They may not have had the rub of the green in the Senior Championship, but there was some consolation for Roche Emmets this season when they captured the ACC Cup following a 2-14 to 0-15 victory over St. Mary's in July. After two successive appearances in the Senior Championship semi-finals, Roche Emmets began the year hoping to build on that success, but things certainly didn't work out that way as they failed to win a game in the round-robin series, and were one of only five teams to make their exit at the group stages. In the opening game, against Dundalk Gaels, Roche surprisingly went down by just a single point, putting the pressure on them for the remaining two games. Next up were neighbours, Kilkerley Emmets, and on a wet night at Courtbane, Roche suffered another blow in a game that ended in controversy. The game was level going into the closing moments and Roche looked certain to snatch victory when they had a effort cross the bar, but the referee had blown the whistle while the ball was in flight and the score was disallowed, resulting in the game ending in a draw. That left Emmets with no chance of qualifying for the quarter-final direct from the group, as their only hope lay in forcing a play-off. To do that, they needed to defeat Naomh Mairtin, and hope that Kilkerley did them a favour by beating Gaels. Although Kilkerley kept their part of the bargain, Roche failed in their efforts at Dunleer against a JP Rooney-inspired Monasterboice side, and finished bottom of the table with just one point. As a result, they went into the ACC Cup final with their confidence at a low ebb, but coincidentally, St. Mary's were in a similar position after they too had a poor championship. The final, played on a Wednesday night, illustrated just how quickly things can change during the course of the season. When Roche Emmets and St. Mary's won through from the semi-finals in mid-May, the prospects were good for both sides. Not only were they in line for a bit of silverware, but it was predicted that this early season form would be a forerunner to an extended run in the championship. However, by the time the sides took the the field at Knockbridge, hopes of success in the Joe Ward Cup were distant memories. Neither team fulfilled their potential, managing just one point between them and made their exit by at the group stages. As a result the clubs' fortunes being at a low ebb, many predicted it might be a rather lifeless encounter. But, that is not how it turned out as both sides gave their all in a high-scoring encounter that could have gone either way, before Roche Emmets came out with five points to spare. The victory represents the Faughart side's second successive year with silverware following their Division 1B title last year which bridged a gap of 19 years without a senior title. It was back in 1980 that Roche won only their second ever Joe Ward title, and there had had been plenty of lean years since then. It also also served as a boost ahead of their Division 1A league run-in and was another boost for the management team of Brendan McArdle, Colm Gartlan, Jimmy McVeigh and Martin McQuillan. St. Mary's will certainly be disappointed having failed to complete victory after battling back from a slow start. One of the contributing factors to Roche's poor championship form was the absence of the influential Kevin Callaghan, and his value to the team was underlined with a starring role on his return from America. The attacker scored a total of six points over the course of the hour, but it was at the other end that the winners had their Man-of-the-Match, with goalkeeper, Aidan McCoy, in inspirational form, producing a number of vital saves to deny the Ardee side. Indeed, good goalkeeping was a feature of the game, as McCoy's opposite number, Peter Duffy, also pulled off a number of fine stops to help keep his side in touch. What turned out to be one of the best games of the year, saw both sides play some good football, with well-taken scores and very few wides to speak of. It was the Ardee men who were first to show, with Niall Sharkey kicking the first of his eight points from a free in the opening minutes. However, that served only to sting Roche into action and, by the eighth minute of the game their dominance had earned them a 0-5 to 0-1 advantage. Sharkey added two further points from frees to reduce the gap to 0-6 to 0-3 by the end of the first quarter, but five minutes later, Roche struck the first goal of the game to take control of the game. Kevin Callaghan picked out Gerard Craven and the centre-half forward crashed home a fine goal from from 14m. Roche were unable to shake off their opponents and St. Mary's responded well with Niall Sharkey adding another free before brother, Brian, kicked his side's first from play after 23 minutes to make it 1-6 to 0-5. Before the break, the sides added a point apiece to leave the Faughart side four in front. The Ardee men came out in the second half in determined mood and three points in as many minutes after the restart, saw the gap reduced to just one. Paddy McArdle steadied Roche with his side's first of the half, but St. Mary's came back with another score before Brian Sharkey levelled the game at 1-8 to 0-11 in the 40th minute. Five minutes later, his side were ahead for only the second time when Alan Balfe made space to kick over. It was all St. Mary's at that stage, but Roche managed to raise their performance once again and enjoyed a purple-patch during which they scored 1-5 without reply, to take control of matters once more. Ciaran Nash pointed to put his side level, before Callaghan (2) and Martin McQuillan scored to leave the score 1-12 to 0-2. Any hopes St. Mary's had of making a comeback virtually disappeared five minutes from time when Michael Craven added the second goal, with Callaghan bringing the gap to seven with another free. Alan Doherty pulled a point back for St. Mary's before Brian Keenan won a penalty in the last minute. To compound the Ardee team's misery, Aidan McCoy rounded off a fine evening for himself and his side, by pulling off a fine save to tip Niall Sharkey's effort over the bar. Apart from McCoy and Callaghan, Roche saw Dermot Craven perform well at the back, while Martin McQuillan, with the help of Paddy McArdle, had the better of the midfield exchanges. Ciaran Nash had a good outing on the 'square'. Scorers: Roche - Kevin Callaghan (0-6, 4 frees), Gerard Craven (1-0), Michael Craven (1-0), Martin McQuillan (0-2), Ciaran Nash (0-2), Paddy McArdle, Martin Craven and Aidan Reilly 0-1 each. Roche Emmets: Aidan McCoy, Brendan Callaghan, Dermot Craven, Duane Callan, Derek McKeown, Kenneth Gartlan, Colm Callaghan, Paddy McArdle, Martin McQuillan, Kevin Callaghan, Gerard Craven, Gerry Murphy, Martin Craven, Ciaran Nash, Aidan Reilly. Sub: Michael Craven for McKeown. After the game, Roche Emmets captain, Patrick McArdle, accepted the ACC Cup on behalf of his teams to start a good night of celebrations for players and supporters. Tweet

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