Category: Sport

AS THE football and hurling championships come to their exciting conclusions, September sees the wrapping up of Ireland’s largest summer camp activity – the 2011 Vhi GAA Cúl Camps. This year the Vhi GAA Cúl Camps continued to be a popular choice for primary school children with over 83,000 children taking part around the country and in GAA units in Britain, North America and New York. Hurling heroes visited camps across their respective counties passing on the skills and training techniques, with Bernard Brogan, Michael Murphy, Anthony Daly and Eoin Kelly just some of the 35 Vhi GAA Cúl Camps Ambassadors on hand to give tips, skills and training advice to the young players attending the camps.

Anthony Daly, Dublin Hurling Manager commented, “The Vhi GAA Cúl Camps are an annual event now for so many children. The unique atmosphere in the camps means children have the opportunity to learn GAA skills in a non competitive fun environment. For primary school children this is undoubtely the best way to learn and it’s great to be a part of it every year.

In total 2011 saw 1060 Vhi GAA Cúl Camps taking place across the country with coaching and mentoring provided by hundreds of GAA coaches, players and volunteers.

Kilrush Shamrocks 0-11 – Kilmihil 0-08 at Cooraclare

THE Shams have steered themselves clear of the relegation mire – instead it’s now Kilmihil’s lot to look forward to with some trepidation after this Group 1 basement battle on Saturday afternoon.

With Kilmurry Ibrickane and Wolfe Tones already qualified from the group, this west Clare contest was always going to be a dog-fight with both sides desperate not to be sucked into intermediate football for 2012.

That it went the Shams’ way was down to their burst after half-time when they hit four points without reply inside the first 19 minutes to move 0-10 to 0-6 clear – from there they never looked like surrendering the initiative against a Kilmihil side that was game throughout, but ultimately limited.

Kilmihil held an early advantage thanks to a Shane Egan point in the second minute, but after Kilrush replied with frees from Padjo McGrath and Peadar McMahon by the fifth minute they were never headed for the rest of the game.

It was an even affair in the first half, albeit that Kilmihil were always chasing the game against a Shams that forced the pace thanks to the edge they enjoyed in the midfield battle thanks to the veteran Donal O’Sullivan/Jim Young partnership.

Points by Ruairi O’Connor and Peadar McMahon either side of another Shane Egan free had them 0-4 to 0-2 ahead by the 18th minute. Paul Reidy and Cathal Lyons swapped points by the 20th minute, as did Eamonn Ryan and Peadar McMahon by the 24th as the Shams maintained their two-point advantage.

However, points by Shane Egan and Mark O’Connell had the side level before Peadar McMahon’s fourth free of the half hour gave the Shams a 0-7 to 0-6 interval lead.

And when McMahon, Cathal Lyons and Jim Young tacked on points by the 49th minute the Shams primary objective of avoiding the ignominy of a relegaiton dog-fight was completed – gladly leaving that to Éire Óg, Ennistymon, St Joseph’s Miltown and Kilmihil to scrap over.

Two Paul Reidy points in the 50th and 55th minutes raised Kilmhil’s spirits and brought them to wining a kick of a ball of safety in the senior ranks for another year, but when the goal they needed didn’t come it was left to Jim Young to fire over the insurance point two minutes from time.

Suddenly the Shams have a Senior B campaign to look forward to – who knows they might embrace it and bring ‘championship’ silverware back to the west Clare capital for the first time since 1987.

Kilrush Shamrocks

Tony Burke (7), Seamus Bolton (7), James Hehir (7), Niall Gilbride (7), Niall Clancy (7), John Hayes (7), MatthewMoloney (7), Donal O’Sullivan (7), JimYoung (8) (0-2, 1f), Pat Joe McGrath (7) (0-1f), Cathal Lyons (7) (0-2), Darragh Bolton (7), Ruairi O’Connor (7) (0-1), EoinTarrant (7), Peadar McMahon (7) (0-5, 4f).

Subs
Stephen Sweeney for Lyons [48 Mins],Alan Daly for McGrath [48 Mins].

Kilmihil
Keith Considine (7), Conor Crowley (7), Laurence Murray (7), Derek O’Connell (7), Stan Lineen (7), Mark O’Connell (7) (0-1),Anthony Downes (7),Timmy Ryan (7), Paul Reidy (7) (0-3, 2f), Eamon Ryan (7) (0-1), Mark Coughlan (6), Enda O’Halloran (6), Declan Downes (6), David Ryan (7), Shane Egan (7) (0-3f).

Subs
ColmCallinan (6) for Downes [Half-Time].

Man of the Match
Jim Young (Kilrush Shamrocks) Referee Michael McGann (Michael Cusack’s)

THE 32ND Banner MCC Dolmen Rally takes place in Burren Castle Hotel, Lisdoonvarna this Saturday, with motorcyle enthusiasts coming from all four corners of the country. For the uninitiated, the one day extravaganza is a gathering of bikes with a competitive edge featuring food, beverages and live music, including three bands and a DJ, with legendary blues harmonica and guitarist Don Baker the headline act.

However, the main attraction of the day is undoubtedly Stunt Rider Mattie Griffin who ranked as the World’s number five Freestyle Motorcycle Stunt Rider in 2008 and 2009. The Galway native will perform an exhibition of his skills and he welcomes the opportunity to display his talent to a local audience.

“It’s nice to do something relatively local. I’m in England most weekends so it’s nice to do this in Clare. I get a lot of people asking me ‘why don’t you do something on your own home soil?’ and the Dolmen Rally is a great opportunity to do that.”

It’s also an opportunity to boost the growing discipline further in Ireland, however Mattie does insert the caveat that any budding stunt riders need to be dedicated to the craft.

“It has sparked off a huge interest all over Ireland, there is no doubt about it. A lot of guys have gotten into it since and taken it up.

“Not everyone can do it at a high level though. I practise every day. I mean when I go to bed at night, I’m thinking of new tricks or perfecting the tricks that I’m already doing. It does take a lot of practise and dedication as it’s not just something you can pick up straight away. It takes a lot of time and dedication.”

However, the Dolmen Rally also provides some preparation for the World Freestyle Motorcycle Championship in Germany a week later.

“The World Championships are coming up on September 16 and 17. I didn’t compete last year because my bikes weren’t delivered to me on time so I hadn’t got them prepared for competition. I hadn’t even riden the bikes so I had to give it a miss last year but this year I will be giving it my best.

“I’m looking forward to it of course but at the same time, you’d be nervous because there are a lot of good riders out there now and you only get three and a half or four minutes to show your best in front of a panel of five judges. So it’s not as easy going as doing shows shall we say.”

The first stunt show will take place at 6pm, with the first band starting at 9pm. Free camping is available on site but a special hotel room rate can also be accquired by ringing the Banner MCC on 086 3255817.

Doonbeg 0-12 – Liscannor 0-09 at Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown

DOONBEG go marching on in the defence of their title, for Liscannor the dream is over for another year as they bowed out at the group stages thanks to what can only be termed as their second half ‘Miltown Meltdown’.

By the mid-way stage they seemed to be on the way into the last eight, having put in a fantastic half-hour when playing against the breeze that was blowing towards the town end of Hennessy Memorial Park.

Liscannor led 0-7 to 0-6, having dominated midfield and the diamond around it thanks to the sterling efforts of Ronan Slattery, Alan Clohessy and Brian Consdine and kicked only one wide in the best half of football they’ve produced since famously taking a catapult to Doonbeg’s championship hopes at the semi-final stage of the Jack Daly race three years ago.

Doonbeg, meanwhile, were ponderous and one-dimensional in the sense that everything seemed to rest of David Tubridy’s shoulders when it came to creating and taking scores.

It’s true that he bagged four points over the half hour and had notable assists in the other two, but the force seemed to be with a Liscannor side that had embraced this do-or-die contest as being the potential starting point of another championship odyssey.

That it wasn’t to be was down to that ‘Miltown Meltdown’ – five wides inside the first five minutes of the second half when they monopolised possession tells the story of where it all started to go horribly wrong for the north Claremen.

From there Doonbeg suddenly roused themselves, as if jolted into action by a realisation that if Liscannor had been as accurate in the opening minutes as they had been throughout the first half the game would have been already out of their reach.

Being let off the hook is a football currency that generations of Magpies have scavenged off and so it was that they hit five without reply in the space of ten minutes to move 0-11 to 0-7 clear and ultimately to the safety of their third successive championship win.

It was rough on Liscannor, but completely their own fault as they contrived to commit their own version of hara kiri in that second half, having done all the hard work in that hugely encouraging first 30 minutes.

Doonbeg had grabbed two early points from David Tubridy and Paul Dillon by the third minute, but once Alan McDonagh grabbed Liscannor’s opener in the seventh mintues they warmed more and more to the task with every passing minute.

David Tubridy and Alan Clohessy swapped pointed frees by the tenth minute, but as Liscannor began to exert dominance around the middle they hit the front for the first time by the 15th minute thanks to an effort from play by Niall Considine and an Alan Clohessy free.

David Tubridy levelled matters once more with a 14-yard free in the 18th minute, but a brilliantly worked score from Alan McDonagh that was teed up by Alan Clohessy and Alan Flaherty and then a Kieran Considine free in the 21st minute put Lis- cannor 0-6 to 0-4 ahead.

The gap remained at two when David Tubridy and Alan Clohessy pointed from play by the 25th minute before Shane Ryan had the last act of the half with a good point to leave the minimum between the sides.

It was there for Liscannor though – there for them to lose as it turned out as Doonbeg turned the screw with points by Colm Dillon (2), Shane Ryan, Frank O’Dea and Tubridy after the early flurry wides from the north Claremen.

Indeed, it wasn’t until the 54th minute that Liscannor managed a score – a booming effort from Niall Considine, but it was to little and too late. They battled to the death and after Tubridy and Clohessy had swapped points by the 60th minute to leave three between them, Liscannor did have one final shot at reaching the quarter-final.

It came when a sweeping move left Alan Flaherty one on one with Nigel Dillon – it was from a tight angle, but Dillon, whose handling had been suspect on a couple of occasions, stood his ground to make an excellent save.

With Lissycasey having beaten Ennisytmon by a point, Liscannor’s race for 2011 was run. It’s a relegation match against St Joseph’s Miltown for them – if Flaherty had a goaled a totally different world would have opened out before them.

All or nothing, but it just wasn’t to be.

Doonbeg
Nigel Dillon (6), RichieVaughan (7), Padraig Gallagher (7), Conor Whelan (7), Joe Blake (7), Shane O’Brien (6), JimBob Griffin (7), Colm Dillon (7) (0-2), Enda Doyle (7), Frank O’Dea (7) (0-1), Shane Killeen (6), DavidTubridy (8) (0-6, 2f) Paul Dillon (7) (0-1), Kevin Nugent (6), Shane Ryan (7) (0-2).

Subs
TomHonan (6) for Nugent [Half-Time], EamonnTubridy (6) for Paul Dillon [55 Mins].

Liscannor
Noel Kilmartin (7), Shane Canavan (7), David McDonagh (7), Michael Foley (7), Dara Blake (7), Ronan Slattery (8), Denis Murphy (6), Brian Considine (8) (0-1),Alan Flaherty (6), Johnny Considine (6), Niall Considine (7) (0-2), Gerry Considine (6), Kieran Considine (7) (0-1f),Alan Clohessy (7) (0-4, 2f),Alan McDonagh (7) (0-2).

Subs
Robert Lucas (6) for Johnny Considine [46 Minutes], Joe Considine (6) for Alan McDonagh [49 Mins], Paul Guerin (6) for Gerry Considine [55 Mins], Declan Fawl (6) for Joe Considine [59 Mins].

Man of the Match
David Tubridy (Doonbeg) Referee Pat Cosgrove (Corofin)

Avenue United 3 – Ennis Town Rock 3 at Lees Road, Ennis

A HUGELY entertaining and incident filled game saw Avenue United and Ennis Town Rock share the spoils in Lees Road on Sunday.

In a game that had it all, Avenue twice took the lead but were pegged back by Ennis Town Rock, an amalgamation between schoolboy club Ennis Town and junior side Rock Rovers.

The new boys took the lead in the second half through Daryl Eade’s penalty before Mikey Mahony tapped home from close range for a late equalsier. A summary of the action only tells half the drama. It was breathless stuff from first kick to last. Literally.

Avenue took the lead directly from the kick off; last year’s cup champions later missed a penalty while both sides had chances to win it late on. All told a draw was probably the fairest result.

Having blitzed the daylights out of Rock Rovers in their last league meeting, a youthful looking Avenue side were clearly intent on steamrolling their re-named opponents in the early stages. Still the manner in which they took the lead probably exceeded even their expectations.

With the wind at his back, David McCarthy decided to test young Town goalkeeper Sean Kennedy. The midfielder’s shot from the halfway line had enough power and dip to sail straight into the net. 1-0 to Avenue.

With confidence sky-high, Avenue flooded forward to maximise the damage. Town and in particular Kennedy stood tall with the goalie producing one full length save to deny Irish schoolboy international Dylan Casey.

Town weathered the worst of the storm and hit back when the impressive Daryl Eade tapped in from close range after Eoin Glynn’s free kick.

Avenue regained the lead minutes later when a well-worked cross field passing move found Casey in space to bury a powerful shot.

By now Ennis Town Rock had gained a degree of parity with Av- enue in the crucial midfield area. A swift break and cross from the right found Dean Gardiner who buried a right footed half volley past John Healy.

The sides were level 2-2 at half time. There was no let up in the action after the break with Town looking dangerous on the counter attack through the pace of Eade, Gardiner and Glynn. They hit the front on the hour mark when Eade converted from the spot. Avenue, looking very comfortable in possession, patiently probed for gaps in Town’s defence. Kennedy then produced a fine save to keep out an Avenue penalty in the 75th minute.

Avenue were eventually rewarded when Sean Corry’s low centre was turned home by Mahony. Glynn and substitute Adrian Walsh both missed chances to win it for Town late on.

Avenue United
John Healy, Simon Cuddy,Alex, Mattie Nugent, Shane Browne, Dylan Casey, Gary Flynn, Pa Wilson, David McCarthy, Sean Corry, Mikey Mahony

Subs
Alan Roche, David Russell for Brown

Ennis Town Rock
Sean Kennedy, Barry Woods, JasonWhite, Shane Daniels, Ronan Judge, Ethan Considine, Francis Daniels, Ciarán Russell, Daryl Eade, Eoin Glynn, Dean Gardiner

Subs
Richie Neylon for Judge, AdrianWalsh for Considine,

Referee
David McCarthy

Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-14 – Wolfe Tones 0-06 at Lissycasey

WITH both sides having secured their passage into the quarter-final stage with a match to spare, this early Sunday afternoon contest was never going to be as competitive as their last championship meeting in Lissycasey.

That was the famous afternoon in 2007 when the Shannon side ambushed the men from the barony of Ibrickane in the quarter-final.

That was a stormy enough affair – this was pedestrian stuff, predictable enough too as Kilmurry Ibrickane further franked their status as the team to beat in this year’s championship with a comfortable eight-point win.

Not that the Tones were unduly bothered – for them the 2011 championship has already been a resounding success as they’ve bucked the prediction of many that they’d be more a relegation side than the top eight side they now are.

They were competitive enough here, especially in the first half when playing against the breeze that blew towards the dressing room end.

They had three points on the board inside the first then minutes, all from the boot of Gary Leahy, who was making his return to the side after missing the victory over Kilmihil through suspension.

However, an early 0-3 to 0-2 lead quickly evaporated as Kilmurry slowly warmed to their task of hoovering up two more championship points.

Mark McCarthy and Johnnie Daly had landed their opening points, while another Daly free on 16 minutes and an effort from play by Enda Coughlan two minutes later put them ahead by 0-4 to 0-3 ahead.

Kilmurry never really looked back and from there until half-time took control, with three more points ensuring that they reeled off five-in-a-row to lead by 0-7 to 0-3 at the break.

Niall Hickey teed up Michael O’Dwyer for a point in the 20th minute. Straight from the subsequent kick-out midfielders Seamus Murrihy and Paul O’Connor created an opening for Michael Hogan, while they rounded off an impressive half with the point of the day in the 28th minute when a raid up the roadside of the field was finished over the bar by Shane Hickey.

And when Hickey made another raid two minutes after the re-start to land his second point this game had an inevitable look to it as Kilmurry could afford to play within themselves and run out comfortable winners.

An Ian McInerney free and an effort from play had them 0-9 to 0-4 head by the 48th minute, with the Tones’ lone point coming from a Stephen Monaghan effort four minutes into the half.

Monaghan landed another point in the 50th minute, but points by Mark McCarthy, Ian McInerney and Shane Hickey’s third had them out of sight before Stephen Moloney and Chris Dunning traded points in injury time.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
Peter O’Dwyer (7), Shane Hickey (9) (0-3), Darren Hickey (7), Martin McMahon (7), EvanTalty (6), Enda Coughlan (7) (0-1), Ian McInerney (6) (0-2f), Paul O’Connor (6), Seamus Murrihy (6), Mark McCarthy (7) (0-2), Michael O’Dwyer (7) (0-1), Michael Hogan (6) (0-1), Niall Hickey (7) (0-1), Noel Downes (6), Johnnie Daly (6) (0-2).

Subs
Stephen Moloney (7) (0-1) for Daly [45 Mins], Seamus Lynch (6) for Hogan [45 Mins].

Wolfe Tones
Jason Casey (7), Stephen Carroll (6), Craig O’Brien (7),WilliamFlynn (6), Alan Downes (6), Brendan Hughes (6), Stephen McInerney (6), Patsy Keyes (7), Joe McGauley (7), GaryWhelan (6), Chris Dunning (6) (0-1), Kevin Corbett (6), Gary Leahy (6) (0-3, 1f), Darren Ryan (6), Stephen Monaghan (7) (0-2, 1f).

Subs
Niall Murphy for [45 Mins], Sean Reidy (6) for McGauley [50 Mins].

Man of the Match
Shane Hickey (Kilmurry Ibrickane) Referee Michael Fitzgerald (Clondegad)

Turnpike Rovers 4 – Kilrush Rangers 2 at Lees Road, Ennis

AFTER their opening round fixture against Manus Celtic (A) was abandoned by the match referee, Turnpike Rovers returned to winning ways with victory over Kilrush Rangers on Sunday.

Despite the concession of an early goal, Turnpike hit back to lead 2-1 at half time. The Ennis side pushed on after the break, confirming their dominance with two further goals. Centre forward Eric Considine was influential for Pike, scoring one and having a hand in two more goals.

Kilrush will be disappointed to have lost out especially after making such a promising start. They will look to get back on track tomorrow night when they take on Rhine Rovers. It was all Kilrush in the early stages and the visitors were rewarded with a well-taken goal. Terry Herlihy did well to skip around a couple of Turnpike defenders before rolling the ball into the net.

The home side responded in impressive fashion. Eric Considine found the net for the equaliser before Clinton Keane was brought down for a penalty. Dean O’Grady stepped up to convert and give Pike the lead.

Brendan Dobbins extended Rovers’ lead after the break before Robert Carey responded with a penalty for Kilrush.

The game was in the melting pot until Considine set up substitute John Ferns for Pike’s decisive fourth goal.

Turnpike Rovers
Ian Mounsey, Donagh Hassett, Darren Daly,William O’Keefe, Mark Woods, Davy McMahon, Dean O’Grady, Clinton Keane, Brendan Dobbins, Jason Hayes, Eric Considine

Subs
John Ferns

Kilrush
John O’Connor, Cedric McNamara, Martin Danaher,Tony Burke, Patrick Coleman,Terry Herlihy, Robert Carey, Eoin Fitzgerald, Niall Brennan,Trevor Clancy, John Carmody

Avenue United B 2 – Corofin Harps 3 at Lees Road, Ennis

THAT Corofin Harps are battlers is a given and it certainly hasn’t taken them long to prove this adage true – the latest display of the never-saydie that famously carried them to back-to-back Clare Cup triumph half a decade ago coming on their maiden voyage in the 2011/12 season.

There may be many changes in personnel from those glory years, but the return of Diarmuid Daly – the midfield dynamo of those Clare Cup wins in 2005 and ’06 – to the Corofin ranks played a huge part in this stirring comeback victory.

It looked bleak for Corofin after the first 15 minutes of this Sunday morning encounter. They trailed by two goals, with Avenue’s second string having hit the ground running with early strikes from Darren O’Meara and Josh Lynch.

However, Harps threw themselves a deadline just before the break when Stephen Keane got the decisive touch in a conjested penalty area to poke the ball home past Nathan Murray in the Avenue goal.

Then in the second half substitue Daly, who played football with Moher Celtic in recent years, made his presence felt on proceedings when grabbing the equaliser 16 minutes in – with another toe-poke doing the needful from ten yards.

With John Keane and Michael Concannon starring in defence and Luke O’Loughlin, who joined the club this season from Avenue’s underage setup, also an influential substitute, the Harps had hteir tails up and completed their recovery after 65 minutes when Damian Ryan drove to the left corner of the net.

Corofin Harps
Fergal Neylon, Brendan Keane, John Keane, Brendan Neylon, Gary Molloy, Michael Concannon, Michael Daly, Damian Ryan, Eamonn Malone, Ian Hassett, Stephen Keane. Subs Dara Shannon, Luke O’Loughlin, Dermot Daly.

Avenue United B
Nathan Murray, Emre, Mick Shiels, David Considine, Dean D’Auria, Niall Slattery, Shane Mangan, Dara Kerins, Darren O’Meara, Josh Lynch.

Man of the Match
John Keane (Corofin Harps) Referee Julian Standford

Rhine Rovers 1 – Manus Celtic 2 at Lees Road, Ennis

NEWCOMERS Rhine Rovers and Manus Celtic battled it out, just as they did in last year’s Second Division before Rhine Rovers took top spot as champions. However, it was the Clarecastle side that usurped the honours this time around after a late recovery snatched all three points.

1-0 up for the majority of the tie following Cathal O’Sullivan’s 25th minute effort, Rhine Rovers appeared to be heading towards victory until Manus hit them with two goals in the last three minutes to steal the win.

It was a bitter pill for Rhine to swallow, particularly as it was one of their former players, Jamie Fahy that inflicted the damage. First the substitute cracked a 20 metre free to the net to equalise and only two minutes later, he was pulled down in the box for Simon McDonagh to convert the penalty.

Their close rivalry is set to continue for the coming season, one feels.

Rhine Rovers
Brendan Quinn, Seanie Healy, Martin McInerney, Cillian Dugan, Paul Johnston, Martin Reidy, Mike Daffy, Mark Hanrahan, Johnny O’Brien, Cathal O’Sullivan, Mark McInerney

Subs
Ray O’Halloran,Vinnie O’Mullane

Manus Celtic
Pakie Healy, Ian Considine, Patrick Galbraith, Mark Walsh,Tola Crowe, Simon McDonagh,Aaron Greene, Stephen Geraghty, John Molloy, Mikie Geraghty, Mikey McDonagh

Subs
Jamie Fahy, Darren McDonagh, John Reidy, Aidan McCarthy

Referee
Dave Brosnan

Banner Ladies 1-14 – West Clare Gaels 1-13 at Shanahan McNamara Memorial Park, Doonbeg

A FRENZIED finish brought the senior championship to a heightened cresendo as the Banner Ladies hung on to reclaim the ultimate prize in Clare ladies football. Having led by seven points at one stage of the contest, the Banner’s character was severely tested when reduced to 13 players following the sinbinning of Clare Walsh and Niamh Keane that injected new life into defending champions West Clare Gaels’. However, the Ennis based side passed the test with flying colours to defy the numerical disadvantage and deservedly take back the senior crown.

The ultimate difference in the end was Niamh O’Dea who produced a majestic display of strength, pace and accuracy to take the game by the scruff of the neck when needed most. Allied to her impressive haul of 1-7, the county minor captain was tireless in her pursuit of glory and even gave her backline some much needed support and relieve the pressure in a mad-cap last quarter.

It wasn’t the classic of last year’s decider between the same pair and of course, there were major absentees on in both camps but it was still highly entertaining in terms of intensity. In truth however, last year’s encounter was too open for comfort which led to this year’s version being contrastingly over cautious on both sides but perhaps to West Clare Gaels eventual detriment.

Personal markers in all key positions made it a less than enlightening opening half, with Niamh O’Dea being closely watched by Shauna Harvey, Katie Geoghegan being picked up by Louise Woods and Niamh Keane guarded by Deirdre Troy to name but a few. Also Rita Boland was utilised as a sweeper for a large chunk of the game and therefore, it was only when the Banner were reduced to 13 that West Clare Gaels came out of their shell and went for broke.

After an even start, the Banner decisively took the initiative in the 14th minute when O’Dea showed her class to score the opening goal of the game. It stemmed from a Niamh Keane free to Louise Henchy whose ball over the top was expertly caught by county senior team-mate O’Dea despite the attentions of two defenders before cooly slotting the ball to the net.

Despite an immediate Niamh Lardner reply, that major was the catalyst for the Banner to step up a gear with O’Dea, Henchy, Keane and Rebecca Culligan kicking unanswered points to open up a 1-7 to 0-3 advantage by the 23rd minute.

Central to the Gaels’ problems was that in trying to avoid the dominance of Louise Henchy at midfield, the amalgamation repeatedly played their kick-outs to the opposite side, thus unleashing Niamh Keane to return the ball with interest.

The holders did finally regroup before the break however with the experience of Denise Geaney, Brid Troy (2) and semi-final star Niamh Lardner grabbing four unanswered points of their own to reduce the deficit to only three at 1-7 to 0-7.

There were changes aplenty at the break as the Banner introduced two new corner-forwards, Eva O’Dea and Orlaith Lynch, to bolster their attack while the Gaels brought on Ciara Harvey to allow her sister Shauna to push up the field.

The O’Dea sisters opened the scoring with a point apiece to restore the Banner’s five point advantage and it seemed once more that the Banner were about to pull away. However, the West Clare Gaels’ reign as county senior and Munster and All-Ireland intermediate champions meant that they were not about to give up their title without a major fight and with the returning Katie Geoghegan increasingly exerting her influence, they hit back with three points of their own by the 40th minute.

Louise Henchy started and finished a move to stop the rot and extend the lead to three but the Banner were hit with a major blow when Clare Walsh saw yellow and a ten minute sejour on the line for an over-enthusiastic tackle.

Brid Troy converted the free and the crowd could sense that the game was turning in the Gaels direction. Cue the indomitable Niamh O’Dea to wrestle back control, picking up successive kickouts from Emma O’Driscoll to solo up the field and grab two points. The second was simply a joy to watch as she made her way through several tackles in a full length run to inspire her side and she added a third in a row when linking up with Henchy to build up a five point advantage by the 48th minute.

O’Dea’s calming influence appeared to have weathered the storm for her side but nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, Niamh Keane’s dissent saw her join Walsh on the sideline and with positions and tactics flying out the window and the major of play in the Banner half, the Gaels’ storm began to brew for the third time.

A Troy free cut the deifict to four and while Clare Walsh returned to the action, the Gaels got a major boost when Brid Troy picked out the unmarked Maria Kelly to goal in the 57th minute and cut the deficit to only the minimum with three minutes remaining.

The tension could be cut with a knife as every pass was intensely scrutinised and the pressure on both sides intensified. Inevitably it was O’Dea who popped up again to ease the nerves but still their two point lead was a dangerous one. They were also boosted by the sinbinning of West Clare Gaels’ Deirdre Troy which coincided with Niamh Keane’s return for the Banner but there was still a manic final few minutes of injury-time to come.

A throw-in on the Banner’s 20 metre line saw all but West Clare Gaels goalkeeper Megan McGrath decend into the Banner half and in the resulting melee, a last gasp free gave the West Clare Gaels a final opportunity. The Banner packed the goal but they were not to be tested as Katie Geoghegan’s free agonisingly rifled over the crossbar for a point in the 65th minute.

The Banner’s relief turned to unbridled joy as referee Michael Talty blew the final whistle to end this nailbiting decider that saw the Banner rise to the summit once more. The biggest rivalry in Clare ladies football just took another major turn. What will next year bring?