“We’re often coaxed to take a feed of cottage cheese and blueberries”

WE chat this week to Brenda Bannon as she lifts the lid on her teammates…

Name: Brenda Bannon.

Age: 27.

Teams played for:

There are quite a few I’m always on the move! Home club: Aghadrumsee, St Macartan’s, county: Fermanagh ladies, current club: Derrygonnelly Harps. Secondary school: St. Eugene’s, Roslea, Mount Lourdes Grammar School, Enniskillen, HE GAA: University of Ulster, Jordanstown, past clubs: Stabannon Parnells, Louth, overseas clubs: Southern Districts, Perth, WA, John Mitchell’s, Liverpool, St Bridgid’s, GAA, Chicago.

Earliest GAA memory?
Playing against the garage door at home with my brother.

Which team-mate has been the most inspirational and why?
Eimear Smyth, She’s a household name, the individual and team accolades speak for themselves.

Who’s the best team-mate to train with and why?
Erin Flanagan and Andrea Gordon, they will analyse everything to the death with you.

Which team-mate is the worst to train with and why?
None.

Which team-mate do you want to mark in training and why?
None of them, they’ll all give you hell!

Which team-mate do you dread marking in training and why?
The Smyth sisters, Eimear and Bronagh, they will keep you on your toes.

Best score you’ve seen from a team-mate?
Becky Gordon – Ulster quarter-final, top corner.

What win has your team celebrated the most?
We’re just getting started recently in collecting team accolades. We’re a modest group, always striving for the next target, the next performance. We haven’t let loose yet (God help the village when that happens) but there was a good bit of fun had after the Intermediate Championship final win this year.

Which team-mate is the best on journeys away?
Megan Maguire.

Which club is the worst for journeys away?
We are pretty central but I hate the spin to Garrison.

What’s the funniest thing you’ve heard in training or in a match, and who said it?
Garry Smyth has latched onto the idea of cottage cheese and blueberries being the ideal recovery meal since we’ve had a nutritionist in this year. We’re often coaxed to go home and take a feed of cottage cheese and blueberries after a tight session.

What’s the worst excuse you’ve heard to get out of training?
Emily Cassidy’s calf was sick so she couldn’t make it one evening.

Which team-mate is the loudest in the changing room?
Sarah Jane Jones, can’t get her settled at all.

Which team-mate would you want standing over a last-second penalty?
Eimear Smyth or Lynne Carroll.

Which team-mate would you never want to see hitting a last-second penalty?
Andrea Gordon, we get serious anxiety when we see her up past the 45.

Which team-mate is the most sensible?
Abigail Greene.

Who is the smartest of all your team mates?
Abigail Greene.

Who’s the best team mate to celebrate with?
Louise Dundas, convinced I’m her favourite teammate to go drinking with and it wouldn’t be a good night out unless you go playing air-guitar on Erin Flanagan’s crutches.