THE IRISH Banshees, led by a strong Donegal contingent, face the GB Swans in the Grand final at the 2016 AFL European Championships in London this afternoon.
The Banshees (pictured above) and the Swans have played out a draw yesterday while the first meeting of the sides on Thursday resulted in a one-point win for the Swans.
There are ten players from Donegal on the Irish Banshees side, including the in-form goal machine Aisling Gillespie.
The Gaoth Dobhair woman has scored six goals in the tournament so far.
On Thursday, Gillespie netted the Banshees’ goal, but they were beaten by a point by the Swans, 2-1 (13) to 1-6 (12)
[adrotate group=”37″]In the second game, Gillespie also netted in a 4-8 (32) to 0-1 (1) win over the Euro Crusaders with Buncrana’s Mairead Walsh and Termon’s Amy O’Donnell among the stars.
Gillespie bagged a hat-trick against the Crusaders as the Banshees strolled to a 6-5 (41) to 0-0 (0) win in their second meeting. Fiona Roarty, also from Gaoth Dobhair, got another of the Banshees’ goals.
Yesterday, they met the Swans again and Gillespie’s early goal – her sixth of the week – got the Banshees off to a strong start, but they had to settle for a share of the spoils as they drew 1-2 (8) to 1-2 (8) on a day when Letterkenny Gaels’ Leona Russell was one of the standouts for the Banshees.
[adrotate group=”38″]AFL Europe’s triennial 18-a-side tournament is a warm up for the AFL International Cup, which takes place in August 2017.
The final takes place today at 2.30pm in Motspur Park.
Niamh McFadden (Kilcar), Carolann Cassidy and Rachael Nic Aoidh (both Gaoth Dobhair), Claire Doherty (Buncrana) and Sonia Connaghan (Termon) are also on the Banshees squad.
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