A life less ordinary certainly encapsulates that of Dave 'Rookie' Roche, as he has achieved so much and experienced a myriad of things in sport, his career as a master craftsman doing restorative plastering and as an accomplished singer.

Speaking to Dave, who is now in his early 90s in his home in Glanworth, it seemed as if his story was more fitting for the pages of a book, so this tale is merely a snapshot of his story.

ORNATE PLASTERWORK WAS HIS PASSION

As a young man, Dave always knew that he wanted to work with his hands and this passion led him towards the career of a master craftsman doing restorative plaster work. This would have been very intricate work, involving the restoration of ornamental and ornate plaster work.

He worked with the Rohane brothers up to the 1980's when the business was sold. Some of the projects he worked on included the first houses in Duntahane, the esteemed Doneraile House and even work in America.

Typical of the kind of situations that Dave found himself in, while on holidays in San Francisco, he passed a yard filled with ornate plasterwork by the Casey's, who were sixth generation Irish and they wanted to get him on board with a project they were working on, but he was due to return home in two weeks.

As he got talking to the plaster workers, he agreed to extend his holiday to help restore a big plateau, so that it would be the same as it was before the war, transforming the building back into a replica of the childhood mansion the owner remembered.

Dave's work was held with such reverence that years later, his son Tim visited the Château Dion in LA to see what his father had put his hand to.

Dave also worked on the ceiling in the Doneraile House and used a running mould to bring out the detail in what would have been the original work from centuries before.

"I got great satisfaction out of that, it worked very well, but I was a bit shy and didn't actually go to the unveiling," Dave told The Avondhu and it was clear that this is something he still holds onto and perhaps wishes he had done all those years ago.

HOW THE 'ROOKIE' CAME TO BE

Many people across the generations will know Dave Roche fondly as the Rookie, but not quite so many will know where the name that has stayed with him all these years, actually came from.

As a young boy, Dave used to go watch the GAA matches each Sunday and one day, he was called on to play.

"I went on, even though I'd no gear and I'd never played a match before and playing at left half forward, I got two points and after that, I got into it."

He would play around at home, throwing the ball across his bed and diving to save it - his love of the goalkeeper position was being nurtured and little did he know where it would take him.

The Cork football team were practicing in Fermoy ahead of their first Munster championship game and Dave had taken a few hours off work to stand on the sideline and watch them train.

As luck would have it, they were one man short and before long, Dave was standing in goals.

"I got into the spirit of it and had all of these famous footballers kicking balls at me and I saved a good few shots. Eamonn Young must have been impressed by me and he said 'hold on there young fella, stand in there and we'll practice a few penalty shots'. They took six shots against me and I saved three."

Fr Hogan was in goals at the time, but was going off with the missions and so it became that Dave found his way onto the Cork team.

After one of their first matches in Macroom, Dave was playing full forward, the ball came across to him and he landed it in the back of the net - "it wasn't a bad one for a rookie" he said and so the nickname was born.

In his time, Dave played with the likes of Jack Lynch and Christy Ring.

Such was his popularity with the team that when they were due to travel to America in 1953 to play in the first All stars tour in New York after the war, Dave had pneumonia and was bed bound for three weeks, but that wasn't to stop him from going to America.

While he was getting his strength back after the bout of pneumonia and the doctor had given him the all clear, he was still very weak. He got an unexpected visit from the general secretary of the county board, Sean Og Murphy and the chairman Andy Scannell and even though he told them that he didn't even have the strength to swing his legs out of the bed, they had him signing insurance forms and were lifting him down the stairs.

He said that the tremendous welcome they got in America was worth leaving his sick bed for.

The county, Munster and All Ireland medals won by Dave throughout his sporting career will always hold a special place in his heart.

Fittingly, given his own love of GAA, in the bed that Dave was born in on Barrack Hill in Fermoy, there was a framed photograph on the wall and it was none other than Dr Croke.

DAVE'S SINGING IS PART OF CHRISTMAS

Dave is one of the longest serving members of Fermoy Choral Society, having been a member since 1950 and while he was always shy, he always enjoyed singing and over the years, he has become known for his rendition of 'Oh Holy Night' at Christmas Mass.

Dave singing 'Oh Holy Night' has brought tears to people's eyes and has made the hairs on their neck stand up, as he really puts his heart into the song.

"There is so much going on at Christmas, but this song conveys the true meaning of Christmas, what it should be and what it means to me. I'm amazed at my age that my voice is still there."

He was also known for singing after matches and was soon dubbed the 'singing goalie'.

Earlier this year, a portrait of Dave, by his nephew Bernard Fleming, was exhibited as part of the Royal Hibernian Academy's annual exhibition.

While hundreds of people would have seen Dave's picture back in May when it was displayed in Dublin, sadly, he has never seen a picture of his own mother.

He is now appealing to readers of The Avondhu to look through old photographs and see if they can find one of his mother, Kate O'Neill from Currahoomore in Glanworth, as it would fulfil a lifelong wish of his to see a picture of her.

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