News - February 2007

HEADLINES:
* SENIOR LEINSTER DEBATING COMPETITION
* BLASTBEAT CONCERT
* RUGBY NEWS
* HOCKEY NEWS
* EQUESTRIAN NEWS

SENIOR LEINSTER DEBATING COMPETITION.

Congratulations to the Senior Debating team of Dearbhail O’Crowley and Eabha MacMahon who qualified for the quarter finals of the Leinster Debating Competition on Tuesday evening last in UCD. They defeated Blackrock College, Manor House School, Castleknock College, to qualify for the quarter finals with St. Conleth’s School.

To add to this success, Dearbhail O’Crowley was selected as best speaker of the evening. We look forward to the quarter finals with confidence.

Many thanks to Mr. Seamus Jennings and Ms. Paula Claffey for their assistance and support of the Debaters.

Debating Update - 5th February 2007

Congratulations to Ben Blunnie – 3RD Year - on reaching the quarter finals of the AIB Junior Debating Competition. Well done also to Karl Brennan. While he was unfortunate in not qualifying, he spoke excellently.

Well done to Aoife McCarthy and Katie Nelson in 2nd Year who competed in the Irish Woman’s Graduate Association Debating Competition. While both Aoife and Katie competed very well, they were unfortunate not have won the individual speaker prize.

Congratulations to Daniel Cooney and Theo Jebb of 3rd Year who have made it to the grand final of the Allied Irish Banks Junior Schools Debating Competition.

Both students excelled and Theo was awarded Best Speaker of the evening.

Many thanks once again to Jennifer Halford for facilitating this opportunity for the students.

Leinster Senior School Debating Quarter Final

Congratulations to Dearbhail O’Crowley (5th Year) and Eabha MacMahon (4th Year) who were most unlucky not to qualify for the Leinster Semi Finals last evening in Trinity College. Eabha and Dearbhail, as always, represented the school excellently and were most unfortunate not to progress.

Once again many thanks to Mr. Seamus Jennings for facilitating the experience and for his on-going support throughout the competition.

Dearbhail and Eabha still a number of years of debating ahead of them in the school and we look forward to things to come.

BLASTBEAT CONCERT

Well done to the dynamic Mini Company who organised the Blastbeat Concert here in the school on Monday. The concert was a great success with six bands participating.

Many congratulations to the winning band from St. Gerard’s School – Hot Stop – Jake Bitove, James Tebbit, Andrew Keyes and Hugo Sherry.

As with all Mini Companies many new skills were learnt and great fun was had in the process. Congratulations to Flavia Watson, Elaine Proctor, Storm Desmond, James Brankin, Susan Campbell, Ronan McCarthy, Sara Crean and Maggie Conroy for the excellent work. We look forward to the proceeds from the concert going to charity.

Well done to all involved.

Rugby News

Junior Cup Game V King’s Hospital

Kings Hospital 17 St. Gerard’s School 16

This was a riveting and exciting game from beginning to end. The sense of disbelief among the team and supporters at the final whistle was palpable. The team gave an outstanding performance to lead 16-5 going into the closing stages.

Every credit must be given to Kings Hospital for the way in which they turned the 16-5 deficit around and the spirit and skill which they showed.

Congratulations to Robbie Glynn, Captain of the side on the success against Wesley last week and we are confident in the ability of this team as they move forward.

Well done to the coaches Shaun McCarthy, Jason Emery, Paul Crosbie and the manager, Victor Drummy, for the hours of hard work and quality coaching which they imparted on the team. Many thanks also to all the supporters who travelled to Sandymount and the excellent support which they gave the team.

SENIOR CUP TEAM v St. Michael’s

St. Gerard’s 8 St. Michael’s 34

Many congratulations to St. Michael’s College on a deserved victory yesterday and we wish them every success in their quarter final meeting with Belvedere College.

Our Senior Cup team were magnificent in the first half and gave a performance that all present agreed equalled or bettered any performance by St. Gerard’s historically. St. Gerard’s were the team of the first half and with a little more fortune would have led handsomely at the break.

Max Duffy has led his team by example and indeed the team have led rugby in the school by example. This team has only been defeated on three occasions all season. Their success would not and could not happen without the quality of the coaching and support from Joe McDonnell, Tony Ward, Damian Hall, Seamus Jennings and the management of Mícheál McMullan.

We wish the Seniors well as they progress to the Plate Competition. Well done to the supporters. You should be very proud of your contribution yesterday. We had a fabulous stand.

U-14 Rugby Team qualify for the Leinster League Final

Congratulations to the Under 14 Rugby on qualifying for the Under 14 Leinster League Final having beaten Gonzaga 8-7 yesterday and having won all five League matches. The final will take place after mid term against either Gonzaga or Wesley.

Senior II Rugby Team In Quarter Finals

Congratulations also to the Senior 2nd Rugby Team who have qualified from their Group and are in the quarter final stage of the League.

We wish them well in their forthcoming fixture.

Hockey News

SENIOR GIRLS LEINSTER HOCKEY CUP

Wesley College – 4 St. Gerard’s School – 0

The above score line in no way reflects the reality of the Cup match yesterday. As usual, the girls put in a huge effort and were beaten by a stronger team who played to the top of their game yesterday. We sincerely wish Wesley College every success in the remainder of the competition.

This has been a very positive season for the Senior Girls Hockey Team and they have proven to be excellent ambassadors for hockey in the school. Their ethic of hard work and their commitment to training throughout the season have been reflected in many of their recent performances. We are most fortunate that several of the 4th and 5th Year girls will gain much experience from yesterday’s match.

Enjoy the rest of the season and well done to all of the supporters and cheerleaders who did an excellent job yesterday.

Finally, many thanks to the coaches Ms. Cathy McKean, Ms. Sarah Scott and Mr. Ken Jolly for their hard work and encouragement to the squad.

GIRL’S HOCKEY RESULTS

Congratulations to all the girl’s hockey teams who played yesterday on their fantastic results

Junior B beat St. Killian’s 1-0 League

Senior B beat King’s Hospital 1-0 League

Senior C drew with Wesley 2-2 Friendly

Well done to all involved.

Equestrian News

Mount Sackville Show Jumping Competition

St. Gerard’s competed in the Mount Sackville Show Jumping competion held in Kilrossery, Swords on Sunday the 28th January 2007.

The Results are as follows:

5th Place Alice Murphy
Emily Murphy
Hugo Sherry
David Burke

6th Place Kim Mulcahy
Miriam Bourke
Hayley Mulcahy
Jessica Crosse

Oisin Byd, Alicia Devlin-Byrne, Ali O’Kane and Katie O’Cuilleanain also represented the school yesterday.