There is a unique pairing in the senior final as first time Cork champions St Val’s take on Clare champions the Banner who have over the past decade been one of the most successful clubs in their county. They have won five County titles since 2008 and this season was their third in a row.
Val’s had to overcome last year’s Munster Club champions Inch Rovers to take the Cork title in a hard fought 0-11 to 1-7 win while the Banner were comfortable 6-24 to 1-4 winners over Liscannor. However, St. Val’s have form in Munster as they have won the Plate Competition in 2012 and 2011.
The Cork club who are in their 18th season in existence have spent many years developing their underage structures and at last, they are seeing the fruit of it in results at Senior Level. They were Feile champions in Cork this season as well. The Banner have followed a similar path over the years and many of their senior team and panel have numerous Feile titles to their credit.
The Banner will come to the final having fought their way to the B title and only last weekend captured the crown when beating Ballymacarby of Waterford. They will look to be the first Clare team since Cooraclare in 1996 to take the Michael Ryan Cup west of the Shannon.
Their Midfield partnership of Niamh Keane and Louise Henchey is the envy of many clubs but they also possess lethal forwards very much in form. Sue Higgins, Grainne Nolan, Aoife Keane and the Clare Inter county star Niamh O’Dea will take some watching. Their defence is not too shabby with Emma O’Driscoll back from her travels to take up her station in goal where she will be fronted by the strong defence that includes Laurie Ryan, Louise Woods and Sinead Quinn.
St Val’s will look to keep the Cork stranglehold on the Cup alive. No team from any county other than Cork have won this title this century as St. Val’s look to make it 13 in a row for the Rebels.
In Breige Corkery, they have one of the legends of the game; however, their strength all through their Cork campaign was their tremendous spirit and honest teamwork. They may well lack the household names that other Cork teams possess but they will bring a hunger that will be hard to match. Caoimhe Creddon will be looked to in the full forward line but Niamh Canty and Louise Colohan will be up for the midfield battle. In their defence, they will look to Maire and Claire Ambrose to steady the ship and Vera Foley and Eva Dunne will look to get forward at every opportunity.
It has all the ingredient of a classic affair with both teams having everything to play. In a year where the Banner took the Liam McCarthy off the Rebels, can they do it again?
