Banner Ladies win fourth successive minor A title

Banner Ladies 4-20
Burren Gaels 0-6
Banner Ladies won their fourth successive minor A football title when they beat Burren Ladies in last Saturday’s final.
While the final scoreline was emphatic, Burren Gaels made the Banner fight for every inch in the first half. A dipping ball in the 13th minute, kicked in by Banner’s Rebecca Culligan, found the net. This was a score from which Burren Gaels didn’t recover.
Difficult weather conditions in Corofin dampened the flow of the game from the outset but, fighting a headwind, the Banner registered five points from four of their six forwards, Eva O’Dea’s opener, sister Niamh’s two points from frees, Orlaith Lynch and Karen Roche all scored before Burren’s Niamh Considine put one up on the board.
The indomitable Niamh O’Dea tacked on another two points, one from a free, and as the Burren Gaels found their flow they put some nice passages of play together down the left wing, inspired by captain Fiona Loughman, Joanne Howley, Niamh Considine, Róisín Howley, Katie Connole and Niamh Carrucan. They all registered consecutive scores, except for one interjection by Banner poacher Orlaith Lynch. By the 25th minute, the Banner still hadn’t really pulled away from the Gaels.
They were protecting a two-point cushion and it was all to play for. Captain Aoife Martin and Rebecca Culligan played impeccably at midfield to snuff out any further incursions into Banner territory and after Niamh O’Dea had pointed again, Rebecca Culligan’s 30m shot scraped the underside of the cross-bar, surprising custodian Kanisha Flanagan and bringing a ray of sunshine to the Banner side just as Damien Fox sent the teams in for their half-time rest in the middle of a terrible squall.
The game restarted with the wind behind the Banner and they maximised the advantage to the limit. O’Dea opened her second-half tally with a pointed free but time and again her distribution to corner-forwards Orlaith Lynch and Karen Roche caused havoc for Amy O’Brien, Niamh Tierney and Amy Cassidy in the Burren Gaels’ full-back line. In a frantic third quarter, Lynch pointed and rocketed in two goals and then Roche goaled and pointed three scores from play.
With no real response, O’Dea controlled the proceedings in the Burren Gaels half and added a further three points to her tally. The Banner’s Aoibheann Malone had her hands full with Róisín Howley but was never more than an arm’s length away and rarely leaked a ball into the full-back line.  
Several of the Banner line out had won two or three minor A titles already and this experience proved invaluable. Ryan, O’Dea, Hehir, Niamh Cahill, Walsh, O’Shea, Martin and Katie Cahill will all move on after three years service at this grade and are already established senior players.
They, including Culligan, now get ready for their participation in the Munster club first round meeting with Cappawhite of Tipperary on October 1.
They leave Culligan, Roche, Lynch, E O’Dea, Malone, Nolan and Keane, to form the core of a great minor panel into next year and with Emma Neylon, Elaine Casey (injured), Eve Copley, Niamh O’Brien, Shauna O’Connor, Orlaith Martin and Emma Kavanagh all subbing for the game, they bring their experience in 2012.

Banner: Orla Hennessy; Laurie Ryan, Niamh Cahill, Helen Hehir; Sinead O’Keeffe, Katie Cahill, Niamh Walsh; Aoife Martin (captain), Rebecca Culligan (1-0); Eva O’Dea (0-1), Niamh O’Dea (0-7, 3f), Gráinne Nolan; Karen Roche (1-5), Aoife Keane (1-0); Orlaith Lynch (1-5).
Subs: Suzie O’Shea, Shauna O’Connor, Niamh O’Brien, Eve Copley, Aoibheann Malone (0-2), Emma Neylon, Orlaith Martin, Emma Kavanagh, Meghan Fitzgerald.
Management: JJ O’Dea, Louise Henchy, Alan Copley.

Burren Gaels: Kanisha Flanagan; Amy O’Brien, Niamh Tierney, Amy Cassidy; Caolinn McCormack, Fiona Loughman (captain), Joanne Howley; Kayleigh McCormack, Róisín Howley (0-1); Megan Byrne, Niamh Considine (0-2), Katie Connole (0-1); Niamh Carrucan (0-1), Amy Moloney (0-1), Lisa O’Brien.
Subs: Róisín Kelly, Leanne Lafferty, Shannon McCormack, Sarah O’Gorman, Ella Barrett.
Management: Anthony Geraghty, David Flanagan, Patsy Carrucan, Deirdre Jordan, Mark Mulqueeny.