| Oonah Shannahan | |
| Fullname: | Oonah Fay Shannahan |
| Maidenname: | Murray |
| Birth Date: | 3 September 1921 |
| Birth Place: | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Death Place: | Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Height: | 1.74 m |
| Positions: | C, WA |
| Nationalteam1: | New Zealand |
| Nationalyears1: | 1948 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 1 |
Oonah Fay Shannahan (Murray; 3 September 1921 – 28 September 2022) was a New Zealand netball player. She captained the New Zealand team in their second Test match, in 1948 against Australia.
Shannahan was born Oonah Fay Murray in Dunedin on 3 September 1921, one of five children of Frederick Joseph Murray and Margaret Murray.[1] [2] [3] [4] Her father worked on the railways, and the family moved to Taihape for five years before settling in Christchurch.[3] She was educated at Sacred Heart Girls' College in Christchurch,[5] where she excelled at sports, winning the senior athletics championship in 1937 and 1938.[6] [7]
Murray was captain of the Canterbury provincial netball team,[8] and in 1948 she was selected as captain of the New Zealand national team for the first Test against the touring Australian team at Forbury Park in Dunedin.[2] [9] The match was played under international rules, with seven players per side, which were unfamiliar to the New Zealanders who were used to playing nine-a-side. The Australian team was victorious, winning 27–16.[10] The match was the only occasion on which Murray represented New Zealand, because the New Zealand side for the three-Test series was selected on a regional basis, and she was unavailable for the final game as it conflicted with the wedding of Murray's sister.[1]
Oonah Murray married Francis John Shannahan, a New Zealand secondary schools association football representative that toured Australia in 1938.[11] The couple had two children, and he died in 2009.[12] [13]
After her playing career, Shannahan continued her involvement in netball as an administrator, and she received a Netball New Zealand service award.[2] She lived with her daughter at McCormacks Bay, and celebrated her 100th birthday on 3 September 2021.[2] [3] She died in Christchurch on 28 September 2022, at the age of 101.[14] At the time of her death, she was the oldest living New Zealand netball international.[2] [3]