St Patrick’s Athletic were league champions in 2013, Cup winners a year later, but 2016 was a year to forget for Liam Buckley’s side as his team languished, eventually finishing in seventh place, 32 points behind champions Dundalk.
Ian Bermingham signed for his boyhood club back in 2010 and was a key member of that league-winning side and the team that broke the club’s 60-odd year FAI Cup curse.
But the 27-year-old, who will captain the Saints for the 2017 season, was quick to admit that his side’s performance throughout the past 12 months were not up to the standards that had been set in previous seasons at the Inchicore club.
“I don’t thing that fitness levels were up to scratch for parts of the season last year and maybe organisation-wise as well,” Bermingham told RTÉ Sport, ahead of his side’s opening league encounter against Bray Wanderers on Friday night.
"We have to try to hit that height, kick on and try to get back into Europe this year."
But the former UCD and Shamrock Rovers defender is confident that the club has acted swiftly and rectified that wrong with a real emphasis being put on fitness and organisation for the season ahead.
Bermingham believes that his side will be back challenging for the European places this season following an excellent pre-season at the Dublin club where team-mate Ger O’Brien has taken up a coaching role and brought a new energy to the group.
“This year we’ve come back in to pre-season and Liam [Buckley] has us at it and we have a new strength and conditioning coach, Mark Kenneally, who has done tremendous work with us.
“So we’ll be much fitter this year and we’ll be much more organised, with Ger O’Brien who has made the transition from playing to the coaching side of things and it’s been very good, so we’re looking forward to the season ahead.
“We will be fit around the pitch and will play with a lot of energy and hopefully we will have a successful season.”
St Pat's defender Ian Birmingham admits that fitness levels were not up to scratch last season. More on RTE.ie in the morning. #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/9SI9CLOwBq
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) February 22, 2017
Bermingham hopes that the new signings at the club, blended with a mix of the current squad and an injection of youth, will help to recreate that winning mentality around the club.
“There’s a positive vibe around the club. We’ve signed players like Pat Cregg, Gavin Peers, Kurtis Byrne and Barry Murphy who bring great experience to the squad.
"And then there is the likes of Alex O’Hanlon, JJ Lunney and Darren Markey coming through so we have a good blend now and we’re looking forward to the season.
"O’Hanlon, who has come back from Liverpool, has impressed me very much in pre-season and Lunney as well, I think he is an Ireland Under-19 international and has come up through the youths so both of them have impressed and I’ll be looking out for them."
The Ballyfermot man is convinced that the league campaign will be a much tighter affair this season but also admitted that Dundalk have set the standard following their excellent season in 2016 securing their third title in a row as well as reaching the group stages of the Europa League.
"I think it will be closer this year. You have the likes of Dundalk and Cork who are up there already and then Shamrock Rovers have strengthened very well and Derry City as well.
"But I think a lot of clubs have strengthened and it will be tighter, but Dundalk have set the benchmark the last few years so we’ll all be aiming to catch them.
"What they have done has been excellent. I think all clubs aspire to get to that level in European competition.
"Obviously, we have been in it a few times but we’ve never got to the group stages.
"But I think every club should be aiming for what they’ve done last year. We’re looking on and we’d love to be where they are. We have to try to hit that height, kick on and try to get back into Europe this year.”
While Bermingham will be the man with the armband for the season opener, player/coach O’Brien remains the club captain, however, his fellow defender is not sure how much of a role the right back will play on the field this year.
"I don’t know whether he is going to play, he’s more of a coach now," said Bermingham.
"But the sessions have been bright, he’s brought a new energy into the group and Ger and Darius [Kearns] have put on some very good sessions this year.
"As I said, we will be organised, they have done a good bit of coaching on the training pitch with us now organisation-wise, so we’ll be ready to go come the 24th."
