‘Banger Banners’ lead exodus to final

A fleet of ‘Banner Bangers’ was on parade in Ennis yesterday ready to lead the mass exodus from Clare today to Dublin for the All-Ireland final hurling replay.

Hundreds of Banner supporters took time out in the scramble for tickets to gather on Ennis’s Francis Street to send off the assorted vehicles — including one tractor — on the road to Croker.

Leading the way was the eight-seater ‘Banner Beast’ by a group of supporters from O’Briensbridge.

The supporters purchased the Toyota Lucida people carrier for €600 in a project that has brought the entire village together.

With a Liam MacCarthy replica cup dating from 1995 on top made from a converted bucket, Pat McEvoy was confident that the hurlers will bring the real cup back to Clare.

He said: “I am very, very confident that we are going to do it. The way they got the equalising point the last day — another team would have collapsed. They are going to definitely do it.”

Driver Noel Howard has come back from Brisbane especially for the replay.

Across the road, art teacher at Ennis Community College, Sheila Ni Dheargain and Niall Murphy, paid €150 for their banger and got 90 school children involved in painting the car. She said the banger won’t be making the trip because “we have no tax or insurance”.

Meanwhile, Cork woman Danielle Tuite and Clare man Mike Murrihy got married in Kilkenny Castle yesterday, just 24 hours before fierce rivalry between their counties was set to recommence.

Everything about the wedding screamed hurling final, from the fact that the waiters and waitresses at the Rivercourt Hotel in Kilkenny, where the reception was held, wore Clare and Cork jerseys and hurleys instead of trays were used to serve the food.

The couple met 10 years ago while studying Hotel management in Galway. Romance soon blossomed and the couple found themselves spending a year together travelling the world, which included fruit picking in New Zealand to fund the next part of the trip to South America.

When back in Ireland Danielle found herself getting a job at the Ormonde Hotel in Kilkenny and Mike soon followed her when he was employed at the Springhill Court Hotel on the outskirts of Kilkenny.

Mike added: “Although not planned because we never expected a replay, other than being at Croke Park could you pick a better place to watch an All-Ireland hurling final from than Kilkenny?”