GAA | Roche Emmets roar to victory in U14 Division 2B final
Louth U14 Division 2B final | Roche 5–7 Kilkerley/Malachi’s 1–9
Roche Emmets roared to victory in the U14 Division 2B final in Darver on Monday night, running out comfortable winners against neighbouring Kilkerley Emmets/Naomh Malachi.
The derby encounter proved to be a lively affair with lots of good football despite the persistent rain which made life difficult for the players.
Right from the first whistle, the play was fast and frantic with Roche building early scores. At the other end, Kilkerley/Malachi’s ran into a physical and determined Roche rearguard which kept their scoring opportunities to a minimum.
Roche continued to keep their goal intact and only conceded two points while holding sway in midfield. Up front, they cut loose to register 4–4 by the short whistle.
The Kilkerley/Malachi’s side made positional changes at the break which gave them more penetration and they managed to outscore their opponents in the second half.
However, they could not get the boost of a goal until late in the game, by which time Roche had added a further 1–3 to their tally.
This second half scoring ensured the result went Roche’s way on a final score of 1–9 to 5–7, capping a complete 19-man performance from the whole Roche panel.
Neil McCarron gave a perfect performance of net minding and kick-outs while the full back line of Mark McArdle, Jack McKay, Killian McKay was solid and uncompromising.
The halfback line of James Toal, James McDonald and Dylan Lindsey was unrelenting in its tackling and unwillingness to be passed. The introduction of Gabriel Cleary or TJ Begley did not dim this line’s ferocity or purpose.
Midfielder Mikey McCourt produced his best performance of the year with endless high fielding and purposeful accurate long passing to the forwards with unrelenting assistance to his defence.
His partner, Killian Carroll was masterful in tidying up in the sector and his powerful ball carrying ability into the heart of the opposition rearguard.
Daire Reilly orchestrated the energetic attack and fed his other hungry roving forwards with beautiful accurate passes from the 40.
Gavin Gilmore, Niall Lennon and Mark Byrne, followed later by Calum Grant, Oran Byrne and Barry Griffin, fed well off his distribution and they tortured the opposition defence, scoring some magical scores, with Niall and Gavin showing some exceptional mazy runs through the opposing defence.
Fionnan McGurk won lots of position all across the forward division and was tireless in his efforts to provide for his other forward colleagues.
This was a complete team performance and should be trumpeted as such, however one man deserves mention, as his performance epitomised the team’s character and performance, and that was Danny Treacy.
He was magnificent in everything he did. Playing in a defensive role he never backed off and in rushing forward, retrieved endless balls from opposition raids and cleaned up endless loose ball followed by starting countless offensive moves.
ROCHE EMMETS: Neil McCarron, Mark McArdle, Jack McKay, Killian McKay, James Toal, James McDonald, Dylan Lindsey, Mikey McCourt (0–1), Killian Carroll (0–1), Mark Byrne (1–1), Daire Reilly (1–1), Gavin Gilmore (1–1), Niall Lennon (2–2), Fionnan McGurk, Danny Treacy, Calum Grant, Gabriel Cleary, Barry Griffin, Oran Byrne, TJ Begley.
