Roche U17s travelled to a sunny St Marys in Ardee on Wednesday evening for their second league match hoping to build on the momentum gained from an opening win against O Connells/Stabannon.

The lads were without a few players due to injuries/illness but it showed the value of having a competitive squad as they still fielded a strong starting fifteen.

The match could not have started worse as in the opening minute, full forward Adam Gillespie fired a rocket to Ozzie Nash's net to give the home team a dream start. Eoin Maguire then settled Roche with a "ping" of a 45 as he split the posts with metres to spare. The first half in general was a very close affair with both teams matching each other score for score. Andy McKay and Luke O Connell were Roche's chief scoring protagonists as they kept the scoreboard ticking over with some delectable scores. And when DD Reilly was cynically hauled down whilst on one of his customary scything runs, the resulting black card gave Roche a numerous advantage on the stroke of half time.

Half Time: Ardee 1:07 Roche 0:09.

When Aristotle philosophised "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts", he could well have been looking at the Roche second half performance. The togetherness, unity, determination and grit displayed by the boys in blue was magnificent as they eventually ground down the talented St Marys lads.

Final Score: Ardee 1:08 Roche 0:14

Next up is the visit of Cooley to Pairc de Roiste on Friday 10th June.