Naas Men win ESB GAA Football 7s

ESB naas won the ESB All-Ireland football 7s by defeating a combined Athlone/Dundalk unit in Pairc Ui Chiarain Athlone on Saturday, September 26th by a score line of 1gl- 7pts to 0gl -8pts.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 Ciaran Heavey , Frank Finn and Stephen Fanning.

Athlone/Dundalk were 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 Stapleton 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 will go forward to meet their Northern Ireland counterparts NIE Powerteam for the Annual Cross-Border Football Match . This year the event is to be held in Drumishken GAA outside Dundalk on the 17th October. The Men’s game will be preceded by a Ladies game involving ESBI/ICT combination versus Stabannon Gael the Louth county champions.