It was after the game against Rovers (a 4-0 defeat in at the start of April) when Mick made a good few changes to the team. Quirkey (David Quirke) was unlucky to lose out because there wasn’t much he could do about it. I’m glad to have got the opportunity and hopefully I can stay in there now that I have it.”
Drogheda currently lie six points ahead of the much maligned Galway United who occupy bottom spot. While it may still be too soon to make predictions as to which club are going where, Drogheda have managed to ease relegation concerns for now. And next Friday’s clash with Galway offers the chance to both further extend the gap between the two clubs, and move closer to UCD who are seven points ahead of Drogheda.
Trimble fully recognises the importance of Friday’s game. “Hopefully we can make up for last night’s disappointment with a win over Galway next week. We know we have to keep the pressure up on UCD. We play them at the start of that final phase of games so that is going to be a huge match.”
You get the impression talking to the goalkeeper, who tips Sligo to pip Rovers to the league title, that he is loving his introduction to life in Premier Division football. There’s plenty of work yet to be done for the Louth club, as Trimble knows but he’s relishing every minute of it.
About Sam Griffin
Sam joined Extratime for the 2011 season and is now the site's features editor. He is based in Dublin and covers all the clubs in the capital. He is also prone to the odd Drogheda … View Full Profile