Nine years Moyle Rovers have waited.
Peter Acheson was never going to miss it.
On Friday, the former Tipperary midfielder flew back in from Dubai for a third time in just over a month.
On Sunday, they won the county senior football championship, Moyle Rovers 1-15 Ardfinnan 1-7.
On Tuesday, he makes his way back to UAE and back to work.
It’s been a heck of a journey for Acheson who says this season might be his last with his native club. On Thursday’s GAA Hour, the club centre back spoke about his commitment to the cause, his commute for Tipperary club football games and what it means to still be representing Moyle Rovers.
But, although that emphatic win puts the club into a Munster quarter-final against the mighty Dr Crokes in what will be a Tipperary venue, there will be no more Peter Acheson next Sunday.
After the triumph with the sweat still pouring down his body and the breath still taken from his chest, Acheson spoke with the brilliant Tipp FM and their man Stephen Gleeson who captured a quality post-match interview.
In it, the Dubai resident confirmed that the annual leave has caught up on him and he won’t be around next week.
“All the holidays are well and truly gone at this stage, I’m in the red,” he said.
“I couldn’t even ask work. The plan was to come back for the county championship.”
Acheson has been lucky to be working with Irish natives who get it. They understand what it means and they understand that, whilst it might seem crazy to just about everyone else in the world that someone would do multiple 15,000km round trips to play in the Tipperary club football championship, it simply needed to be done.
Acheson put in the miles, he missed the sleep and he racked up his work holidays to tog out for his club. It might well be for the last time but, as county champions, there might not be a better time to call it a day and what a day.
Congrats to @moylerovers on the county final success!!! This is their centre back @PeterAcheson speaking to me after the game. Great day for him and his club!!
He is flying back to Dubai on Tuesday and looks set to miss the Dr. Crokes game #GAA #CountyFinal pic.twitter.com/VRIS3Qv6VL
— Stephen Gleeson (@StephenGleeson_) October 28, 2018
