ST. COLMCILLE’S COMMUNITY SCHOOL NEWS

There was shock at the recent West Leinster schools competition as unknown St. Colmcille’s came out on top. The small athletics team from Knocklyon picked up a massive ten medals – a great achievement especially since this was between five talented athletes. These include: Rebecca Tyson who gained two gold medals in the long jump and hurdles, Shauna Cannon who picked up a silver medal in the discus, Lisa Barnwell who also received a silver in the 80m sprint, Maria Dolan who picked a bronze medal in the long jump, and last, but not least Oisín Cannon who came third in the shot-putt and just missed out on a medal in the javelin. The four girls mentioned above were also triumphant in the minor girls 4 x 100 metre relay as they strided their way to victory. All these athletes went on to represent the school in the recent Leinster School championship. Well done to all our athletes who participated. News of how they fared below.
– By Lisa Barnwell & Shauna Cannon

Athletics: The Leinster schools Track and Field championships were held on the 19th of May in Morton Stadium in Santry. The five Qualifiers from the West Leinster Region were up against tough competition and came home with excellent results yet again. Rebecca Tyson won silver in the Hurdles while the Minor girls Relay Team (Rebecca Tyson, Shauna Cannon, Lisa Barnwell and Maria Dolan), were fourth in their event. Oisin Cannon competed and was an excellent sixth in the Minor Boys Shot Putt. We wish all our athletes the best in the coming months and look forward to their continued dedication in the coming year.

Basketball: The Cadet Girls Basketball Team was narrowly defeated in the Dublin Schools Final in the National Basketball Arena on Thursday 11th March. Congratulations to Mary Pat Prendergast and Aileen Ryan for their great success with this team. All the junior students of the school were brought to support the team and they both created a wonderful atmosphere at the game as well as representing our school extremely well in the wider community.

Badminton: The Under 14 Boys Badminton Team had two tremendous successes recently. Firstly they won the Dublin Schools Championship and subsequently went on to win the Leinster Finals. Congratulations to them and to Ms. Stapleton on their great achievement.

Hurling: Our Under 14 Hurling Team was defeated in the semi finals against Coolmine Community School. Hard luck to all the players involved. It was a fantastic achievement for the team to get to the Semi Finals, so well done!

Table Tennis: The under 13 boys won their league and the senior boys recorded an historic win by not only winning their league for the second time but also remaining unbeaten in all forty eight matches.

Volleyball: Well done to our 2 Junior Girls Volleyball Teams who came 1st and 2nd in the South Dublin Schools’ Volleyball blitz against St.Mary's of Haddington Rd and St. Paul's, Greenhills.

Camogie: On Tuesday, the 11th of May, the Girls Camogie Team of St Colmcille’s Community School, took the title of runners up in the minor A Dublin Schools’ Championship. They faced a strong camogie team from Beaufort Rathfarnham in the final. The game was not long underway when Beaufort scored their first goal, followed by a second shortly afterwards. However, we came back with a goal from Lisa Barnwell followed by another from our half forward Paula McGrath. Just before the half time whistle the Rathfarnham team managed to score an insurance point, which gave them a point advantage. Both teams returned for the second half all fired up, but just 10 minutes before the end of the match, midfielder, Sharon Glynn, was subjected to a heavy blow to the chin and was taken off. Beaufort then managed to score another goal and a point before the final whistle.

Junior Camogie B Championship: On Thursday 13th May all three camogie teams headed off to Portmarnock to support the Junior Camogie Team playing in the final of the junior b championship against Scoil Catriona. Both teams battled through to the very end with Scoil Catriona getting an early score. At half time Colmcille’s were ahead by 1 point and in the second half we scored 3 goals and 4 points which put us in the lead. In the end St. Colmcille’s won by 4 goals and 6 points to 2 goals and 1 point. Congratulations to all the girls. This is the second time in a row that our school has won this championship.

Rugby: The Rugby team has progressed greatly since last season. Last season we entered the Tallaght Cup and couldn’t even get a win and got heavily beaten by Tallaght CS. However, this season we were drawing with Tallaght up until the last few minutes when they got a lucky break. The players themselves have also improved greatly. With players such as Conor O’Meara, Mark Burke, Alan O’Driscoll and Ian McNamee. We gave St. Marks, McDaras, Firhouse and Tallaght some tough competition. Of our 6 games we won 3. However, it will be a long time until we are good enough to enter the Junior and Senior Cup competitions with schools like Terenure and Blackrock. At the moment we are making great progress.

School Bank Challenge: Congratulations to Ciara Timbs, Michele Glynn, Rachel Ruddy and Colum Walsh who came 1st runner up in the “ A.I.B Build a School Bank Challenge” this month. The four Transition Year students opened the bank once a month during lunchtime, opening accounts and accepting lodgements. They then completed a report on their project for the Dublin final and won a DVD player for the school…..Well done to all involved!

Telethon Fund Raisers: A number of fund raising activities were held in our school to raise money for the 2004 Telethon day. All classes got involved in some activity to raise as much as they could for people in need.
A sponsored walk was held on the 21st of May by 2N & 1C. It was organised by Paul Kelly 2N and Daragh Kilty 1C. Sponsored cards and letters were designed and they raised €2100.
A cake Sale was organised by a committee of students from all years ... Maria Nolan, Andrew Barry, Ryan Doherty, Seamus Keane & Cathal Gearty Also on May 21st these students brought in cakes and sold them to all the staff and students in the school. By 11am all the cakes were sold and this group raised €600 for people in need.
36 of our 3rd Year students assembled for a sponsored “All Nighter” in the school on the 21st. They went from 8pm until 8am without sleep. Many thanks to Ms. Kelly, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Walsh, Ms. Ryan, Mr. McAuley, Ms. Scanlon and Mr. Egan. They raised €2500 for people in need.
A Variety Show was also held in the school on Thursday 26th of May at 8pm. Students from all years took part and the show was enjoyed by everyone. Money raised went to people in need.
In all the school raised approx €6000 and we would like to thank everyone who helped organise such events and to all the community who supported these fund raising activities

Student Awards: Student Award ceremonies took place in the school on Wednesday the 26th of May for all 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Year students. Well done to the following students on receiving awards for this year….
Student of the Year:
1st Stephen Neary
2nd Shane Lucey
3rd Brian Gallagher
4th Lynn Hilliard
5th Sean Fox
Sports Person of the Year
Brendan Treacy (Senior)
Adam Murphy (Junior)
Academic Students of the Year
1st Amanda Keegan
2nd Roisin O’ Keefe
5th Adnan Velic

Deloitte Touche Scholarship
Ciaran Boyle (2D) was awarded a scholarship with Deloitte & Touche to attend a Corporate Business Course this summer for academically gifted students in DCU. Well done Ciaran; we are very proud of you.

Irish Junior Mathematics Competition Andrew Barry (1o) took part in the Irish Junior Mathematics Competition in St. Andrew’s College. He finished in the top 10. Well done, Andrew.

London Here we come…
A group of our fourth and fifth years travelled from Dublin to London. We booked into our hotel and then the fun started. We had a fantastic few days and a most enjoyable trip. We saw many sights including the British and Science Museums, Harrods, Hamleys Toy Store, Buckingham Palace and two superb musicals – ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘Les Miserables’. The students were a great bunch to be with and we all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We are already looking forward to next year.