This was a year in which Roche Emmets wanted to do something big at adult level. It was, after all, the 25th anniversary of their last senior championship win - and what better way would there be to celebrate than to have the Joe Ward Cup back on the sideboard. Or any other trophy, for that matter. By Joe Carroll. Optimism - if not players - abounded. Last year a splendid league performance had seen the men with the St Brigid's Cross on their jerseys move up to the top section of the Cardinal O'Donnell Cup along with Ardee St Mary's. But, worryingly, there was no joy in the championship, all three games in the league section ending in defeat, just as had happened in 2003. Overall, however, 2004 was good with Paddy Martin in charge. It halted a slide that had begun soon after a hugely successful 2001 season. That year, Roche had one of their best seasons of recent times, winning the O'Donnell Cup - for the first time in forty years - as well as the subsidiary league. Back then, Paddy McArdle and Armagh man, Martin McQuillan, formed one of the best midfields in the county, Gerard Craven and David McKeown could always be depended on for scores, while Aidan O'Neill and the play-anywhere but injury-prone Ciaran Nash were other key elements in a well balanced side. Incidentally, memories of the 1961 O'Donnell Cup win were evoked at a recent get-together in Drogheda, celebrating the achievements of the great Newtown Blues of the 'Sixties. Present along with the Blues players of that era were members of the teams they had played in championship finals. Mick Brady and Brendan McArdle represented the Roche team beaten in the '63 final. Interestingly, when recalling the early years of the decade, some of the Blues spoke of the great games they had with the Emmets, and the difficulty they found in trying to beat them. While Blues won the 1963 championship meeting of the sides - by the minimum margin - Roche trumped their great rivals in the 1960 O'Donnell Cup decider, and did the same when the sides met again twelve months later. Emmets had also played in the 1959 when beaten by Oliver Plunkets. From the distant to the immediate past. Peadar McLoughlin, a Camlough man living in Dromintee just across the Border, was taken in to manage the team at the beginning of this year. His credentials were good. He had achieved success at club level in Armagh, as well as guiding the school in Kilkee, Co Down, to victory in the All-Ireland "B" Championship. And he was in charge when Abbey CBS scored a rare victory over their great Newry rivals, St Colman's, in the McRory Cup. Not available to Peadar, however, were the six mentioned above, and as the season took off, not so much the Armagh man but those who knew how valuable McQuillan and the rest had been to the team must have regretted their absence. There was no joy in the early stages of the main league, but a useful run in the ACC Cup earned a place in the semi-finals. Roche wouldn't have been among the favourites when the championship took off. They were in the wrong half of the league table, while there was that record of not having won a game in the knock-out in two years. They weren't, however, in the most difficult of sections, though Naomh Mairtin were the top fancies to win one of the two available places in the quarter-finals. It went quite well for the Emmets. In addition to a defeat of Stabannon Parnells there were draws with Mairtins and Dreadnots, and as it transpired, four points were good enough to book a place in the last eight and a meeting with the competition favourites, Cooley Kickhams. No joy here - though for just a while it looked as if there might be a shock. Concerned with the dominance Roche had in the area, Cooley manager, Pete McGrath, gave his midfield a complete overhaul, and whether or not it was that which made the difference, the peninsula side ended with a comfortable win. Peadar McLoughlin took his leave in mid-season to be replaced by Brendan Quigley and Noel Treanor. Gerard Reel came in as trainer, and the aim at this stage was to guide the side away from the league's relegation zone. While there were some spirited performance in the latter stages, not enough points were gathered to stave off what most had felt was inevitable from a long way out. Eamon Reilly, who took over as vice-chairman during the year and is also the club Co Board delegate, is not too despondent. "We're still in senior, and if we can hang in there over the next few seasons, I can see us being a force in the grade again. We suffered badly through the loss of so many of the 2001 team, and not only that, we haven't had the same number of young players coming through the ranks." Like officials attached to other clubs, Reilly believes that the haphazard way in which junior football is being run in the county is a huge drawback. "We've always used the junior to bring on young players, but now with no guarantee of football on a regular basis, they are dropping out of the game altogether. Whatever restructuring takes place, it will have to give as much prominence to junior as anything else." Roche joined forces with St Bride's in minor this year, and while the amalgamated side made it through to one of the secondary league finals, there was no joy in the championship. Further down the line there was more progress this year than for a long while. The under-13s won Division 3 of the All-County League, while the under-l4s and under-16s made it through to league and champio-nship finals. "The two Cumann Peile Cuchullain teams in the area, Naomh Brid and Naomh Seasamh, fared very well and that augurs well for the future," says Eamon Reilly. "There are quite a number of people in the club who are looking after teams, and through a link-up with the Dundalk Institute of Technology, we are getting the proper coaching structures in place." A man who devotes an enormous amount of time to the Roche cause, Reilly was at the helm for the celebration that took place at the Park Inn marking the 25th anniversary of the 1980 championship win. It was a night of nostalgia and good fun as all but two of the squad two that pieced together a brilliant run, culminating in the defeat of the holders, Young Irelands, turned up to be presented with a memento. The venue was appropriate. The Park Inn is Philip Kirk's place, and it was the same Philip who was mascot when Roche played Clan na Gael in the 1985 final. He later won a MFC medal, and in 1997 scored the point that gave Roche victory in the Intermediate final. His dad, the late Vincie, was on the first Roche side to win the championship, in 1958, and was chairman when the club purchased the field that would become the wonderful grounds that Pairc de Roiste is today. And where better to finish, than with Pairc de Roiste? It's to undergo further improvement early next year; all going to plan floodlights will be installed by the end of January. Tweet

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