BEATING an unwanted tradition played its part in Rostrevor’s league success this season. That’s the analysis of manager Tom Franklin, whose team celebrated winning the ACFL Division Two league title on Monday night when they beat Saul in the final round. They finished the season with six wins in a row.
Tom said: “People would talk generally about how Rostrevor would struggle after the festival (The Fiddler’s Green Festival in mid-July). We managed that to flip that on its head.”
Warrenpoint man Tom pointed out that the win moves Rostrevor closer to their goal of returning to the top table of club football in Down.
“People maybe look at Rostrevor as being one of the traditionally bigger clubs. They look at them as a senior championship and Division One club. I know that that it has been a while since they have been competing at that level. I think it is key to get back to that level.”
Tom added that the mood has been great in the club, particularly because ladies’ team was also successful recently when they won their Division Two title.
“Last week against Longstone when they came to us there was a great atmosphere. It is even better than what it was previously. There was a big crowd in Saul too. That is great to see.”
Before their game on Monday night, the senior men had secured promotion to Division One. Victory over Saul only served to deliver a league title.
Tom said that doing so was important.
“It is a huge thing to go up, that was the bigger picture. But I think if we had finished on a defeat at the end, it would have been finishing on a negative, and you don’t want to finish on a negative.”
