Offaly native was a multiple tennis international

A BIRR native was a multiple Irish tennis international in the 1960s and '70s, playing against some of the game's greatest stars.

Geraldine Barniville played more than seventy times for Ireland while she also represented her country in squash. Nee Houlihan, she was a member a very well known Birr family – tennis was her first game and she took up squash when she was 24, reaching international standard.

She lived in Dublin for most of her life and played for Ireland for the first time when she was twenty years of age. She played in 10 Federation Cups and played against some of the greats, including Virginia Wade whom she beat, Billie Jean King, Christine Trueman, the 1961 Wimbledon runner up who she took to three sets and Martina Navratilova who beat her in the 1975 Federation Cup.

One of her career highlights was winning the Irish doubles with Australian, Margaret Court in 1966. She won the County Dublin Championships on nine occasions and was married to one of Ireland's great male tennis players, Harry Barniville with whom she won many mixed titles.

In Offaly, tennis is a popular sport with popular clubs in Birr and Tullamor