Banner Ladies capture All-Ireland sevens

The Banner Ladies senior seven-a-side team captured the national intermediate All-Ireland title last Saturday when they won the annual tournament hosted by Naomh Mearnóg and St Sylvester GAA clubs in Portmarnock. The Banner girls played and won seven matches in total beating Cappawhite from Tipperary 6-3 to 1-3 in the final.

Naomi Carroll opened her account in the final with a goal and this was added to by another from club secretary and team captain, Louise Henchy.
Cappawhite came back with a goal and a point of their own in quick succession. When Sonya Maher buried a quality goal in the Tipp net, it seemed they had weathered the worst of it and Niamh O’Dea’s point from a distance should have demoralised Cappawhite.
Instead, the challengers drove wave after wave of pressure down on the Banner defence and when Louise Henchy found herself as the last line of defence against a certain Tipperary goal, she took the only option available to her, which resulted in a penalty for the Blue and Whites of Cappawhite. Emma O’Driscoll saved full length though and gathered the ball, sending the Banner sideline into a frenzy.
When Niamh Keane goaled from O’Driscoll’s clearance and Naomi Carroll followed suit a minute later, sending the Banner into an 11-point lead, the title was almost secured.
Further goals from Niamh O’Dea and Sonya Maher sealed a magnificent win for the Ennis club.
Banner Ladies started the campaign with matches against Kinnegad (Meath) and Garda, Dublin which they secured comfortably, 7-9 to 0-9 and 9-9 to 2-7 respectively.
In their third match against Gráinne Mhaols from Galway, Banner won 6-5 to 0-7 before beating St Bridget’s from Antrim 4-9 to 2-6.
They met Group 4 winners Kilmacud Crokes in the quarter-final and after a trying game, Banner won 1-9 to 0-4.
Railyard of Kilkenny were the semi-final challengers and when the half-time whistle went up, the Banner had weathered some heavy opposition and still had a five-point advantage.
The Cats were obviously adept with the large ball as well as the small one and in the last five minutes were within a kick of the ball of equalising, only three points in arrears.
But a strong finish by the Saffron and Blues rattled the net twice to end the dreams of the Kilkenny girls.
Banner Ladies panel: Emma O’Driscoll, Laurie Ryan, Sarah Hoey, Aoife Martin, Niamh Walsh, Mary Tierney, Megan Haugh, Louise Henchy (capt), Sonya Maher, Naomi Carroll, Niamh Keane, Niamh O’Dea.
Management: Kevin Greene, Claire Walsh and Alan Copley.