Banner Ladies 3-13
Cappawhite (Tipperary) 3-11
(after extra time)

It took extra time before the Clare ladies senior football champions finally shook off Cappawhite in last Saturday’s Munster senior B semi-final in Tipperary town.

Banner will play Sliabh Luachra from Kerry in the final on Saturday following the Kerry champions’ 2-13 to 2-11 win over Ballymacarby from Waterford.
In what would hardly qualify as a progressive way of dealing with player burnout or indeed player welfare, four Banner players played in Kilmaley’s senior camogie county semi-final win over Clooney-Quin in Shannon at 1pm on Saturday. The Banner v Cappawhite game threw in at 5pm in Tipperary town that evening. Emma O’Driscoll, Shona Enright, Katie Cahill and Sinead O’Keeffe played for Kilmaley while Louise Henchy was a member of the Clooney-Quin panel. Furthermore, a sixth Banner player, Naomi Carroll, played for Limerick Institute in a hockey league match, also played on Saturday.
Cappawhite’s Siobhán Costello, who lined out at full-forward, kicked her first of eight points in the third minute while Niamh O’Dea equalised with her first score from her tally of 2-9. Sinéad Buckley put the Tipperary side back in front with a goal but Banner responded with points from Rebecca Culligan and Louise Henchy. Two O’Dea frees put the Clare senior champions back in front but what O’Dea could do at one end Costello could at the other. She also pointed two frees while she was causing endless problems in the Cappawhite attack. Another O’Dea free and a point from play from the outstanding Naomi Carroll put the Banner ahead again but Costello, with two points from play, sent Cappawhite in with a point to spare at the interval, 1-5 to 0-7.
Banner resumed with Laurie Ryan at full-back marking Costello while Louise Woods and Shona Enright exchanged positions. It was the Banner that got the half off to a great start when full-forward Niamh O’Dea goaled after Henchy picked her out from a 45. Yet within a minute, Cappawhite’s Sinéad Buckley struck for her second goal when she shot low to beat Emma O’Driscoll, who had a fine hour.
Another Costello point was cancelled out by Eva O’Dea, who had been introduced just three minutes earlier, while her sister Niamh added two points Costello again and Shauna Quirke with a point apiece levelled matters with 58 minutes played. Before the whistle sounded to complete the normal time the game’s top scorer’ O’Dea had edged the Ennis side in front but during the additional time, of which there was a justified six minutes, Quirke levelled for Cappawhite to send the game to extra time as the evening closed in.
Cappawhite dominated the first half of extra time. A goal from midfielder Sheelagh Carew and a point from Claire Mullins pushed them four ahead while Banner failed to score in that 10-minute period.
When Costello pointed her eighth score early in the second half of extra-time, it looked like curtains for Banner Ladies, who trailed by five points with eight minutes remaining. A point from the mighty Niamh O’Dea, who took a lot of punishment over the hour, brought them to within a point and with about a minute to go centre-forward Naomi Carroll had the ball in the back of the Cappawhite net to crown an unbelievable Banner comeback and send them through to the Munster Senior B final on Saturday.
Apart from O’Dea and the outstanding Naomi Carroll, Banner had solid performances from Katie Cahill, Louise Woods, Sinead O’Keeffe, Laurie Ryan, Louise Henchy and Emma O’Driscoll.
Banner Ladies: Emma O’Driscoll; Aoife Martin, Clare Walsh, Laurie Ryan (captain); Shona Enright, Katie Cahill, Sinead O’Keeffe; Louise Woods, Louise Henchy (0-1); Rebecca Culligan (0-1), Naomi Carroll (1-1), Niamh Keane; Susan McNamara, Niamh O’Dea (2-9, 0-6f), Mary Tierney.
Subs: Eva O’Dea (0-1) for M Tierney (42); Orlaith Lynch for S McNamara (58); Rachel Grogan for R Culligan (73); Orla Hennessy for N O’Dea (inj, 80).
Cappawhite: Helen Kennedy; Deirbhle Hennessy, Marie O’Neill, Joanne Doherty; Mairéad Crowe, Anne O’Dwyer, Mary O’Dwyer; Sheelagh Carew (1-0), Aoife Ryan; Claire Mullins (0-1), Jayne Clancy (capt), Shauna Quirke (0-2); Sinead Buckley (2-0), Siobhán Costello (0-8, 0-4f), Angie McDermott. Subs: Ciara Coughlan for Marie O’Neill (half-time).
Referee: Mike O’Keeffe (Cork)

Brave Gaels go down fighting

Bride Rovers (Cork) 1-13
Shannon Gaels 4-2

Shannon Gaels’ Munster club campaign was brought to an end last Saturday when they went down by two points to a fine Bride Rovers side in a keenly contested intermediate semi-final in Tipperary town. While the east Cork side registered 14 scores to Shannon Gaels’ six and were the better team overall, Shannon Gaels played with great passion and were right in this contest up to the final whistle, courtesy of their four goals.
The Clare intermediate champions couldn’t have asked for a better start. Colette Corry won the throw-in and found Sarah Bohannon, who in turn shot towards Bride Rovers’ goal. Her effort came back out off the crossbar to the ground and in raced Edel Dillon to boot it to the net, all inside 30 seconds.
The impressive Sinéad Walsh got the Cork side off the mark. In the eighth minute Sarah Bohannon scored a second Shannon Gaels goal when her free went all the way to the top right after Michelle Madigan had been fouled on the 30m line, at the end of a fine Shannon Gaels move. Elaine Dee replied with a point for Bride Rovers before a foul by Adrienne Nugent gave away a penalty which Sinéad Walsh made no mistake from. The Cork side dominated the next 15 minutes, adding three points, while they also kicked seven wides to the Gaels’ two in the opening half. Grace Lynch was introduced for Ger Corry and despite carrying an injury, she made a telling contribution. Four minutes from half-time she rattled the net when she expertly finished a move, putting the Gaels back in the lead, and Sarah Bohannon pointed to see the Clare side lead 3-1 to 1-5 at the interval, much to the delight of their large following.
A feature of Shannon Gaels’ game was their workrate, with Maryruth Neylon, Helena Flanagan, Susan Neylon and Adrienne Nugent particularly impressive in defence while Colette Corry and Sarah Bohannon really worked hard, with Bohannon covering a lot of ground. Michelle Madigan and Carmel Bohannon all played their part but needed a better supply up front. The win against Clashmore of Waterford in the quarter-final definitely boosted their confidence and they battled hard for every ball.
The second half started very like the first for Shannon Gaels and Grace Lynch scored her second goal when she perfectly connected in flight to palm home her team’s fourth goal.
Five points ahead, it was a pity Shannon Gaels could not capitalise on the lead. Bride Rovers did not panic and gradually by kicking point after point they kicked seven unanswered, one from Colette Hogan, three from the impressive Grace Kearney, an All-Ireland medal winner with Cork six days earlier, and three frees from Sinead Walsh to lead by two.
With three minutes of normal time remaining Lynch pointed a Gaels free but Grace Kearney had the final say with her fifth point from play and her side held on for a deserved two-point win despite playing the last 10 minutes with 14 players. This was due to the sin-binning of wing-back Caroline Broderick for a high tackle on Colette Corry.
The season is now over for Shannon Gaels and while they will be disappointed not to have reached the Munster intermediate final, they will look back on the year with satisfaction as they finally captured the county title and will look forward to playing senior championship football next year.
Shannon Gaels: Serana Carmody; Eilis Moran, Maryruth Neylon, Imelda Kennedy; Helena Flanagan, Susan Neylon, Adrienne Nugent; Colette Corry, Kate O’Brien; Croidhe Glynn, Sarah Bohannon (1-1f), Michelle Madigan; Edel Dillon (1-0, Carmel Bohannon (capt), Ger. Corry.
Subs: Grace Lynch (2-1, 0-1f) for G Corry (18); Carla Beehan for C Glynn (half-time); G Corry for E Dillon.
Bride Rovers: Catriona Vaughan; Emma O’Keeffe (capt), Arlene O’Callaghan, Bridget Forde; Niamh Barry, Annette Raher, Caroline Broderick; Michelle McAteer, Jennifer Barry (0-1); Grace Kearney 0-5, Elanor Ahern, Colette Hogan (0-1); Jennifer Cahill, Elaine Dee (0-1), Sinéad Walsh (1-5, 0-3f, 1-0 pen).
Subs: Sinéad O’Driscoll for J Cahill; Mary Hazelwood for E O’Keeffe.
Referee: Sean Joy, Kerry