A Message from the President I - St Kieran's College · 2011-01-22 · ST. KIERAN’S COLLEGE...

ST. KIERAN’S COLLEGE RECORD

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A Message from the President

St. Kieran’s Staff Photo

It is with a sense of optimism that Iwelcome this edition of the St.Kieran’s College Record. In keeping

with the many changes which havetaken place at St. Kieran’s over the pastfew years this edition mirrors thesechanges and it will strive, in futureeditions, to publish a chronicle of themain events in the life of the Collegesince 2002, the 219th Academic Year,when a new-look Record was firstpresented.

St. Kieran’s College was founded, as youknow, in 1782, the first Catholic schoolafter the repeal of the Penal Laws. Overthe decades St. Kieran’s has had to faceserious challenges and much changebut in all this time two pillars haveremained constant and solid – ourmission of (1) Education and (2)Formation based on Gospel Values.

In these days, the twin pillars ofEducation and Formation are found oncampus – In our Secondary Day Schoolunder the stewardship of our newlyappointed Principal Mr. John Curtis andthe Chaplaincy team headed by Fr. SeanO’Connor – In the Creidim Centre, a

centre for Adult Religious Educationand Faith Formation for the Diocese,under the Chairmanship of Mr. DeclanMurphy and a newly appointed SteeringCommittee – In the N.U.I.M.(NationalUniversity of Ireland, Maynooth)Outreach Campus, where at present 220adult students avail of a range ofcourses at undergraduate and postgraduate level under the managershipof Mr. Chris Reid and his team. Withthese concrete expressions of Educationand Formation, St. Kieran’s maintains acentral role in the academic and faithlife of Kilkenny, both city and countyand the Diocese of Ossory.

Over the past few years St. Kieran’s hasbeen very fortunate in managing all thechanges facing it and related demands.The new services, new facilities andrefurbishment programmes which yousee or have experienced are the resultof much hard work, dedication andsupport from many people, especiallystaff, students, parents’ council, Boardof Management, Trustees and ourpatron, Bishop Forristal.

Since being appointed President in

Fr. Kieron J. Kennedy.

August 2004 I have been inspiredpersonally by the levels of commitmentshown and energy expended by allinvolved in the mission of St. Kieran’s-some now no longer with us, especiallyMr. Micheál Ó Diarmada, who retired in2005 after eleven years as principal.With such obvious commitment we canface the future with confidence and agreat sense of optimism – all the morereason to welcome this and futureeditions of The Record.

Fr. Kieron J. Kennedy.

President.


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Principal’s AddressI

t is an honour for me to be writing thisas Principal of St. Kieran’s College,Kilkenny. Prior to September, I was

privileged to be similarly engaged inKnockbeg College Carlow, like St. Kieran’san all-boys’ diocesan school, and it is theexperience gained in my ten years asPrincipal there that I bring with me to mypresent position. Since taking up the post Ihave been struck by the courtesy andgenerosity of my colleagues on staff, thepupils and the parents; I have found theyear enjoyable and fruitful and I lookforward to further engaging with everyonein the school community in the years tocome.

This is a period of change in the school. Iwould like to thank my predecessor MicheálÓ Diarmada for all the help he has affordedme and to wish him well in his retirement –I can only hope to build on the rich legacyhe has left the school. It is very gratifying tobecome Principal at a time when, throughthe offices of the President Fr. Kennedy, theTrustees and the Board of Management,substantial work is being undertaken toupgrade infrastructure and facilities in St.Kieran’s. Improvements are now evidentaround the grounds and in the areas suchas the Glasshall and through the summerand in the coming years more projects of

this nature will be undertaken. Schoolscontinually need to evolve to meet thechanging needs of the time and theintention is to build on the proud traditionand past of St. Kieran’s to ensure thatpresent and future requirements are met.

The Record is a celebration of the year andshould give us occasion to reflect on andenjoy the achievements and creativity ofour pupils. Not everything can be coveredhere, but we hope you can see that the coreteaching and learning process with whichwe are engaged is augmented by a widerange of activity, academic and otherwise,that is indicative of our aim to provide abroad, holistic education for our pupils. Beit in poetry or hurling, it is great to see thestudents participating and the Record aimsto present the breadth of school life; it is acredit to my colleagues on staff that somuch extra-curricular work takes placehere. I would like to thank Ms. Keyes whotook on the project of producing the Recordand has worked tirelessly on it: I know, too,that she would like me to thank all the staffand students who so ably assisted her. Wehope that you will enjoy it now as giving aflavour of this school year and in time tocome, perhaps, as it serves as a reminder ofdays past.

Denis PhilpottI

n September 1970 Mr. Denis Philpottcame to St. Kieran’s College as ateacher of History and Geography.

From that day until he retired in August2005 his contribution to life in the Collegewas immense.

People quickly realised that he wasn’tsimply a teacher but a man of many partsand varied interests. Most obvious was hisinterest in and dedication to Gaelic gamesboth hurling and football. In the early1970s teams from St Kieran’s competed inLeinster football championships with aconsiderable degree of success with Denisat the helm. Twenty years on he steeredthe team in black and white to two allIreland senior hurling titles.

His dedication to his students was secondto none and he counts many of his formerstudents as friends. As educationalistsDenis and the Geography Departmentwere very progressive and theirGeography students were involved inexchange visits with schools north of the

Mr. Curtis

border and also took part in groundbreaking trips to Europe, pioneeringEuropean Studies in Secondary Schools.Contacts were kept up using electronicmail before the internet or email wasfashionable. His considerableunderstanding of History has always beena great help to students and colleaguesalike.

He had and indeed still has a great lovefor his native Cork, but his contribution to

Kilkenny has been considerable whetherwith Kilkenny minors, Dicksboro orGowran .

Those who taught with Denis miss him.

For me there is still a space in thestaffroom, I often look expecting to seethe smile. Then I know he is probably outon the golf course working on hishandicap and realise that any sadnesswould be misplaced.

Tomás Ó Murchú

As the year ends, I wish all of the studentswell in the summer tests, they mark theculmination of a hard year’s work and willtestify to the academic progress made sincelast September. On behalf of all of us onstaff I would especially like to extend bestwishes to all of those taking the Leaving andJunior Certificate examinations and to hopethat those crucial few weeks in June go wellfor them. As the Sixth Years leave us, weknow that happy and productive years lieahead of them as they take pride inthemselves, their school, and each proceedson his own way.

Mr. John Curtis


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Mícheál Ó Diarmada

Micheál O’ Diarmada retired asprincipal of St. Kieran’s CollegeSecondary School in 2005. His

departure from the staff marked theend of a distinguished career in thecollege spanning thirty seven years.

Mícheál is a native of Crobally in southKilkenny. If Shamrocks are playing inNowlan Park, Mícheál is there. Hisknowledge of the people and history ofthe south is extensive. If you go to alecture at Eigse Sliabh Rua, the lecturecould very likely be delivered byMícheál. His knowledge of local historyis extensive, usually showing sympathyfor the small farmer rather than thelandlord.

St. Kieran’s featured very much inMícheál’s life. He gave selflessly ofhimself to students during his longcareer. Micheál was renowned as ateacher of Irish and History in St.Kieran’s, but he was more than that, hewas a scholar and an enthusiast in both.Knowledge was shared generously withstudent or colleague, indeed still is. Ifyou sought a point of information orclarity, be it history or gaeilge, healways solved your problem. You neverwere made to feel foolish for asking thequestion. Generations of students leftthe school imbued with wisdom,knowledge and a love of learning as a

result of being taught by him.

He involved himself in preparing Irishdebating teams with many successes ininter schools competitions. If youneeded help when preparing a class onSeán Ó’ Ríordáin, Máirtín Ó Direáin orMichael Davitt, file, - Mícheál wasalways willing to help with backgroundknowledge.

His interest in hurling saw him followSt. Kieran’s the length and breadth ofthe country encouraging the collegeteam as they played against St.Flannan’s, St. Colman’s Fermoy, St.Peter’s Wexford or many local joustswith the C.B.S.

Mícheál has had a long standinginterest in and understanding of thesport of kings. I noticed early on in mycareer that on a certain Thursday eachJanuary and on certain days in MarchMícheál used to appear distracted.Greek words like Thyestes baffled meand references to obscure English townslike Cheltenham were also puzzling tome.

We were educated gradually andlearned about some of Mícheál’s otherwide range of interests. You mightattend Kilkenny archaeological societyand find Mícheál there speaking,listening, participating or proposing avote of thanks.

His love of sean nós singing is known farand wide particularly at Daonscoil naMumhan in his beloved Rinn ÓgCuanach but also in Kerry and furtherafield.

Later on, in the late Eighties, Mícheálturned from history teacher to historymaker when he became one of theteachers who introduced German to St.Kieran’s.

When John Collins retired as viceprincipal Mícheál succeeded him in thatjob and brought to it his usual energyand enthusiasm. But he only stayed inthat position for a short while.

In 1994 Micheal became the firstlayman to step into the shoes of NaomhCiarán as the headmaster. In thatposition his old strengths became hisnew strengths and we benefited too. Asa principal of the oldest catholicsecondary school in Ireland he showeddecency and Christianity andcompassion. He was dedicated to St.Kieran’s and students and all the staff.Clan Chiaráin mar a thugtar orainn.

Mar phríomhoide bhí sé

Uasal

Tuisceanach

Cineálta

Diongabhálta.

Braithimid uainn é. Go maire sé céad.

Left to Right: Mary Ní Dhiarmada, Tomás Ó Murchú, Fr. Kieron Kennedy, Micheál O’Diarmada and Bernie Dowling.


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St. Kieran’s DayT

he feast of St. Kieran falls onMarch 5th and this year thefestivities to celebrate our Patron

Saint were held on Friday March 10th,which was the nearest convenient date.

The day began with mass for studentsand teachers in St. Mary’s Cathedral,celebrated by our College President Fr.Kieron Kennedy, ably assisted by Fr.Sean O’Connor, College Chaplain. Theneverybody returned to the College to

“tog out” for the days plannedactivities which had been organised bystaff members for several weeksbeforehand.

The activities were many and variedand included; hill walking, golf, pitchand putt, hurling, soccer, music,photography, snooker and much more.

Of course the staff had to make it backto the College for a 5.30 receptionhosted by the President Fr. Kennedy,

where members of the Board ofManagement, Creidim Centre andMaynooth Outreach joined with theSecondary School in toasting St.Kieran.

Afterwards, a sumptuous meal wasenjoyed by all in the College Refectorywhich was prepared and presented byChef Jim Delaney, housekeeper AnnMeany and staff. The meal was a fittingend to a great day.

Prayer for ExamsA

s summer approaches, we

become aware of the brighter

weather and longer evenings.

Nature begins to blossom in all its

glory and we are reminded of how

near the summer holidays are. As the

school year ends, we give thanks to

God for all that was good this year, for

our friends and teachers.

We especially pray for the third and

sixth year students who sit stateexaminations in June. May the Godof wisdom be with them as they pray;O God, help me at my examinations toremember the things which I havestudied and learned. Help me toremember well and to think clearly.Help me not to be nervous or excited,that I may do myself justice and keepme calm and clear headed. Help me totry my hardest and do my best. Amen.

Our Lady, pray for all sitting theirleaving and junior certificateexaminations this summer. Amen.

Father, we ask your blessing upon thecommunity of St. Kieran’s College aswe enter the summer holidays. We askthis through Christ, Our Lord, by thepower of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Best wishes to all for the summer,

The Chaplaincy Team.

Lourdes Youth Pilgrimage 2006M

ichael Kelleher, RobbieDelaney, Joe Holohan and I arethe four students who will be

representing St. Kieran’s College inLourdes this year. We will be going aspart of a youth pilgrimage along withstudents from the Presentation, Loreto,C.B.S. and Grennan College.

The pilgrimage was organised by DerekDooley who worked with arepresentative from each school. Fr.Sean O’Connor was the representativein St. Kieran’s and has helpedunbelievably with the organisation ofthis trip.

On behalf of the students involved Iwould like to thank Fr. O’Connor for allhis help and for giving us theopportunity to take part in thisexperience.

Jack O’Connor. (TY)Pictured are the four students representing St. Kieran’s in Lourdes; Left to Right:Michael Kelleher, Jack O’Connor, Robert Delaney, Joseph Holohan.


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First Impression

Due for Release

First year students Brian O’Shea and Peter English.

At the opening night we received our first impressions of St.Kieran’s College. After being shown the theatre, the science labs,the art room, the music room and gym, we had created an image

in our heads of what days in ‘Kieran’s’ would be like; an interesting,eventful, creative environment which would carry us through ourJunior and Leaving Cert. studies. Ah bliss!

It was the first day of school and a group of fifth years had been ‘handchosen’ to help us settle in, basically, they told us where not to go,what not to say and who not to say it to. Then, we were introduced tothe classroom. Ten cubic metres of ancient carpet on which lay fifteendouble desks, each engraved with the names of people’s Fathers,Grandfathers and so on. My earlier image of the school hadevaporated, replaced by the “classical classroom” scene that lay beforeme. This was where I was going to spend my first year at St. Kieran’s,stuffed with 29 other lads, into a classroom which looked like it hadn’tbeen refurbished in twenty years. Welcome to second level education,boys!

Over the next few weeks we settled down and grew accustomed to theschool. During this time we learned who the messers, geniuses andathletes were.

Over the course of the year a number of improvements were made.For one thing they laid new carpets ( the old one was beginning todecay) which was good, except for the smell of glue that lingered for afew days. Also, seeing as the radiators seemed to be emanating coldinstead of heat, they too were replaced by ones which kept ussufficiently hot even on the coldest of winter days.

The administrative powers of this school, and the man above, MaryHanafin, have at last come to terms with the fact that we are just,too cool for school! So they’ve decided that as a little going away

present they’re going to make us sit exams called the Leaving Cert. Onemight wonder does the fact that these exams usually take place overtwo of the sunniest, warmest weeks of the whole year hold some sortof vengeance for all the ‘guff’ we’ve given thus far, or maybe they justdon’t want us to return.

As I empty my locker I remember things like coming in on my first day

We have also had to learn to get used to the week or so of every termwhich is dedicated to tests. Although nobody relishes the thoughts oftrying to cram a term’s worth of work into an hour of writing and eventhose of us with the best revision plans seem to forget the odd fact ordate here or there, I think we all agree that they are made up for bythe extended lunchtimes. Coming to the end of first year I’m sure thatwe all feel our decision to come here was justified. It’s not just becauseof the school’s physical properties, but for its character and tradition,things that other schools just can’t match – not to mention our hurlingprowess!

By Brian O’Shea and Peter English (1SC)

here. The feelings of being unable to breathe brought on by the terrorof once again being on the bottom rung of the social ladder, that or theasphyxiation of our ties being so high that they may as well have beenup around our foreheads.

That first year was undoubtedly the longest. 2nd Year wasovershadowed by the saga of Sept. 11th and the start of the war in Iraq.3rd Year gave us our very first officially recognised qualification. 4thYear was definitely one of the most fun years, it was our transition frompubescent kids to post- pubescent adolescents. 5th brought therealisation of our impending Leaving Cert. exams. As for 6th Year? It wasmore a case of ‘sneeze and you’ll miss it’.

Every 6th Year has their own memories of attending this school, hereare some of mine; ‘Saving Private Ryan’ re-enactments in 3rd Year, theGlass Hall being considered a suitable bowling alley for ping-pong ballsor as a skating rink when it rained, nick-names, teacher strikes, studentstrikes and being told to ‘GO NOW’ to hall 33.Yet in all the years I’vespent here some mysteries still exist. How does the stone stairswithhold the constant stampede of students? Is there really a dartboardin the staffroom? Where exactly is this secret door up to the chapel? Andwho is the person who comes in the dark of night to fix the windows?

Though some of us would rather sit on a rattle snake than admit it, wewill miss this school or certain things about it. We’ll miss the teachersthat we respect because of their respect for us. This school has been thebasis for a lot of our growth as people. As we now prepare to leave andface the Big Bad World I’m overcome by a sense of achievement andsatisfaction. We can be proud to say we are alumni of St. Kieran’sCollege. Its been fun, it went faster than I expected and as the firstgeneration of students to enter in the new millennium, its time to leaveforever.

Look after yourselves, try not to miss me too much (cue the violins orthe ‘Goodbye song’ from Bear in the Big Blue House….you know thewords). Slán.

David Hayes (6th Year)


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Fundraising

TsunamiBoat

Fund ’05

Transition year students have

collected over €15,000, during the

past school year, for the following

charities and organisations:

• O’NEILL CENTRE

• YOUTHLYNX

• IRISH WHEELCHAIR

ASSOCIATION

• ISPCC- HOLLY DAYS

• GROW

• OUR LADY’S HOSPITAL

FOR SICK CHILDREN,

CRUMLIN

€9,000 was collected in the school last year following the Tsunami disaster, this was enough to purchase three boats picturedbelow. St. Kieran’s 1, 2 and 3 / Transition Year students with the Cheque for €9,000 pictured with Micheal O’Diarmada andMaureen Meany,


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Fairtrade Coffee MorningAs part of their CSPE juniorcertificate action project class2SF organised a coffeemorning to raise awarenessabout FAIRTRADE. They soldFairtrade tea, coffee, hotchocolate and cookies. Therewas a great turnout ofteachers and students.

‘Fairtrade Mark Ireland’ is anorganisation which ensuresthat people in the developingworld get a fair price for theirproduce. Class 2SF put a lot ofwork into the organisation ofthis morning, they learned alot and overall the coffeemorning was a huge success.

Caption: Front L. to R. Ciaran Colfer, Danny Moloney, Conor McMorrow, Joey Corcoran, Daryl Cody, Cian O’Mahoney, AnthonyMcNeill, Pierre Morrissey (guitar), Patrick Lennon (guitar), Keith Shanahan, Shane Grace (snare drum), Donal O’Farrell (guitar), EvanCass (guitar), Daire Nolan (guitar).2nd Row L. to R.: Stephen McKenna, Andrew O’Dwyer, Gerry Walsh, Jack Hanrahan, Darragh Griffin, Michael Costello, Mark Grace.3rd Row L. to R.: Sam Moylan, Evan Guilfoyle, William Gaffney, Matthew Nolan, Eoin Walsh, Ken Farrell, Jake O’Brien, SeanO’Dwyer, George Allen.Back Row L. to R.: Karl Dos Santos, Eamonn Wallace, Michael Clarke, Ger Smith, Christopher Vierhout, Shane Noonan-Holohan,Peter English, Jamie Fogarty, Joe Sexton, Michael Lennon, Michael Walsh, Thomas Lennon, David Farrell, Garry Corcoran, ConorMaharaj, Tommy McGuinnes, Andrew Cantwell, Sean McPhillips, Bill Murtagh-White, Alan Byrne, Stephen Duncan.

Christmas CarolsSome of the members of 2SF behind the counter at the FAIRTRADE coffee morning

In December Ms. Olive Comerfordorganised a day of carols and musicat the town hall to raise funds for OurLady’s Hospital for Sick Children,Crumlin. The choir sang carols from

10am until 1pm and music filled theair as the wind ensemble playedfrom 2pm until 3pm. €2,000 wasraised over these four hours. This,plus the €5,000 that the Transition

Year students raised, duringcollection days organised by Ms.Maureen Meany, brought a grandtotal of over €7,000 donated to theHospital.


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Trocaire Awareness Raising Campaign

The Trocaire awareness raisingcampaign aims to raise awareness ofvarious injustices and human rights

breaches throughout the developingworld. It does so by using Ireland’snetwork of secondary schools, promotingthem to begin their own awarenessraising campaigns at a local level. Everyyear Trocaire’s agents visit secondaryschools throughout Ireland and providethem with the information they require tobegin their campaigns. This includes theyear’s theme, which alternates annually.This year the theme given to students insixteen schools across Ireland was ‘CHILDLABOUR IN NICARAGUA’.

Child labour can be defined as “any workthat harms or exploits in any way,whether physically, mentally or morallyor blocking access to education”. It hasnow become a common problem in manythird world countries, most of which havebooming economies. Child labourprovides a cheap workforce that isbeneficial to the countries economy as awhole but that often seriously exploitschildren as young as five years old. Thevast majority of these developingcountries, including Nicaragua, haverapidly increasing populations whichprovide a ready supply of children to workon coffee plantations, carpet factories,dumps and mines as street vendors andeven in the sex trade. Governments suchas those in Nicaragua often turn a blindeye on child labour, dismissing thedisturbing statistics that reveal just howcommon and exploitative it has nowbecome.

In Nicaragua alone, a country of fivemillion inhabitants, there are in excess oftwo hundred thousand illegally employed

children (while facts and figures on childlabour are by no means difficult to obtainthey do vary considerably). This figure wascalculated by the Nicaraguan centre forhuman rights who also estimate thatthere are between five and six thousandstreet children selling mainly foodproduce on the streets of Managua,Nicaragua’s capital city. These childrencome from families so poor that some are“rented” by their parents to organisednetworks of beggars. They receive onlyminimal wages, usually below 1 euro aday, but have no other choice but to work,in order to support their families and tosurvive.

The coffee plantations are a major sourceof child labour. Coffee is Nicaragua’sprime export and over four hundredthousand Nicaraguans depend on thecultivation and sale of coffee to make aliving. The owners of the plantations,however, are slow to own up to the factthat over twelve per cent of coffeeworkers are illegally employed children.They are forced to work for up to sevenhours a day and deprived of their rights toreceive a proper education and, in manycases, to see their families. Children mustadminister dangerous chemicalherbicides and pesticides, many of whichhave been banned in other countries,because of health and safety issues. All ofthis work must be carried out withabsolutely no protection under scorchingheat of up to thirty three degrees.Furthermore, these children are not paidfor the time that they spend on theplantations but instead by the volume ofcoffee that they pick. They will onlyreceive 45 cent for every ten kilogrambasket of coffee that they harvest.

We began our research into child labourin November and from then on ourpresentation slowly began to take shape.Four representatives from our 16 stronggroup also attended a day of lectures andworkshops organised by Trocaire inDublin. This provided us with a valuableopportunity to exchange findings andideas for our project with other trocairegroups around the country.

Our public presentations began in Marchand all have been extremely successful.We visited St. Pat’s and St. John of God’sprimary schools, we also carried out ourpresentation to first and second yearstudents in St. Kieran’s and Loretosecondary school. We have featured onKCLR twice over the course of ourcampaign as well as having a display,raising awareness on several aspects ofchild labour, in the credit union. We alsohad two appearances on RTE 1s Kairosprogramme “A prayer at Bedtime” overthe Lenten period. Two representativesfrom Nicaragua, Karina and Eleazar, cameto the school to talk to us about theirpersonal experiences of child labour. Wehave recently completed the translationof our presentation into Irish to bring tothe Gaelscoil primary school.

Overall, I have found the trocaireawareness campaign to be anenlightening, involving and challenging,yet rewarding, project which has openedmy eyes to the appalling conditions underwhich thousands of children are forced tolive. It puts into perspective the luxuriesthat we afford ourselves and hardlynotice. I would strongly recommendparticipation in this project to all futuretransition year students.

Ian O’Fearghaill.(TY)

The students involvedin the TrocaireAwareness RaisingCampaignaccompanied byKarina and Eleazar(NicaraguanRepresentatives whospoke of personalexperiences of childlabour) Fr. KieronKennedy (CollegePresident) and OliveComerford (teacher).


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Adventure Weekend for thePresident’s Award

On Friday May 5th, at 6:45am, thetwenty three studentsparticipating for the bronze

medal of the President’s Award set offon their adventure weekend to fulfil therequirements set out for this prestigiousmedal. The group were accompanied byMr. Darmody and Ms. Comerford.

The weekend started with a fun filledjourney to Kenmare on a jam packedmini bus, where every empty space wasfilled with bags. The bus journey startedas the weekend continued with laughsand jokes coming at a constant rate.

On arrival at the adventure centre, StarSailing, Kenmare, we stepped off thecramped bus to stretch our legs. The seaair was really refreshing. We wereintroduced to our instructors, threepeople who would, over the three days,learn our strengths and weaknesses andalso our unique sense of humour.

On day one, we tried out two differentactivities. Our group was divided intotwo where we alternated the activities.The first were team challenges, whereour mental abilities were put to the test.The group that worked as a team alwayscame out on top, an important factor toremember for the following two days.The second activity was to man and saila six person sail boat. Sailing wasdefinitely the better of the two activitiesas we all learned how to work the sailsand steer the boat. When the sailing wasover we jumped off a 20 ft pier whichwas an unbelievable feeling. Once youjumped you felt like you were nevergoing to hit the water. Friday wasfinished off with a murder mysterytreasure hunt in the local woods wherewe were given orientation maps with X’sthe spot where clues were hidden. Ourjob was to find out who killed who,where, how and why! This challengeproved a lot more difficult than any ofus could have imagined because theclues were hidden so well. We had torummage through fallen branches andundergrowth to find some.

On day two we were joined by two moreteachers Mr. Windle and Mr. Heffernan.The day started as it finished, raining!We started off by being kitted out with

Left to Right Front :John Fagan, Niall McQuillan, David Nolan, Michael Kelleher, JohnWallace, Tomas Phelan, Patrick Rice, Oisin DalyMiddle: David Griffin, Jack O’Connor, David Rafter, Brian O’ Shea David Walton, DavidBuggy, Colm DowlingBack: Ian O’Fearghaill, James Duncan, Andrew Prendergast, Stephen Quinlan, JoeWalsh, Conor Phelan, Martin Gibbons, Ciaran Neary)

wetsuits, lifejackets, boots and rainjackets. The wet suits were extremelytight and….wet! We were given warmup exercises to stretch our muscles toavoid injury. We were shown how tohold the paddle, how to turn and alsohow to slow down. Then we set off inour three and four man canoes.Unfortunately for us we were fighting alosing battle when not more than fiveminutes had passed and one of ourteam capsized the boat. Four of usended up in the water, which wasn’tvery pleasant as we hadn’t even movedone kilometre and already we were coldand wet.

We headed in towards Kenmare town,about six kilometres from where westarted. We stopped off and had lunchand it was only then the hard workbegan, our homeward journey involvedpaddling back six kilometres against thecurrent.

On the Saturday evening an indoorsoccer tournament was arranged. Thiswas won by Mr. Windle following a lastminute penalty in the final which gaveMr. Windle the glory he always longed

for. The night was finished off with atake away being delivered to ourapartments. This brings us to our thirdday when our mischievous streak wasreawakened.

The weather had improved with onlylight showers every half hour or so, thishelped to keep our spirits and bodytemperatures up. On our final day ofcanoeing we travelled about 10kms butthis was divided up with seaweed fights,battles of the paddles, capsizing andgetting a tow from the canoe in front.The highlight of the day was when allstudents started a seaweed fight in thedirection of one canoe, inside whichwas Ciaran Neary, Ms. Comerford andMr. Windle, our main target.

Overall it was a very enjoyable trip, withmany laughs and jokes but mostimportantly, the completion of our yearlong effort to achieve the Bronze Medalof the President’s Award. Thank you toall four teachers for travelling with usand also to our President’s AwardLeaders, Mr. Darmody, Ms. Comerfordand Fr. O’Connor.

Brian O’Shea and David Walton (T.Y.)


10

Our Belfast Weekend

On Friday the 5th May, 22 studentsfrom St. Kieran’s College went toBelfast for a sporting and cultural

weekend. The weekend included 5-a-side soccer and swimming atAndersonstown Leisure Centre, afterwhich we were collected by our hostparents .On Saturday Kilkenny played StJohn’s Belfast in a game of hurlingwhich St. Kieran’s won 2- 7 to 1- 5. Wethen visited the W5 science centre at theOdyssey followed by bowling atDundonald Ice Bowl. Stormont Castlewas next on the agenda we wereamazed by its size, huge.

Shopping in O’Neill’s Superstore wasexcellent and most of us spent a fortuneon jerseys and jackets. Sunday was jampacked also, starting off with Mass in StMichael’s followed by a match, StKieran’s v La Salle. A tour ofAndersonstown News Centre, where areport was made up of our trip and ourpictures were put into the paper (we allgot a copy to bring home, a nicememento) and shopping in WestwoodCentre was all done before going to theUlster Senior Football Championshipgame, Cavan V Down at Casement Park.The guided tour of North and WestBelfast and City Centre was a real eyeopener especially since it was the 25thanniversary of the hunger strikes. Wereturned early Monday morningabsolutely shattered after a hecticweekend. We made great friends fromBelfast and many of us were invitedback during the summer.

David Cummins, David Freeman,Bill Murtagh-White and Paul Holden. (2SK)

All first year students got theopportunity to go on history tripsorganised by Eadaoin Brennan,

Jane Galway and Patrick Darmody, toFerrycarrig National Heritage Park inWexford .

Some of the firstyear studentswho werebrought to theFerrycarrigNationalHeritage Park,Wexfordlistening to theirguide.

Jim Carew, Richard Windle and Eamon Heffernan on the slopes during this year’s ski trip

Back Left to Right: Keith Davitt, Joe Clohesy, Matthew Byrne,

David O’Connell, Ciaran Goff, Luke Greene, Paddy Delaney,

Niall Houston Middle Left to Right: Stephen Duncan,

David Cummins, Cornelius O’Flynn,Patrick Lawlor, Kieran Fennelly, Patrick Dowling, Aidan O’Dowd,

Bill Murtagh-White. Front Left to Right: Gary Corcoran,

Paul Holden, David Freeman, ConorHogan, Raymond Brennan,

Cillian Phelan. Missing from photo: Dermot Heafey.

Here are just a few of the many tours organised for students throughout the school year

First year History Trip

Ski Tour


11

Prizegiving 2005Sports Awards Back Left to Right: Gavin Houlihan (soccer), T.J. Reid (Senior Hurling), Mr Patrick Kilroy,Rev. Fr. Kieron Kennedy, Mary Cooper (Parents’ Association),Ml. O’Diarmada, James Crotty (Golf)Front Left to Right: David Walton (Junior Football), Sam Holmes (U-14 Hurling), Darragh Callanan (Sports Star of the Year), Niall McQuillan (U-16 Hurling), Andrew Kavanagh (U-14 Football)

Academic Awards Front Left to Right:

Ciaran Casey (1st Year), Corey Molloy (2nd Year),

Niall McQuillan (3rd Year), John Cahill (T.Y.)

Student of the Year Left to Right: Darren Booth (1st Year), Robert Butler (2nd Year), James Dowling (5thYear), Niall McQuillan (3rd Year), Thomas Downey (6th Year), Patrick Foley (T.Y.)


12

Yeats Aloud

In April close to 60 studentsparticipated in the ‘Yeats AloudPoetry’ competition which was held

in the College theatre. Students fromDunlavin to Ring all recited ‘The Song ofWandering Aengus’ as well as a Yeatspoem of their choice. The competitionwas set up by Poetry Ireland and theNational Library who in May will exhibitYeats’ manuscripts.

The students were judged in sixcategories including voice projectionand interpretation with the recital ofpoems from memory being a requisite.

Kilkenny was well represented with nofewer than 40 students competing ontheir own turf. The event wasadjudicated by Mark Roper, JeanFitzpatrick and Prionsias O’Drisceoil. Thefirst and second places in the senior

group went to two students from theCollege, 1st Richard Cody and 2ndStephen Colfer.

The event was organised by St. Kieran’sCollege teachers Larry Cotter and MartinO’Neill. Those who came first, secondand third in each of the three categories,Senior, Intermediate and Junior will goon to the national competition on May12th in the National Library in Dublin.

We are a few among manystudents from fifth year whoparticipated in the study skills

programme that was provided by theschool in March of this year. At thebeginning we were given a test based onhow we studied prior to participating inthe programme. We were then toldabout the current points system in placein Ireland and how it was worthwhileattempting honours rather thanordinary level in as many subjects aspossible , an ordinary ‘A’ grade beingequivalent to a honours ‘D’ grade whenit came to calculating points.

Our instructor then informed us ofsome facts concerning studying , forexample, the brain stops functioningeffectively after 25 minutes(concentration levels drop to 70%)andtherefore 5 minute breaks should betaken every twenty five minutes.Another point made was the idea ofsubstituting images/pictures in placeof numbers e.g. 1=pencil. This visualform of learning helps you toremember notes etc. from varioussubject copies (link pictures tonumbers and numbers to the notes).

At the end of the day’s programme the

same test was distributed as we had

completed at the beginning of the day

and it was revealed that every

student’s mark had improved.

On the whole the activity was an

enjoyable and informative one.

Thanks should go to the instructor and

to the school for making this

programme available to students.

(Many valuable points were made on

the day – far too numerous to mention

here).

Liam Ryan, Luke O’ Mahoney and

Colin Murphy (5th Year)

Students from the South East of Ireland who were competing in the “Yeats Aloud” Poetry competition in St. Kieran’s College

Study Skills


13

Icdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty

uesdnatnrd what I was rdgnieg. The

phaonmneal pweor of the hmaun

mind. Aoccdrnig to rscheeacrh at

Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer

in what order the ltteers in a word are,

the only iprmoatnt thing is that the frist

and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The

rset can be a taotl mses and you can still

raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is

bcuseae the human mind deos not raedervey lteter by istlef, but the word as awlohe. Amzanig huh ?

Contributed byMichael Sherlock. (3SC)

English Master Class

During the course of the 2005academic year 16 students weregiven the privilege of attending

classes with an accomplished poet,Mark Roper. The opportunity to betutored by a writer such as Mark is adistinction in any context. The fact thatthis opportunity was presented to us bySt. Kieran’s emphasises the abundanceof opportunities and privileges wereceive as students of this Collegethanks to the dedication of teachersand others affiliated with the school.

The 16 students selected attendedclasses, during which Mr. Roper, anexperienced and accomplished poet,introduced the concept of poetry(writing and appreciation) andattempted to add to and nourish each

student’s existing skills.

This was the second time that such avisit from Mark Roper to St. Kieran’sCollege had occurred and on theprevious occasion Mr. Roper, Mr. Cotterand the students of that master classcompiled a broadsheet of their work.(This, incidentally, can be seen on mostschool notice boards in the college.)

Following our classes, under thestewardship of Mr. Cotter, all poemswere printed on individual postcardsthat were sold together in packs. Thisidea meant that the works of thestudents would not only illuminate thewalls of the college but could bringillumination all over the world.

The course concluded with a night ofpoetry reading in the College theatre

which included a memorable speechfrom our former principal Mr. O’Diarmada.

As I personally participated in thecourse, on behalf of all 16 students Iwish to thank those who made itpossible: Mark Roper for his diligentpatience, Poetry Ireland who subsidisedthe course, the Arts Education AdvisoryCommittee for the south east and theSt. Kieran’s College Board ofManagement, all teachers including MrCotter and apologies to anyone I havemissed.

Hopefully, this course can now becomesynonymous with St Kieran’s Collegeand may it proceed for a long time tocome.

Donal o’ Farrell (3SC)

The students involved in the English master class on the poetry night in St. Kieran’s along with Larry Cotter (English teacher) andMark Roper.

Think about it…

StudentEnterpriseAwards

We entered the student enterprise awards with a gardensupplies business. We sold Christmas plants, such asPoinsettias and Hyacinths, but our main product idea

was our own original ‘Dung bags- Organic, easy to usefertiliser for household and garden plants’. They were verypopular with the public as they are very practical and theybrought us from the school final to the county final of theEnterprise Awards. The judges in the county final were veryinterested in our business especially our ‘Dung Bags’. We wonthis stage of the competition advanced to the All-Ireland final,took place on May 14th and won the Innovation Award.

Peter Cody. (TY)


14

Young Scientists Exhibition

Every January an exhibition is held inthe RDS in Dublin for young scientiststhroughout the Republic and NorthernIreland. The exhibition gives youngpeople the chance to show their skillsin the different fields of science, whilealso giving them the opportunity tomeet people of the same age from allover the country, and developfriendships that last longer than theexhibition. A lot of time and energy isspent preparing the projects but onceyou reach the RDS you realise it’s allworth it. With your week being filledwith late nights, discos, new friends,and ice skating! You really get to knowthe people you are working on theproject with, and may even meetpeople from Kilkenny you never knewbefore. It’s the opportunity of a lifetimeand I’m only sorry it didn’t last longer.

St. Kieran’s entered two projects thisyear. These were “The use ofAromatherapy in the Classroom toIimprove Concentration and Alertness”and “The De-Euthrophication of thelake in the castle park”. I was part ofthe aromatherapy project.

Bernard McDonald and David Griffin.

Young Entrepreneur Peter Cody. (Missing from photo MichaelKelleher).

The use of Aromatherapy in the Classroom toimprove Concentration and Alertness

In preparation for the exhibition weran multiple tests on students,comparing the results of the tests takenwhile using aromatherapy to the resultsof the tests taken without usingaromatherapy. Our results wereextremely interesting with a substantialimprovement in test results while

aromatherapy was being used. There

was a lot of interest in our project from

the judges and the public and we won

an award for our display. My team mate

in completing this project was Bernard

McDonald.

David Griffin (TY)


15

Young Scientists Exhibition

Oisin Daly, David Walton and Stephen Quinlan.

The De-Euthrophication project that wecompleted involved researching theweed that was causing terribleproblems in the Castle Park Lake. Wemade lots of enquiries during our

research to the Castle Park, Kilkenny, tothe E.P.A. (Environmental ProtectionAgency) and others. We wereinterviewed by Clara Walsh from KCLRalong with the students involved with

the aromatherapy project. The otherstudents involved in the completion ofthis project were: David Walton andStephen Quinlan.

Oisin Daly (TY)

The De-Euthrophication of the Lake in the Castle Park

The 421 drugs educationprogramme is a 3- day trainingprogramme designed for transition

year students to teach them the types,effects and reasons for using drugs. Thestudents then devise a six week courseconsisting of forty minutes a weekwhere they present their new foundknowledge to the first year students oftheir own school.

I was lucky enough to be chosen frommy school to take part in theprogramme and I must say that it was arigorous six weeks. At the same time,though challenging, it was enjoyableand this made the experience easieroverall.

The three days consisted of six hours a

day of learning and increasing yourknowledge of drugs, but it is not thetypical way that students learn aboutdrugs. We were taught about drugs in away which really caught our interest andattention which made the courseenjoyable and what we learnedmemorable.

We were also taught how to become theinstructors ourselves and how toapproach the subject with first yearstudents. The emphasis, we wereinformed, was to make sure we involvedthe students in the class and got to knowthem better.

It is after these 3 days that the real workbegins. The twelve students who wenton the programme then have to devise

their own six week course, consisting ofone forty minute class a week. Duringthese classes we pass on our knowledge.Each of these six classes will be used toteach the first years about the differenttypes of drugs and their effects.

Ossory Youth, who run the programme,are delighted with the progress it hasmade since it began in 2004 and hopesof making it a national project aregetting closer to becoming a reality inthe future.

At the moment we are in the process ofpresenting our course to the first yearsand are enjoying and finding itinteresting being in the teacher’sposition for a change.

Niall McQuillan.(TY)

421 Drugs Programme


16

The Euroscola ProgrammeT

he European Parliament launched the EuroscolaProgramme to enable young people from all over Europeto familiarise themselves with the workings of the

European Union and discuss current issues that will affecttheir future.

On April 25th I arrived at Dublin airport, to fly to Strasbourgin France for four days, with 29 other students from aroundthe country. We had all won the Graduate Competition andthis trip to Strasbourg was the prize.

The first day of the trip was spent at the European Parliament.Everyone was seated in MEP’s seats along with about 30students from each of the other member states in the EU,about 600 students in total. We were split into working groupsto talk about issues like: ‘Whether Europe should have anArmy and Should Europe have a single Constitution?’. Then wevoted on the different issues.

For the rest of the trip we visited Luxembourg, Germany andBelgium. We stopped to tour the Rhine Valley, Heidelberg,Köln and Brussels from where we took a plane back to Dublin.

Richard Mosse (TY)

6th year students pictured with their ECDL certificates and teachers Philip Walsh and Maureen Meany.

Richard Mosse.

ECDL Certificates


17

What a Collection

Looking back over the past year I haveto admit that I found it to be bothbeneficial and rewarding. It acts, as thename suggests, as a transition periodallowing us to mature before facing thetwo year Leaving Certificate course.

Transition year also provides us with the

opportunity to go out into the world ofwork to see what is expected of us. Workexperience also helps us to see whetherwe are suited to particular jobs andhelps us to see if we should considerthem as a career.

We have had time to explore and reflect

during the year, prior to making the

important decisions that face us in the

next couple of years. The time is also

made available to try new things, like

Cookery, Bridge, Chess, Youth Lynx,

Theatre, ECDL and The President’s

Award. Mark Kinsella (TY)

ChessStudents from St. Kieran’s meet

weekly to play chess andit is also one of the activities

available to Transition year studentson Wednesday evenings.

Pictured here St. Kieran’s Collegestudents playing against students

from Oathlands CBS, Dublin, in the Leinster Colleges Chess

Tournament

Richie Hogan shows hisdisplay of Handball andHurling medals.

Top Row: L-R:All-Ireland Senior Hurling2003, 2004Second Row: L-R: 8 All-Ireland Handball (all levels) 2001-2006Third Row: L-R: 7 Leinster Handball (all levels) 2001-2005Fourth Row: L-R: 8 Leinster Hurling (all levels) 2001-2005Bottom Row: L-R: South Leinster Football2003 (Leinster SeniorHandball 60X30 2006 andLeinster Senior SinglesHandball 2006 medals yetto be received)

A Reflection on Transition Year


18

Business Award

Back row L to R. NiallMcQuillan, Mr. Tom Looby,David Butler.Front row L to R: Mr.Paddy Downey (RegistrarWIT), Abbas Khan, Ms.Norah Martyn (BSTAI).Missing from picture isOisin Daly.

The four studentspictured with their

teacher, Mr. J.Kavanagh, outside

Trinity College, Dublin.

Three St. Kieran’s collegestudents were therecipients of the W.I.T.school of business/BSTAIrecognition awards 2005for their outstandingresults in Business Studies,Junior Certificateexamination 2005. Theawards were presented atWaterford Institute ofTechnology on 14th ofNovember 2005.

IMTA (Maths Award) Harry Maharaj, EndaRafter, Ritchie Ryan andDonal Fitzpatrick wonthe IMTA schools mathsquiz south-east branchin January. The fourthen went on torepresent the south-eastwith distinction in theAll-Ireland schoolsmaths quiz.


19

Comórtas Díospóireachta an Phiarsaigh 2006 Gael Linn

Shroich foireann sóisear Choláiste Chiaráin an craobh reigiúnach I mbliana.Comhghairdeas do Corey Molloy (captain na Foirne, 3SK), Cian O’Sullivan (3SK) agus NiallQuillan (3SK).

Left to Right: Aisling Kavanagh (Regional Schools Co-ordinator), Mr. John Curtis(Principal), Corey Molloy and Martina Comerford (B.O.I. Kilkenny, student officer).

Leaving Certificate student, RichieRyan, recently won the NationalNo-Name Club Youth Award in

Ennis. This is a prestigious event andextremely difficult to win.Approximately 1,000 Leaving Certificatestudents from No-Name clubs all overthe country take part initially andthrough a series of heats, eight youngpeople compete in the finals for twoawards (Male/Female). In 28 years ofthis competition, Richie is only the 4thperson ever from Kilkenny No-NameClub to win and the first from St.Kieran’s. Private interviews areundergone and public performances arerequired from all contestantsinterviewed on stage by Sile Seoige TG4.

NationalNo-Name

Club YouthAward

Thosaigh sé go léir le mé féin, Coreyagus Niall ag scriobh nadispóireachtaí agus thug Iníon NíRiain (ár múinteoir) cabhair dúinn,ag cleachtadh agus ag tabhairtreoireacha dúinn.

Níor chreideamar riamh gorachaimid chomh fada sachomórtas. Shroicheamar an craobhreigiúnach.

Bhí an chéad bhabhta í scoil namBráithre Chriostaí í gCeatharlach.An dara babhta in Ostán an Radissoní mBaile Áth Luain. Thaisteal IníonNí Riaín gach áit linn agusbhaineamar an taitneamh as.

Ba mhaith linn buíochas a ghabhaildo gach duine a chabhraidh linn.

Cian O’Sulivan (3SK)

I was nominated within the school for

the Bank of Ireland Student of the Year

Awards. I was then asked to fill out a

special form stating why I thought I

should win this award. This was then

sent away to be judged and as it turned

out I was the Kilkenny Regional winner.

The prize presented to me was a 1

Gigabyte Sony MP3 player.

Corey Molloy (3SK)

Bank of Ireland Award


20

1SC: Left to Right,Front: Dylan Meagher, Jack Nolan, Patrick Butler, Brian Walshe, Danny Moloney, Hugh O’Neill.2nd row: Cian Prendergast, Brian O’Shea, Patrick O’Carroll, Michael Costello, Eoghan Connolly, Sean Lowry.3rd row: Cillian Buckley, Evan Guilfoyle, Darragh Griffin, Cillian Phelan.4th row: Kieran Rafter, Jack Hanrahan, Peter English, Sean Wemyss, Cian Mullaly, William Phelan.Back: Darragh Buggy, Darragh Carrigan, Andrew O’Dwyer, Michael Dunne, Michael Tierney, Sean Lennon, David Dewberry.

1SF: Left to Right,Front: Wayne Johnson, Oliver O’Neill, Ryan Bolger, Daryl Cody, Joe Becker, Gerard Looby, Tom Mullan, Ciaran Madden.2nd row: Trevor Looby, Paul Buggy, Keith Shanahan, Michael Clarke, Peter Nolan, Sean Farrell, Eamonn Wallace.3rd row: Jason Quan, Shane Noonan, Gary Geoghan, Shane Dowling, Conor Foley.Back: Shane Brennan, Keith Nolan, John Dunphy, Luke Feehan, Bill Simpson, Bill Molloy.

1st Years


21

1SM: Left to Right,Front: Denis Hogan, Sam Johnston, Kevin Brannigan, Luke Hickey, Ger Smith, Stephen Chappell, James Burke, William Harrison.Middle: Robert Lacey, Patrick Brennan, William Gaffney, Richard Prendergast, Aaron McDonald, Stephen Noonan, Jamie Minogue,Conor McMorrow.Back: Tommy McGuiness, Fintan Hurley, Stephen Corr, Ger Teehan, John Power, Thomas Lennon, Christopher Vierhout.

1SK: Left to Right,Front: Eoin Walsh, Cormac Costello, Joey Corcoran, Aaron Nolan, Cian O’Mahoney, Gerry Walsh, Fionbar Hayes, Thomas Whitely,Sean O’DwyerMiddle: Danny Farrell, Matthew Nolan, Ken Farrell, Sean McDonald, Jason Nugent, George Allen, Michael Lanigan, Mark Grace,Kevin Brennan, Jake O’BrienBack: Tom Brennan, Jason Collier, Declan Bennet, Daragh Phelan, Michael Whitely, Cathal O’Neill, Niall Walsh, Shane Brennan,David Mullins

1st Years


22

2SB: Left to Right,Front: Conor Gorey, Laurence O’Carroll, Colm MacPartlin, Kieran Lynch, Niall Kenny, Darren Booth, Conor Maharaj.2nd row: Sean Phelan, Michael Gorman, Eamonn O’Connor, Eoin Delahunty, Corey Rigley, Jamie O’Hara.3rd row: Padraig Meany, Michael Hayes, Jonathon Newell, Christopher Casey, Ian Matthews, Shane O’SullivanBack: Pierre Morrissey, C. Brown, Thomas Byrne, Michael Cotter, Evan Barry, Keith Davitt.

2SC: Left to Right,Front: Rory Bryan, Padraig Walsh, Karl dos Santos, Shane Egan, Bernard Mullen, Kieran Fennelly, Rory McPhillips.2nd row: Michael Sheehan, Dermot Heafey, Conor Hogan, Sean Queally, Jake Egan, Michael Twomey3rd row: Stephen Duncan, Dermot, Kelly, Andrew Cantwell, Kieran White, Anthony McQuinn4th row: Alan Byrne, Mark Prendergast, Ciaran Colfer, Ben O’ConnorBack: Kieran Casey, Anthony Wilson, Ciaran Gough.

2nd Years


23

2SK: Left to Right,Front: David Cummins, Sam Malone, David Freeman, Bill Murtagh-White, Eoghan Lalor, Sean McPhillips, Gavin Butler, Shane Grace.2nd row: Jamie Fogarty, John Meehan, Cornelius O’Flynn, Edward Dunphy, Padraig Walsh, Paul Holden, Brian Prendergast, Gary Corcoran.Back: John Costigan, Donal Brennan, Joe Clohesy, James Gannon, Gareth Hayes, Daryl Butler, David O’Connell, Richard Deasy,Matthew Byrne.

2SF: Left to Right,Front: Richie Maher, PaddyDowling, David Coyne, MarkMcCarthy, Cathal Healy, PatrickTynan.2nd row: Daire Nolan, DanielLuttrell, Michael Dowling,Stephen Lennon, Damien Tynan3rd row: Darragh Nolan, GavinHolohan, Michael Dowling,Stephen Lennon, James Houlihan.Back: Evan Cass, Joe Sexton, RobSkeehan, Kieran O’Brien, PatrickLawlor.Missing from photo: GavinHolohan, James Houlihan, NiallHouston, Eoin Brennan, DavidFarrell.

2SM: Left to Right,Front: Dylan Walsh,Kevin Ireland, GavinJoyce, Ciaran Snype,

Hugh O’Brien.2nd row: Luke Green,Marcin Figiel, Darren

Evans, MichaelLennon, Cillian

Phelan.Back: Nicky Creane,

Eoin Prendergast,Thomas Falsey, Kamil

Ziotkowski, KennethKinsella, Ciaran Leahy.

2nd Years


24

3SC: Left to Right,Front: Eoin Holohan, Colin Manning, Kieran Manning, Edward Nugent, Andrew Kavanagh, Michael Rice, Jake Mullaly, PaulForristal, Colm Dowling.2nd row: John Muldowney, John Fitzgerald, Conor Doyle, David Doyle, Donal O’Farrell, Jack McCarron, Oliver Byrne, RonanMcCann, Michael Sherlock, Daniel Whelan.Back: Eamonn Costello, Edward Ryan, Brian Donovan, Christopher Nolan, Eoghan Grant, Rory O’Brien, Shay Butler, DonalO’Riordan, Richard Troy, Kieran Fanning.

3SF: Left to Right,Back: James Brennan, Jonathon Dewberry, Brian Fitzpatrick, Sam Holmes, Evan Prendergast, Kevin O’Neill, Stephen Comerford.2nd row: Robbie Culleton, Ronan Burns, Conor Barry, David Ryan, Shane Farrelly, Darren Hanrahan, Ronan Holohan.Front: Gavin Hickey, Declan Thompson, David Kennedy, Barry Mullins

3rd Years


25

3SM: Left to Right,Front: Thomas Tennyson, Colum Kennedy, Conor Brennan, Trevor Kelly.2nd row: Colm Walsh, Frank Ireland, Geoff Doyle, Cathal Kavanagh, Jack Walsh, Darren Cornally, Kenneth Heffernan.3rd row: Chris Randall, Cain Lynch, Stephen Mullins, Enda Madden, Philip Ryan, James Byrne.Back: Rory Hogan, Padraig Burke, Nicky O’Grady, Tony Hickey, Eanan Cooke, Kevin Nolan, Darragh Murphy, David Rose, SeanDireen.

3SK: Left to RightBack: David Prendergast, John Cahill, Robert Butler, David O’Hanrahan, Hugh Manning, Conor Quigley, Brian Banahan, MichaelkielyMiddle: Paddy Mullan, Shane Norton, Michael Nolan, Seamus Hayes, Mark Sheehan, Jamie Monahan, Paul Barron, Robbie Molloy,Richard Shortall, Cian O’SullivanBack: Jack O’Carroll, Edward Murphy, Edward O’Shaughnessy, Liam Doyle, Liam Lahart, James Dowling, Darragh Twomey, CoreyMolloy, Samuel Johnson, Niall Quillan, Robbie McPartland

3rd Years


26

TRA: Left to Right,Front: Ciaran Treacy, Peter Cody, John Prendergast, Thomas Darmody, John Wallace, Michael Kelleher, Martin Phelan.Back: Robbie Doyle, Thomas Hayes, Colm Dowling, John Connolly, Rick Leydon, Michael Fagan, Tom Ryan, Gary Cody, DarrenGuilfoyle.

TRB: Left to Right,Front: Niall Mullaly, Shane O’Hanran, David McPhillips, David Rafter, Martin Gibbons, Robbie Kavanagh, Miks Glaveckis.Middle: Billy Hayes, Conor Phelan, Richard Mosse, Luke Casey, Kevin Bolger, John Holland.Back: Padraig Phelan, Joe Brennan, Caimin Brennan, Michael Walsh, Jack O’Connor, Eamonn Foley

Transition Years


27

TRE: Left to Right,Front: CiaranO’Malley, GaryO’Brien, MarkDowling, StephenO’Connor, NeilScanlon.Back: AndrewPrendergast, JoeO’Brien, Mick Maher,Ian Ryan, GavinDuffy, Kevin Nolan

TRC: Left to Right,Front: Ian O’Fearghaill,Brian Cooper, Oisin Daly,Patrick Rice, Kieran Kelly, David Brett2nd row: Bernard McDonald,Tomas Phelan, David Walton, David Buggy, DavidGriffin, Paul Barrett, Niall McQuillan, Stephen Maher.Back: Brian O’Shea,Stephen Murphy, Joseph Walsh, Stephen Quinlan, Jack O’Connor, Alan Tyrell

TRD: Left toRight,

Front: SeanMcGrath,

Stephen Travers,Christopher

Cummins, DavidNolan, Robert

Delaney, EdwardConnolly

Back: Eoin Long,Michael Walsh,

Justin Darmody,Niall O’Brien,

Richard Bergin

Transition Years


28

5A: Left to Right,Back: Glenn Campion, James Shortall, Conor O’Brien, David Hession, Michael Brennan, Sean Leahy.2nd row: Paddy Foley, Sean Houlihan, Colin Brady, Aidan O’Neill, Brendan Mulvey, Philip Brennan.3rd row: James Cahill, Darren Glennon, Stephen Colfer, Darren Ferns, Darren Rafter, Declan Casey, John Creegan, Martin Meany,Chris FoleyFront: Padraig Butler, Eoghan Carney, Richard Dowling, Paul Mullan, James Taylor, Kevin Healy Shane Brennan

5B: left to Right,Back: Micheal Lawler, P.J. Delaney, Keith Hogan, Keith Hogan, Keith Mullins, Damien O’Dowd, Colin Murphy, Tony McGrath, PaulO’DwyerMiddle: Morgan Crowe, Peter Dore, Michael McDonald, Jonjo Farrell, Padraig Walsh, Sean O’Shea, Tony Moore, Brian MeagherFront: Jonathon Rigley, Michael Gannon, Darragh Wafer, Liam Ryan, Noel Darmody, Shane Dunphy, Shaun Hayes, Luke O’Mahoney

5th Years


29

5D: Left to Right,Back: Jason Tallott, Declan Long, Richard Norton, Michael Meany, Christopher Walsh.Middle: T.C. Walsh, Michael O’Neill, Andrew Hickey, James Meehan, Robert Dillon, Liam Geoghan.Front: Darren Adams, Thomas Walton, Martin Doyle, Tony Hall, Enda Fitzpatrick, Michael Slattery.

5C: Left to Right,Front: Paul Harrison, Philip Johnston, Michael Johnson, Stephen O’Keeffe, Shane Scanlon, Darren Brennan.Back: James O’Keeffe, David Walshe, T.J. Fitzpatrick, Craig Dowling, Ian Egan, James Nolan, Aaron Canty.

5th Years


30

6A: Left to Right,Back: Barry Donovan, Shane O’Neill, Joe O’Brien, Richard Ryan, P. O’Neill, Eoin O’Shea.3rd: Richard Cody, Liam Muldoon, Eoin McCormack, John Lawlor, Lorcan Brennan, Donal Fitzpatrick.2nd: Eoin Kelly, D. Cody, John Brennan, Mark Coughlan, Killian Everard, Ronan O’Brien, Tomas Melia.Front: Enda Rafter, Karl McPhillips, Daragh Callanan, Harry Maharaj, Michael Dore, Richie Hogan, Owen Cullen.

6B: Left to RightBack: Niall Clifford, David Hayes, David O’Connor, Shane Campion, Steven Shortall.Middle: Robert Walsh, Gary Coyne, Brian McCann, Paul Grogan.Front: Dermot Moynihan, Derek Nolan, Martin Walsh, Niall Tennyson, Lester Ryan, Michael Rafter.

6th Years


31

6D: Left to Right,Back: Philip Evans, T.J. Reid, Shane Donnelly-Swift, Paddy Nolan, Patrick Brennan, John CarneyMiddle: Shane O’Malley, Stephen Shortt, Ambrose Kelleher, Gary Byrne, Harry KellyFront: David Power, Jason Butler, William Leahy, Billy Culleton.

6C: Left to Right,Back: Patrick Brennan, Kevin Shore, Patrick Neary, Kirk Greene, Niall Phelan, Patrick McKee, John Carr, Damien Phelan, MarkFlynn.Middle: Niall Cleere, David O’Sullivan, Mark Culleton, Eoin Roche, Thomas Burke, Conor Duffy, Liam Dowling.Front: Shane Dowling, Matthew Deegan, Niall Lanigan, John Dalton, J. Dowling, Alex Watchorn, D. O’Shea, Jamie McCarthy.

6th Years


32

Senior HurlingS

t. Kieran’s began the Leinster SeniorLeague with a comfortable away winover Enniscorthy CBS on a score line of

1-14 to 0-4. This was followed with a victoryover Cistercian College, Roscrea 1-13 to 0-5.The college were now in the Leinster leaguesemi-final where they were pitted againstlocal rivals Kilkenny CBS. The game wasplayed on a wet December day inPalmerstown. The College defence, whichup to now had not been tested, was foundwanting, conceding too many soft goals. St.Kieran’s were beaten on a score line of 5-32-8.

Concentration after Christmas was on theLeinster championship. The College teamshowed a lot of good form in a number ofchallenge games in January and February.This set them up for their Leinster quarter-final game against Good Counsel, New Ross.In a tight game St. Kieran’s gradually beganto assert their authority in the second halfand ended winning by three points.

This victory put St. Kieran’s into the Leinstersemi- final where their opponents wereagain the local CBS. The game was a closeaffair with Kieran’s getting the upper handas the first half progressed. However twomissed goal scoring opportunities meant thecollege only led by the minimum at halftime.

SEN-H: Left to RightBack: T.J. Reid, Shane Brennan, Patrick O’Neill, Niall Phelan, Shane O’Neill, John Corr, EoinO’Shea, Michael Walsh, Martin PhelanMiddle: Ken Archbold(Selector), Niall Lanigan, Donal O’Sullivan, Robbie Walsh, Jonjo Farrell, JoeBrennan, Niall McQuillan, Niall Tennyson, Conor McQuillan, James Nolan, NiallConnolly(Selector)Front: Stephen Dowling, James Dowling, Michael Gannon, Lester Ryan, Mark Culleton, RichieHogan, Nicky Cleere, Michael Rafter, David Walton.

The second half saw the College extend theirlead - however more missed chancesallowed CBS back into the match. CBSgained the lead when a long range effortfound its way into the back of the net.Despite their best efforts Kieran’s could notget back this score and a late goal for theCBS saw them win by a flattering six pointmargin 2-7 to 0-7.

TEAM: Nicky Cleere, Eoin O’Shea, MarkCulleton, Michael Rafter, Niall Tennyson,

James Dowling, Patrick O’Neill, T.J. Reid,Darragh Wafer, Shane O’Neill, Richie Hogan,Martin Walsh, James Nolan, John Joe Farrell,Robbie Walsh.

SUBS: Michael Gannon, Martin Phelan,Shane Brennan, Lester Ryan, David Walton,Niall Phelan, Donal Cody, John Lawlor, NiallLanigan, Conor McQuillan, Niall McQuillan,John Carr, Donal O’Sullivan, StephenDowling, Michael Walsh, Joe Brennan,Michael Lawlor.

Junior Leinster ChampionsJHC: The Junior Leinster HurlingChampions. Back L. to R.: ThomasByrne, Sean Phelan, Kevin Nolan,Ciaran Tracy, Kenneth Heffernan,Conor McQuillan, Martin Phelan,Richard Troy, Robbie CulletonMiddle Row: Sam Holmes, DavidBuggy, Joe Walsh, Eamon Foley,Niall McQuillan, Oisin Daly, ShayButler, Edward Ryan, ShaneNorton, Tomas FlynnFront Row: Brian O’Shea, AlanTyrell, Michael Walsh, RickLeydon, Shane Brennan, JamesMeehan, Enda Fitzpatrick, JoeBrennan, Padraig Phelan.

1st round St. Kieran’s 1-09

Good Counsel, New Ross 0-11

2nd round St. Kieran’s 2-15

Kilkenny CBS 0-07

Leinster Semi-Final St. Kieran’s 1-11

Kilkenny CBS 3-04

Leinster Final St. Kieran’s 1-08

St. Peter’s, Wexford 0-06

The Panel

Kenneth Heffernan, Oisin Daly, Michael Walsh, Niall McQuillan,Brian O’Shea, Martin Phelan, Sean Phelan, Alan Tyrell, ConorMcQuillan, Joe Brennan, Rick Leydon, Shane Norton, EndaFitzpatrick, Shane Brennan (Capt.), Ciaran Treacy, Thomas Byrne, JoeWalsh, Richard Troy, Kevin Nolan, Padraig Phelan, Sam Holmes, ShayButler, Eddie Ryan, Tom Ryan, Eamonn Foley, Tomas Flynn, RobbieCulleton, Paddy Dowling, James Meehan, David Buggy.

Trained by Philip Walsh and Tom Hogan

Under 14’B’O

n Monday 15th May twopanels of U-14 hurlers willpartake in an all day blitz

competition in Palmerstown.This will involve close to 50students. Each team will play atleast 3 games. Teams have beentraining hard for thecompetition for weeks. The skilland enthusiasm which wasevident in the trials for theseteams was excellent making itvery difficult for trainers Fr. OConnor and Ms. Hanrick tochoose the two panels. Therewere massive numbers ofstudents at these trials.

Under 14’A’


33

U14B-H: The U-14 ‘B’ Hurling Panel pictured with trainers Eileen Hanrick and Fr. Sean O’Connor

The U-14 ‘A’ hurling team havequalified for the semi –final ofthe Leinster championship after

a great win against St. Peter’s college,Wexford. The panel is training welland hopes are high of regaining theU-14 Leinster Hurling Title. Othervictories, to date, have been recordedover Dublin South combined Collegesand Castlecomer Community school.

PANEL: Andrew O’Dwyer, WilliamPhelan, Darragh Buggy, Pat O’Carroll,Cillian Phelan, Cathal O’Neill, PaulBuggy, John Power, Killian Buckley,Paul Holden, James Gannon, NickyCreane, Pierre Morrissey, AidanO’Dowd, Padraig Walsh, BenO’Connor, Conor Gorey, ConorMaharaj, Dermot Heafey, MichaelHayes, Ciaran Gough, Conor Hogan,Sean Phelan, Michael Colfer, StephenDuncan, Andrew Cantwell, PaddyDelaney, Donal Brennan.

Under16 ’B’

U16B-H: Left to Right,Back: James Byrne, Ronan Holohan, Darren Cornally, T.J. Sherman, Sean Direen, Darragh Murphy Middle: Brian Fitzpatrick, Danny Brennan, Geoff Doyle, Ben Nolan, John HollandFront: Paddy Mullan, David Prendergast, Colum Kennedy, Seamus Hayes, Thomas Tennyson, Thomas Hayes

This year’s under 16 ‘B’hurlers trained hard butcame up against a very

strong Callan team, with norestrictions on the Callan panelthis was always going to be adifficult task. Callan won thegame on the day and went on tobecome eventual winners of thecompetition. The team captainedby Stephen Quinlan hurled wellgetting some well worked scoresbut Callan were too physicallystrong for us.


34

FIRST HL: Runners-up Back Left to Right: Gerry Walsh, Daragh Buggy, Cillian Phelan, AaronNolan, Cathal O’Neill, Tom Mullen, Sean Wemyss, Sean McDonald, Thomas Whitley.Winners Middle Left to Right: John Power, Stephen Corr, William Phelan, Ciaran Rafter, JohnDunphy, Conor Foley,Front: Tom Brennan, Ryan Bolger, George Allen, Hugh O’Neill, Ger Looby, Joey Corcoran, EoghanConnolly, Kevin Brennan, Patrick Brennan

U14-F: Left to RightBack: Ciaran Snype, Brian Prendergast, Cillian Phelan, Richard Deasy, Robert SkehanMiddle: Richard Windle (trainer), Shane Power, Donal Brennan, Michael Cotter, AndrewCantwell, Stephen Duncan, Aidan O’Dowd, Michael O’Gorman, Nicky Creane, Michael Hayes,Daryl Butler, James Gannon, Emma Ryan (trainer)Front: Sean O’Dwyer, Ben O’Connor, Laurence O’Carroll, Eddy Nugent, David Cummins, SeanQueally, Gavin Holohan, Ciaran Gough, Darragh Walshe

U16-F: Left to RightBack: Brian Fitzpatrick, Danny

Brennan, Kenneth Heffernan, Sean Direen, Ben Nolan

Middle: Ciaran Treacy, Brian Donovan, Andrew

Kavanagh,Joe Brennan, John Holland,

Paraic PhelanFront: Shane Brennan,

Paddy Mullan, David Prendergast,

Seamus Hayes, Conor McQuillan,Martin Phelan, Michael Walsh

First Year Hurling League

Under14 Football

Eighty first years took part in a hurlingleague from October to December 2005.The group consisted of six teams each

putting in a fantastic effort and, though onlytwo teams can reach the final, the standard ofhurling was so good that it was difficult to tellwhich two it would be.

Kilkenny County Board presented trophies foreach member of the winning team and medalsfor each player on the runners-up team. This ispart of a policy to encourage young people totake part in hurling in their schools.

All of the games were competently refereed bytwo transition year students, Ciaran Neary andPeter Cody.

Three teachers helped to organise the league,Mr. P. Fleming, Mr. P. Darmody and Mr. Ml.Forrest.

Finally, all winners were presented with theirtrophies and medals one afternoon by ourprincipal Mr. Curtis.

St. Kieran’s College Football Team, underthe Management of Richard Windle andEmma Ryan, won the Coca-Cola South

Leinster B football title.

The team beat St. Mary’s, Enniscorthy in thefinal on a score line of 3-9 to 0-4. St. Kieran’slast won this competition back in 2000 and thehonours since then have been shared betweenSt. Mary’s, Knockbeg and F.C.J. Bunclody.

There was some excellent football played bySt. Kieran’s on their way to the final whichsaw some very impressive performances:

St. Kieran’s College 5-15 Tullow C.S. 0-5

St. Kieran’s College 22-23 Castlecomer 0-0

St. Kieran’s College 20-10 Ballyfin 0-3

St. Kieran’s College 8-9 F.C.J., Bunclody 2-4

St. Kieran’s College 3-9 St. Mary’s 0-4

Stephen Duncan proudly accepted thehonours for St. Kieran’s on behalf of his team

Under16 Football


35

Our National Games“S

everal broken sticks, two brokenheads and two bruised fingers-theIrish national game is the fastest and

probably the most dangerous of sports. It is acombination of hockey, football, golf, baseball,battle and sudden death. It was a real Irishgame” - The Daily Mail reporting on a match inLondon 1921. This description is alien and yetcompletely familiar to us at the same time. Tous, hurling and football are sports of beauty,natural and it is fair to say we’re obsessed withour national games, yet we forget how uniquethey are to us.

Hurling and football are an aspect of who weare. They divide the country into counties andmore importantly into clubs/parishes that wepride ourselves on. I see the GAA as a verytribal organisation e.g. my tribe/club is JamesStephens and I pride myself on being a‘Village’ man.

I have experienced ecstasy and devastationbecause of our national games – some of thehappiest and worst moments of my life havebeen on the hurling pitch. I owe everything tohurling- skills, friends and health. I would goas far as to say that the GAA is a religion, a wayof life.

Nothing can compare to Peter Barry leapinglike a salmon to pick the sliotar out of the skyduring a championship game or when OwenMulligan skipped and danced his way throughDublin defenders to score a breath-taking goalin the All-Ireland semi-final.

I love hurling, come hail, rain, sleet or snow, Idon’t care, if there’s a hurling match ortraining on I’m there. I think about hurling allthe time. I watch what I eat, I train hard and I

rest well, all this so I can reach my fullpotential for the club.

Most people dream of putting on the Blackand Amber of Kilkenny before dreaming ofplaying for Man Utd. Its no accident thatamateurs playing inter county football on aSunday will draw 20,000 to a game, while 250people turn up to a professional soccer gamebetween Finn Harps and Galway Utd.

The GAA is an organisation like no other, it’sunbelievably organised, it touches all classesand it has stability like no other – some mightsay it’s the cornerstone of the country orcommunities. I know I view Larchfield GAApitch as a constant rock and heart of my parish– St Patrick’s.

The media said the GAA were crazy to go in todebt to upgrade Croke Park’s capacity, at thepresent time we have seen that this was amaster stroke, typical of the GAA.

They are reaping the rewards today as theinferior organisations of the FAI and IRFU haveto eat humble pie as they play in Croke Parkwhile derelict Lansdowne Road crumbles.

I see hurling and football as an identity. Ifasked where I come from when around thecounty I immediately reply ‘The Village’ andpeople identify with that. The GAA is a verytribal organisation in my opinion. Kilkennytown can be broken in to three – O’Loughlins,Dicksboro and the Village – we are all bitterrivals on the pitch. I hang around with ladsfrom my parish and we play hurling together.It is the same for the other two clubs. We neversay it aloud but we see ourselves as differentclans. My friends and I know we share the

collective identity of Village men – I never feltas part of a community until I joined JamesStephens. From there I made friendships withpreviously unknown neighbours. I seeLarchfield as a home away from home. Itsalways the same, never changes one bit. It’sfull of friends and relatives and I enjoy myselfand feel completely relaxed while playingthere. Nothing compares to a hot, mid-summers evening playing a match inLarchfield -its one of lives small pleasures.

Hurling and football is such a parochial thing– I have played with county and club teamsthrough the age groups but it does notcompare to the sense of achievement andunity when I won with the club. There issomething special about representing yourlocal area. Tomas Meehan of Caltra in Galwaystated when he won the All-Ireland Club SFCtitle – “The difference between winning a cluband a county All-Ireland is, when you get a slapon the back after the match, you know theperson when you turn around.”

In conclusion, our national games, hurling andfootball, are unrivalled for passion, power andpride. It identifies us as a parish. My Motheroften says after I come home dejected after apoor performance-“it’s only a game” but thelook my father and I give her says it all-it’smore than just a game, it’s a way of life, anidentity, an obsession that can never be lost. Ifthere’s such a thing as ‘Irishness’, hurling andfootball are it and I believe our nationalpastimes will grow even stronger in thecoming years.

Shane Campion (6th Year)

Equestrian

Michael Costello and Neil Butler were

joint 6th in the Junior Individuals in this

year’s All-Ireland Inter-Schools.

St. Kieran’s is being awarded the cup

photographed as I was the last person

to win it (winning it in 2004 and 2005)

and a new one was brought in thisyear.

Darragh Callanan (6th Year)

Left to Right: Tom Looby, Enda Fitzpatrick, Robbie Culleton, Darragh Callanan, SHEFFLIN (horse), Michael Costello, Neil Butler andPatrick Dowling. (Missing from Photo, Gary Corcoran and Cathal Healy)

Soccer

Leinster Junior CupSt. Kieran’s College 2

Malahide community School 2

St. Kieran’s won 3-2 on penaltiesfollowing extra time after a man-of-thematch performance by Stephen Duncanwho saved two penalties.

St. Kieran’s College 2

St. Benildus 0


Drimnagh Castle 1

Great result in Dublin against one of thestrongholds of Leinster soccer put us intothe last eight of the competition.


St. Mary’s Drogheda 2

A game which St. Kieran’s could have wonwas decided by two early Drogheda goals,including a disputed penalty in the firstminute. Despite several opportunities,the College could not break down thewell organised St. Mary’s defence.

South Leinster LeagueHaving finished top of the league, theCollege qualified for the final against St.Mary’s CBS Carlow where it took penaltiesonce more to separate the sides.Unfortunately, this time the result wentagainst St. Kieran’s.


Carlow CBS 2

Carlow won 3-1 on penalties after extratime.

PANEL:

Julian O’Keeffe, Shane Farrelly,

Stephen Duncan, Seamus Hayes,

Donal O’Riordan, Gavin Holohan,

Danny Power, Ronan Holohan, Chris

Bourke, Darren Cornally, Chris

Thompson, Conor Barry, John

Wallace, John Holland, Jack O’Connor,

Robbie Kavanagh,

Michael Walsh, Andrew kavanagh,

Oisin Daly, Patrick Rice, Trevor Kelly,

Declan Thompson, Brian Cooper

Ronan Holohan and Gavin Holohan

both won International caps for Irish

schoolboys.

Management: Don O’Connor and

Eamonn Heffernan


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St. Kieran’s 3 Kilkenny CBS 3

St. Kieran’s 5 Ballyfermot 3 -cup

A high scoring match with St. Kieran’sfinally pulling ahead to win.

St. Kieran’s 0 McDonagh’s 0 -cup

McDonaghs won 3-0 on penalties. The

team played well and this was a matchwe could have won but luck wasn’t withus on the day.

St. Kieran’s 3 Carlow CBS 3

St. Kieran’s 0 Tullow 2

U-18 SoccerResults

U-16 Soccer

Panel:

Michael Gannon, Stuart Delaney,Andrew Hickey, Paul Delaney, PhilipJohnston, Mark Flynn, David O’Connor,Kirk Greene, Jamie McCarthy, ShaneO’Neill, Harry Maharaj, Jason Butler, T.J.Fitzpatrick, Michael O’Neill, Ian Egan,Shaun Hayes, Shane Scanlon, DarraghWafer, Darren Ferns, Declan Casey,David Walshe, Conor Barry, RonanHolohan

Management: Jim Carew and EadaoinBrennan.


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U-14 Soccer

PANEL:

Jack Hanrahan, Jason Nugent, DenisHogan, George Allen, FionbarrHayes, Shane Brennan, Tom

Brennan, Aaron McDonald, Sean

Lowry, Sam Johnston, Cathal O’Neill,

Pat O’Carroll, Gerry Walsh, Gary

Geoghan, Evan Guilfoyle, Eoin

Connolly, Luke Hickey, Conor Foley,Jason Quan.

Management: Larry Cotter and OliveComerford.

St. Kieran’s under 14 soccer teamreached the FAI schoolboys’ sectionLeinster cup final this year.

This is a particularly talented side. Theteam is basically the same one whichwon last year’s Leinster A cup final atunder 13 level. In winning theprovincial title this team became thefirst team outside Dublin to claim thetitle at this age group.

Since last September the u-14 team hasbeen trained by Richard Windle and Fr.Sean O’Connor. The hallmark of the side

is its heart and refusal to give in to anyopposition. In their first game theyaccounted for Beneavin of Dublin by aclear cut 5-1, in the second round theyhad a very tight struggle with ChanelCollege, Dublin, the side won 5-4 onpenalties. Next the side hit RockbrookCollege, Dublin for eight withoutconceding.

In the quarter final the score was St.Kieran’s 1-Dundalk De La Salle 0 in OrielPark. In the Leinster semi-final theybeat St. Mark’s Tallaght 2-1.

The team reached the Leinster final butwent down to an excellent SalesianCollege Celbridge 2-1.

PANEL: David Coyne, Kevin Ireland,Gavin Holohan, David Cummins,Andrew Cantwell, Eoin Delahunty,Robert Skehan, Gerard Teehan, ConorGorey, Jamie O’Hara, Michael Gorman,Nicky Creane, Jake Egan, SeanMcPhillips, Ciaran Snype, Eddie Nugent,Gary Corcoran, Sean Queally.

Management: Fr. Sean O’Connor andRichard Windle.

U-13 Soccer


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SwimmingAll-Ireland

SeniorSchools

The All-Ireland Senior Schoolsswimming competition was held in theNational Aquatic Centre in Dublin onthe 3rd and 4th February 2006. Fivestudents from St. Kieran’s Collegeparticipated in the competition.

Colm Dowling, swimming atIntermediate level, came in silvermedal position in the 200m individualmedley in a time of 2.15: 41. He alsomade the final of the 100m freestyleand came in 4th - just out of medalposition. On his performance in thiscompetition, Colm was picked torepresent his school and country in theWISE International Schools Gala. Thereare 38 swimmers chosen from all overIreland to represent the country in thecompetition in Scotland and this was agreat honour for him.

Michael McCarthy also represented hisschool at Intermediate level, makingthe final in the 100m freestyle andachieving a personal best in the 100mbackstroke.

Liam Dowling reached the final of avery hotly contested senior 100mfreestyle finishing in 8th position with atime of 56:17 seconds.

They were joined by Conor McMorrowand Cian Mullaly in the senior relays.This is quite an achievement as bothCian and Conor are just 12 years old.The Medley Relay was 4X50m. First,swimming backstroke, was Conor; nextwas Colm swimming breaststroke;taking over was his brother Liamswimming Butterfly and finally Michaelswimming freestyle. The team made itto the final, claiming sixth place.

The freestyle 4X50m relay saw the teamreach the final and finish in 5th place ina time of 1.46:78 - a great result.

THE Leinster Senior schools were held inthe National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.Competing for St. Kieran’s College wereConor McMorrow, junior, Colm Dowlingand Michael McCarthy at intermediatelevel and Liam Dowling at senior level.

Conor came in 7th place in the final ofthe 100m butterfly and he alsocompeted in the 200m narrowly missingout on Qualifying for the Irish Schools.

Michael McCarthy won gold in the 100mfreestyle for which he received a medaland cup, he also competed in the 100mbackstroke.

Colm Dowling was in silver medalposition in the 100m freestyle, it was a

great race with the St. Kieran’sswimmers fighting it out to the finishwith only a touch separating them. Colmalso swam in the intermediate 200mwinning bronze.

Liam Dowling competing at senior levelfor his final year in the Leinster schoolswon a bronze medal in the 100mfreestyle.

The St. Kieran’s senior relay team wasmade up of: Conor McMorrow (junior),Michael McCarthy (intermediate), ColmDowling (intermediate) and LiamDowling (senior). They won silver in thesenior Freestyle relay and bronze in theIntermediate relay.

As a result of Colm’s achievements inthe All-Ireland schools swimming finalsin early February, he was chosen as oneof 38 students to represent Ireland inthe W.I.S.E. International swimmingGala. The competition was held inEdinburgh over the St. Patrick’s

weekend. Colm swam on the freestylerelay team making it home in thirdposition and coming fourth in the200m. Ireland were placed 3rd overallin the competition with Englandwinning, Scotland taking 2nd place andWales 4th.

Back L. to R. Colm Dowling, Liam Dowling, Michael McCarthyFront L. to R. Conor McMorrow and Cian Mullaly.

Leinster Senior Schools

W.I.S.E. SchoolsInternational Competition


39

Badminton

Boxing

First year badminton has proven to be a great success. Asteady number of students attend practise Wednesdays atlunchtime where they work on badminton strokes, drills andmatchplay.

The all round enthusiasm and interest paid off when threeteams entered the Kilkenny Schools tournament in February.All teams put in a valiant effort. The ‘B’ team made it to thesemi-final and the ‘A’ team sailed through to the final butwere beaten by a slightly stronger Kilkenny College team.

Before the school year finishes the students will receive atraining session with a professional badminton coach.

Also, there will be a doubles league which should be anenjoyable event to round off the year.

Left to Right: S. Shortt, James Power, Kirk Greene, AidanO’Dwyer, Richie Hogan, Tom Looby (Teacher).

Left to Right: Declan Bennett, Miss D. Lynch, Jason Collier, SeanFarrell and Jake O’Brien.

Laois, Kilkenny andCarlow BoxingChampion AidanO’Neill.

Aidan O’Neill is 9times County BoxingChampion; he is alsoLeinster and All-Ireland Champion.

HandballStephen Shortt; Leinster Senior Doubles 60X30 and 40X20, All-Ireland Senior Doubles 60X30

Kirk Greene: Leinster Senior Doubles 60X30 and 40X20, All-Ireland Senior Doubles 60X30

Richie Hogan: Leinster and All-Ireland Senior Singles 60X30and 40X20

James Power: Leinster First Year Doubles 60X30 and 40X20

Aidan O’Dwyer: Leinster First Year Doubles 60X30 and 40X20

Left to Right: C. Martin, G. Byrne, A. Wemyss (teacher), P.O’Neill, P. McKee, N. Cleere.

Junior GolfThe junior team played in a strokeplay competition in October.The competition took place in Athy golf club. 21 schoolsparticipated with only 2 qualifying in the final. On the team of3 were: Ciaran Colfer (2nd year), Ger. Teehan (2nd year) andCillian Buckley (1st year). Everyone played well, butunfortunately we did not manage to qualify.

Senior GolfIt was a very successful year for the senior golf panel whoparticipated in the G.U.I. Leinster branch fourball matchplay,strokeplay and singles matchplay championship.

The format of the first competition was fourball matchplay. Ourteam members were: Patrick McKee and Nicky Cleere (6th year)and Craig Martin (T.Y.) and Gary Byrne (6th year). The teamdefeated Good Counsel, New Ross and Wexford C.B.S. but werenarrowly defeated by St. Peter’s, Wexford.

The strokeplay championship was held in Naas golf club inDecember. This is a qualifying competition with a team of threeplaying off scratch. The cumulative score is then calculated.Saint Kieran’s was one of two schools to qualify. Team: PatrickMcKee, Gary Byrne (both 6th year) and Craig Martin (T.Y.)

It was our first year to compete in the schools matchplaychampionship- team of 5 in singles matchplay. Team memberswere: Patrick McKee, Gary Byrne, Nicky Cleere, Patrick O’ Neill(all 6th year) and Craig Martin (T.Y.). St. Kieran’s beat St.Belinda’s, Dublin in the Curragh golf club in the quarter finals.Semi-finals were held on the 20th of March in Beech Park golfclub in Rathcoole, Dublin. In wet and windy conditions the teamput up a very good battle but were defeated by the eventualchampions – St. Paul’s, Raheny. Medals were presented to thesemi-finalists by officials from the golfing union of Ireland.

Golf


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Athletics

Athletics has become increasingly popular in St. Kieran’sCollege with Cross-Country running exploding inpopularity. With Mr. O’Keeffe as trainer there are often

up to 100 students training on a weekly basis. This traininghas reaped great results as St. Kieran’s regularly wins bestschool in Leinster.

In 2004 our Junior team took the All-Ireland Gold. This year,in the South-Leinsters, St. Kieran’s have dominated, with theJunior and Intermediate teams also doing well in the Leinsterand All-Ireland Schools.

We have also taken honours at both All-Ireland andInternational level, in the past, in Track and Field. Past pupilsinclude Adrian O’Dwyer Olympian and more recently EoinEverard who is a top European and International competitor hasrepresented the school on their way to All-Ireland gold.

John Fagan (T.Y.)

Teams to represent St. Kieran’s College were chosen forthe inter-school competitions early in 2006. A team incross country consists of eight athletes. The highlight of

the season proved to be the south Leinster championship inJohn F. Kennedy Park, New Ross.

We won three of the four team titles: minor, junior andintermediate. The senior team came second in their race. Fineindividual performances were recorded: Niall Walsh was firstin the minor race, Eamonn O’Connor and Stephen Duncanbattled it out in the junior race and were first and secondrespectively, Brian O’Shea was first home in the intermediaterace. All our winning teams qualified for the Leinster finalswhich were held in D.C.U. Dublin. The junior team was secondand the intermediate team third. Both qualified for the all–Ireland finals which were again held in Dublin. The All-Ireland championships rounded off another successful crosscountry season with our intermediate team winning bronze inthe team competition.

CCU-14 Minor team South Leinster Champions: Back Left toRight: S. Lowry, P. O’Carroll. Walsh, W. Phelan, S. Farrell, G.Allen. Front Left to Right: E. Guilfoyle, H. O’Neill, J. Walsh, P.Walsh, Ml. Costello.

CCU-15 Junior team South Leinster Champions, 2nd in Leinster,6th All-Ireland: Left to Right: Ml. O’Gorman, J. Neville, J.Gannon, C. Fennelly, A. O’Dowd, E. O’Connor, S. O’Sullivan, C.Hogan, S. Duncan

CCU-17 Intermediate team South Leinster Champions, 3rd inLeinster, 3rd All-Ireland: Left to Right: S. O’Keeffe, Ml. Walsh, T.Hayes, B. O’Shea, N. McQuillan, C. McQuillan, J. Connolly, R.Kavanagh, N. Quinlan.

John Quane (Teacher) with John Fagan who was chosen torepresent Ireland in the Schools Internationals, combined eventsin Edinbrough.

College Athletics

Cross Country Running

A Message from the President I - St Kieran's College · 2011-01-22 · ST. KIERAN’S COLLEGE...

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