David Roche (May 1923 – 5 November 2020) was an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er who played for club side

Fermoy Fermoy () is a town on the River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,500 people. It is located in the barony of Condons and Clangibbon, and is in the Dái ...

and at inter-county level with the

Cork senior football team The Cork county football team represents Cork in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Cork GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland ...

Career

Roche first came to

prominence on the

team that faced

CLonakilty Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is located at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population as of 2016 was 4,592. Th ...

in five consecutive county finals from 1942 to 1946. He ended up on the winning side on just one occasion in 1945. Roche's performances at club level saw him join the

for the opening round of the 1944 Munster Championship. He was replaced as first-choice goalkeeper by

Moll O'Driscoll Michael O'Driscoll (1922 - February 1988), known as Moll O'Driscoll was an Irish Gaelic footballer who played for club side Clonakilty GAA, Clonakilty and at inter-county level with the Cork senior football team. Career O'Driscoll first came ...

the following year, however, he remained close to the panel that claimed the

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

title after a defeat of

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Roche was also a regular with the Cork junior team and won a

Munster Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurlin ...

title in that grade in 1953.

Personal life and death

Roche was born in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

and spent his entire working life as a plasterer. He was also renowned as a singer and was one of the longest-serving members of the Fermoy Choral Society. Roche died on 5 November 2020.

Honours

;Fermoy *

Cork Senior Football Championship The Cork Premier Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bon Secours Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Cork PSFC) is an annual club Gaelic football competition organised by the Cork Count ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

;Cork *

Munster Junior Football Championship The Munster Junior Football Championship is a gaelic football tournament between the six counties of Munster: Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare and Waterford. It is the third-tier county teams playing off in a single-elimination tournament w ...

: 1953

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Dave 1923 births 2020 deaths Cork inter-county Gaelic footballers Fermoy Gaelic footballers Gaelic football goalkeepers Irish plasterers Munster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Sportspeople from Fermoy