As five of the eight teams in Division 1B would be forced to surrender their senior status at the end of the season, Roche decided at the start of their 2006 campaign that they would concentrate mainly on the league. Michael Craven, who captained the side, admits that the main priority for '06 was to retain senior standing by virtue of a Top Three finish. Unfortunately, the Pairc Roiche men fell just short of their goal and surrendered top-flight status. To put it mildly, 2006 was an awkward year for teams in Division 1B of the all-county league. As part of a radical makeover of club structures in the county, the number of senior clubs in Louth was being reduced to twelve (from 16) at the end of the year. The lucky dozen would comprise all eight clubs who played in Division 1A during '06; the intermediate championship winners; and the top three clubs in Division 1B. With five other clubs from that eight-team section thereby condemned to relegation (as opposed to the two who took the tumble in previous years), it made for an ultra-competitive and fascinating 1B campaign. Rarely in the history of Wee County football has there been so much at stake for so many over the course of a single league campaign. Thus, it was hardly surprising that teams in the second flight of senior were reluctant to get distracted by the championship. For once, there were bigger fish to fry elsewhere… Roche Emmets set their stall out at the start of the year and their target was clearly-defined: survival. While a decent championship run would be greeted enthusiastically as a welcome bonus, the main concern in the clubhouse was to ensure that Pairc Roiche would be hosting senior fare again in 2007. With Clan na Gael, Kilkerley Emmets, Oliver Plunketts, Sean O'Mahonys, Dreadnots, Naomh Mairtin and Geraldines all vying with Roche for just three senior places, the pressure was on like never before. And so unfolded a taut, tense and emotionally-draining year that culminated in Roche making the drop back to the middle tier of Louth football. Michael Craven says survival was always top of Roche's agenda. The 2006 club captain concedes: "Our main objective was to preserve our senior status for next year, especially when we saw that we had such a difficult group in the championship. We still gave the championship our best shot, but we fell just short." Roche were in Group C along with the Clans, St Marys and Newtown Blues. They could hardly have asked for a tougher assignment. They managed to open with a great victory but couldn't add to that: "We knew it was going to be difficult so we set ourselves the target of trying to win the first game against the Clans, which we did. The plan then was to hopefully pick up something from the games against the Blues and the Marys but we couldn't stay with those teams." After a stunning 1-8 to 0-10 victory over Clan na Gael threw the group wide open, Roche were quietly confident squaring up to St Marys. Unfortunately, they were well beaten - 2-14 to 0-4 - at Knockbridge on July 1, with Ronan Carroll in inspirational form for the winners. With confidence dented, they fell to a 1-18 to 1-7 defeat to the Blues, but it wasn't the end of the world as Emmets still had everything to play for in the league. "We were never under any illusions. We always knew it would be very difficult to get out of the group. The league was much more important and our main aim for the year was to make the Top Three. It was a long year as the leagues were held up and never got going until September but we were still in with a shout and nobody wanted to go down." With Fergal Reel, Martin McCourt and Noel Treanor at the helm, Roche set about the difficult task with determination and no little pride. The club has a great tradition of senior football, dating back almost to its foundation in 1947 (they were relegated in 1996 but won the following year's intermediate championship) and they desperately wanted to be playing senior football in their 60th anniversary year. Another key motivation was that founder member Jack Treanor from Kilcurry had passed away during '06 and the players desperately wanted to retain their senior status in his honour. Returning to the championship, Michael admits that the opening victory created a buzz in the clubhouse: "The win over the Clans raised expectations. We knew we had nothing to lose against the Marys and we could really go for it, which was a nice position to be in. And Darren Clarke was missing. As it turned out, they proved far too strong with a lot of quality to call on. We found it very difficult to get to their pace. "Against the Blues, we were still in with a chance of qualifying if we could even sneak a draw. We were with them at half time but their extra class saw them through in the second half and they pulled away." It was a disappointing end to Roche's SFC odyssey but they were far from inconsolable. After all, they knew the Joe Ward Cup was beyond them in '06: "The real priority had to be the league and trying to preserve our senior status," the club captain and centre forward reiterates. "We had a lot of lads coming up from Dublin and it was hard for them because of the way the fixtures were arranged. The success the county team enjoyed was a double-edged sword as the club fixtures were all over the place and the season dragged on. But it was the same for everybody and we just had to get on with it. With the new structures in place, hopefully it will all be sorted next year…" Can Roche win a senior championship in the foreseeable future? It's not long since the club was capturing Cardinal O'Donnell and ACC Cups and contesting senior semi-finals against the Blues and Kilkerley. Now they face a potentially-tricky year in intermediate football. How far are they off the pace at present? "That team came close but disintegrated very quickly after a few disappointments. We've lost ground but we're working to bring a new team through now. "We have exciting young players like Darren McConnon, Daniel O'Connell and Paudie Callaghan coming through to complement the more experienced lads like myself and my brothers, the Callaghans, Gerry Murphy and Duane Callan. They all have a year of senior football under their belts now and that will stand to them. These are players to watch and we have to make sure they are playing senior football again very quickly." Michael Craven is well aware of the challenges facing Roche Emmets and believes the club is in good hands: "There is some tremendous underage coaching taking place in the club and we will reap the benefits of that. Girls football has started up too and that's a boost for the club. The population is on the rise but we seem to be losing a lot of players from Fatima, which is now regarded as the greater town area, so we've set up a sub-committee to look into that. "Our first team is in transition but we'll never be content with just making up the numbers. There are players here who know what it's like to win Cardinal O'Donnells and ACC Cups and we know that on our day we can beat any team. We have to move forward and set out long-term sights on beating the likes of Cooley Kickhams and St Patricks again. We used to beat them and we can still handle them at underage level, so we can do it again. We really look up to the Pats for what they've achieved, but we'd like to emulate them and there's no reason why we can't. "If we get through the next couple of years and win back our senior status, we can challenge again. Our minors and U16s did well last year so hopefully we can give those players top-flight football when they come through. Everybody wants to play senior football. We're used to it in Roche and we're not prepared to settle for anything less." Tweet

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