U-16 title for Banner Ladies

Banner 6-3   West Clare Garls 3-6

THE Banner Ladies won the Clare U-16A football title in Coolmeen last Wednesday. The teams had met in the opening rounds, with the Banner winning by three points in that game.
Last week’s final started with the Gaels in full flow and despite a converted free by the Banner’s Karen Roche and a missed penalty from West Clare Gael’s Gráinne Harvey, Becky Madigan eventually goaled for the Gaels.
Another Banner Ladies’ attack forced a second free, which Roche converted but when Shauna Harvey lobbed the Banner half-back line, Siobhán Marrinan bore down on custodian Orla Hennessy for the second time in three minutes and made no mistake in rattling the net. Half-backs Laura Chesser and captain Sinéad O’Keeffe were on fire for the Ennis side and were relentless as they drove forward, freeing up Eva O’Dea and Orlaith Lynch in midfield.
First Lynch and then Roche goaled within minutes, cancelling out their opponents’ previous two and putting the Ennis side two points up. In the last five minutes of the first half, Shauna Harvey pointed from a free for the Gaels, bringing the gap to the minimum but the Banner’s Roche, who returned to duty from an injury lay-off, was in top form and sent a rocket past keeper Amy Keane with a minute to go to the break. In a fairly evenly matched first half, the backs were impressive on both sides, Muldoon, Harvey and Foran for the Westies and Kavanagh, Casey and Neylon for the Townies. The winners led 3-2 to 2-1 at the break.
West Clare Gaels signalled their return to play with three points to bring the score back to a one-point deficit, one from centre-forward Siobhán Marrinan and two by midfielder Collette Keniry. In an excellent 10-minute spell of play, Orlaith Lynch, aided by Sinéad Quinn and Gráinne Nolan, put her stamp on the game as she increased her tally by a further 2-1, pushing the Banner into an eight-point lead. Leading from the front, Gaels captain Shauna Harvey was a powerhouse in the closing quarter of the game and Banner girl Aoibheann Malone had her hands full as she worked to contain her opponent. Nevertheless, Harvey kicked two long-range points in this period, try as they might to break the half-back line of Aoife Keane (who came on for Shauna O’Connor), Chesser and O’Keeffe. In the last minutes, goals were exchanged by Gráinne Nolan for the Banner and Marie Foran for the Gaels. When referee Brian Keniry blew it up, it was the Banner Ladies 6-3 to the West Clare Gaels 3-6.

Banner Ladies: Orla Hennessy, Emma Kavanagh, Elaine Casey, Emma Neylon, Laura Chesser, Sinéad O’Keeffe (captain), Shauna O’Connor, Orlaith Lynch, Eva O’Dea, Sinéad Quinn, Karen Roche, Gráinne Nolan, Aisling Cahill, Aoibheann Malone, Lauren Keane, Aoife Keane, Meghan Fitzgerald, Eilis Counihan, Niamh Donnellan, Emily Maloney, Niamh O’Brien, Aisling Maher, Orlaith Martin, Eimear Rutherford, Rachel Coote, Emily Tone, Amy Shannon and Eve Copley.

West Clare Gaels: Amy Keane, Rachel Muldoon, Gráinne Harvey, Bríd Foran, Lauren Keane, Marie Foran, Heather Daly, Collette Keniry, Shauna Harvey (capt), Shauna Melican, Siobhán Marrinan, Emma McMahon, Becky Madigan, Rachel Clancy, Caoimhe Harvey, Ellie O’Reagan, Áine Murphy, Ciara McQuaid, Rosie Marrinan, Celine Garvey, Michaela Lynch, Saoirse Maher, Noleen Gibson and Eva Keana.