*Cian Rynne, Seán McMahon and Thomas Meenaghan. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
BANNER’s breakthrough has “been a long time coming” according to one of the club’s stalwarts who lined out at every grade for the club at adult level.
Full-back Cian Rynne was part of the Banner football side to line out at Junior B level, he has remained at the heart of their defence for two decades, climbing the grades with Saturday’s one point win in the Clare IFC securing their promotion to the top tier for 2027.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cian said of their intermediate glory, “it has been a long time coming and a long time in the making, a lot of work has gone in over the last ten years since we come up from 2007 in Junior B, hard battles, hard losses but it is all worth it today”.
Reaching senior football has always been the target, Rynne admitted. “It has always been a dream, it has always been the aim and where I wanted to be, I know we’ve always been good enough but sometimes it doesn’t happen for you on the day but today it did, I’m delighted we got over the line and so happy for the club, the family and everyone”.
Dark days where success was a far off dream saw players leave the club, offers were made from neighbouring Éire Óg for Cian to join them but he stuck loyal to his beloved Banner. “I remember a few knocks on the door alright as a young fella but this is a club that I love, a club I’ll die for, it means a lot to me this club”.
Addition of young quality players has brought the Banner to a new level, he acknowledged. “The talent that has come up since Finbarr (Coakley) got that underage structure going in 2012 when he rejuvenated it, the talent that has come up from then with the likes of Shane Meehan, Ronan Kilroy, Conor O’Toole, the McMahons, the McGraths, all those young lads breathed life into this club, every single year there is a new person pushing you and someone else coming in pushing for your place, there is no one resting on their laurels, everyone is pushing each other and that is the way it always should be, everyone fighting for their place and that young panel coming through every team”.
Youth is important but so too is the presence of old warriors like Rynne alongside them. “Experience does help too, you need that bit of experience especially on days like today, not just myself but Johnny Martyn, my younger brother Oran, a lot of warriors have gone through a lot of pain to get to this day, even people not on the team who went through the dark days and got us every step of the way”.
