One group win not enough
December 30, 2009After winning the Louth intermediate football championship in 1997, Roche Emmets enjoyed a glorious decade at the Wee County's top table, rubbing shoulders with the very best and threatening a major breakthrough in the Joe Ward. But, since surrendering their senior status at the end of 2006, the Blue & Whites have remained frustratingly marooned in the second grade and '09 was another case in point as they once more failed to justify themselves in the main competition.
With intermediate fare now beckoning for a fourth successive year, seasoned campaigner Dermot Craven acknowledges that he and his team-mates have to find an extra 10% if they're to fulfil their true potential and regain their senior standing.
Last year was a real disappointment. Roche were in Group B of the IFC and managed just a solitary win from five outings. They lost their opener to Geraldines by a point (0-7 to 0-6) in Dowdallshill on May 3 and fell to O'Connells by two points (0-11 to 0-9) three weeks later before suffering a third successive narrow reverse - 2-9 to 1-11 - at the hands of Na Piarsaigh in Louth village. On August 13, Roche recorded their sole victory of the campaign when blitzing St Nicholas by 2-14 to 0-10 and they closed their programme with a 3-5 to 1-11 draw with Hunterstown. When the final tallies were totted up, they lay in fourth place with just three points. Interestingly, though, their points difference was +6. Na Piarsaigh, who finished second with eight points and progressed to a second successive intermediate decider, had a scoring average of +7…
Thus, turning narrow defeats into narrow wins is the challenge facing Roche in 2010. Even a slight improvement would see them emerge as definite Seamus Flood Cup contenders.
As for '09, Dermot Craven concedes: "It didn't go as we'd have hoped, that's for sure. From a general viewpoint, it was disappointing across the board. We did well enough in the league, but our championship run was disappointing for one reason or another. We feel that we didn't do ourselves justice, and that is very disappointing."
Going into the championship, Roche had their eye on a place in the business end of the IFC: "We would have had our sights set on progressing out of the group stage and that was a very reasonable aim considering the talent we have in the club. We haven't managed to get beyond the group stage since the championships were restructured a few years ago, but we were hopeful in 2009. Our goal was to get into the knockout stage and then take each game as it comes.
"Without being overly optimistic, we felt that we had a very good chance of going all the way. We were optimistic and when you see teams like the Clans, O'Connells, Na Piarsaigh and Naomh Malachi in the shake-up at the end of the year you have to wonder why we couldn't be there with them. It's something we have to take a long hard look at."
There were some mitigating circumstances. Roche lost the services of a number of regulars, including Dermot's brother Michael Craven who retired after years of service; another veteran campaigner Brendan Callaghan (who couldn't give the required commitment due to work); and leading marksman Kevin Callaghan who was sidelined by the recurrence of an old injury. Kevin was unavailable from the second round of the championship onwards and was a massive loss.
Noel Litchfield took charge of team management duties, with help from Mickey Sharkey, David McKeown, Martin McCourt and Simon Allen. Preparations went well and the team hit the ground running. "We played Naomh Malachi in our first competitive match, in the first round of the Sheelan Cup - which we had won in 2008 - and we beat them. We also won our first league game away to the Clans and fitness levels were good and we had decent numbers out at training. Unfortunately, numbers dwindled as the year went on…
"In the championship, we lost by a point to Geraldines and then by two points to O'Connells. Everybody probably says this but we could have - and should have - won all our championship games. In the O'Connells game, a very dubious decision went against us in the second half and that certainly didn't help. I was suspended for the Na Piarsaigh match but the lads played really well to go ahead in the second half. However, they got a goal five minutes into injury time to beat us by a point. We gave a great performance against the Nicks and were seven up at half time against Hunterstown and also got the first point of the second half to lead by eight, but they came back strongly to deny us a win."
Was it just one of those years where nothing was ever going to go right? Dermot shrugs: "Things went against us but at the end of the day we have to take responsibility ourselves for how things finished up. We were the ones playing the games and we didn't do enough.
"The minor team got to the 'B' final this year and that's a real positive as we should have some new blood coming through from that side."
Dermot started on the Roche first team in 1996 and is now heading into his 15th season as an Emmets player. He's experienced many ups and downs during his days in the blue and white colours, with honours collected including a minor championship, an intermediate title, two ACC Cups, a Cardinal O'Donnell Cup and a Division 1B league medal as well as contesting a few SFC semi-finals. "I played senior football for many of those years, so I can't really complain," he says. "Having said that, I'd dearly love to help Roche return to senior ranks. It would be great if we could push on. We have some good young lads in the club and senior football is the best place for them to be.
"From a personal point of view, my target would be to bow out of club football with Roche back at senior level. I don't think that's beyond us in any way. Getting out of the group is the first thing and Roche are more than capable of doing that if we get it right on the day. We're not too far off the mark. Hopefully we'll get there in 2010. We'll remain optimistic anyway." Tweet
