ESB All-Ireland Football 7's
Naas Men win ESB GAA Football 7's
ESB NAAS won the ESB All-Ireland football 7's by defeating a combined Athlone/Dundalk unit in Páirc Úi Chiaráin Athlone on Saturday 26th September by a score line of 1- 7 to 0 -8. They last won this competition in 2005 where they coincidently defeated Dundalk. Player of the Competition, Barry Lawler, was outstanding for Naas and was well supported by his Ciaran Heavey, Frank Finn and Stephen Fanning, Athlone/Dundalk was well served by John Sheridan, Dave 'Dobsy' Prendergast and James Tobin.
A special thanks must go to all teams who participated - Athlone/Dundalk, Naas, Cavan, ESBI (A), (B) and (C), EirGrid Portlaoise A and Portlaoise B and in the Ladies competition - ESBI, ICT, Cork and EirGrid. Full credit must be given to Athlone GAA Club for the immaculate condition of their pitches, dressing rooms and their overall facilities.
At a presentation dinner later that evening in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel, Athlone, the winning teams were presented with the ESB Cup and magnificent trophies by ESB GAA Club President, Paddy Stapleton and ESB GAA Secretary, Colum Grogan. Paddy paid tribute to all participants and paid special thanks to the organising committee on the day, Colum Grogan, John O'Riordan, Tony Heavin, Shauna Brady and Elaine Sexton for making the occasion such an entertaining and enjoyable day and night event. Colum Grogan expressed his gratitude to ESB Corporate Centre as without their sponsorship this annual event could not happen.
Both Winning Sevens went forward to meet their Northern Ireland counterparts NIE Powerteam for the Annual Cross-Border Football Match. This year the event was held in Drumishken GAA Club outside Dundalk on the 17th October. The Men's game was preceded by a Ladies game involving ESBI/ICT combination versus Stabannon Gael the Louth county champions.
ESBI Ladies retain Football title
This year saw the ladies footballers of Cork, EirGrid, ESBI and ICT play out a Round Robin series, with ESBI and ITS contesting the Final. An outstanding display of football and teamwork were the foundation stones for this ESBI team to retain the cup. All four participating teams produced exciting matches in mixed weather conditions at a splendid facility in Páirc Úi Chiaráin Athlone. The final was a very close encounter in which the ESBI girls discarded their underdogs tag to defeat ICT on a scoreline of 4-2 to 1-1. Niamh Murphy was a real dynamo at midfield for ICT ably assisted by Deirdre Feeney and Rose Griffin, Shauna Brady and Colette Mahon marshalled a strong defence. ESBI however were by far the more dangerous up front and Player of the Tournament, Caroline Gallagher, combined well with Orlaith Harney, Niamh Holmes and Eileen Morgan to create lots of scoring chances.
The presentation dinner was held in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel and Country Club.
The next ESB Ladies fixture was in Drumishken GAA Club outside Dundalk where they played an 11-aside game against Co. Louth champions, Stabannon Gaels.
