News - January 2008

HEADLINES:

* YOUNG SCIENTIST EXHIBITION
* TENNIS NEWS
* HOTSTOP - WORLD BLASTBEAT CHAMPIONS 2008
* CHRISTMAS CAROL SERVICE
* RUGBY NEWS
* SHOWJUMPING NEWS
* HOCKEY NEWS
* PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION
* YOUNG SOCIAL INNOVATORS SPEAKERS FORUM

YOUNG SCIENTIST EXHIBITION (15th January 2008)

Congratulations to Ben Blunnie and Daniel Cooney on their project.

“A Study of Sound Penetration Levels in Different Styles of Housing” which received a Commendation on Saturday last.

Well done on another outstanding achievement.

YOUNG SCIENTIST EXHIBITION (9th January 2008)

The School wishes Ben Blunnie and Daniel Cooney of Transition Year every success with their Project.

“A Study of Sound Penetration Levels in Different Styles of Housing”

Their Project is entered in the Physical, Chemical and Mathematical Sciences Group.

Transition Year and 1st Year students are attending the Young Scientist Exhibition on Thursday and Friday and I encourage students in other Year Groups to visit the Exhibition on Saturday.

TENNIS (7th January 2008)

Congratulations to Alan Gleeson – 2nd Year – on winning the Irish Under 16 National Indoor Tennis Championships held in Riverview over the Christmas holidays. Alan also won the National Under 16 Matchplay title held in Leopardstown in December. Well done to a player who has a bright future ahead of him.

Congratulations to Alexandra Pickerill – 6th Year - who was won the Leinster Senior Girls Tennis ‘Grand Prix’ award for 2007. This award is as a result of very consistent performances in the top Leinster Tournaments during the summer months of 2007.

HOTSTOP - WORLD BLASTBEAT CHAMPIONS 2008 (15th January 2008)

An amazing feat
An amazing group
WELL DONE!

BLASTBEAT PROMOTER

Many congratulations to Ronan McCarthy on his excellent achievement. Ronan totally outperformed all of the other promoters in this competition.

He will continue to promote Hotstop. Well done.

BLASTBEAT INTERNATIONAL FINALS - SATURDAY JANUARY 12TH 2008.
THE TRIPOD, HARCOURT STREET 1 – 7 P.M. (7th January 2008)

The successful school group Hotstop, consisting of Jake Bitove, Alan Keyes, Hugo Sherry and James Tebbitt, are competing in the International Finals of the Blastbeat Competition this weekend.

Tickets are available through the student body and the school community wishes them every success at the weekend. I have no doubt that there will be great support for them as always.

We look forward to Hotstops future successes.

Christmas Carol Service (7th January 2008)

The School Carol Service on Friday 21st December was excellently support by the student, staff and parent body. It was a wonderful liturgical occasion which was greatly dignified by the excellent performances by the Senior School and Junior School Choirs. Great compliments must go to the soloists, readers and the A Capella Group on their excellence.

It was a wonderful community occasion to finish what was a very positive Christmas Term.

SENIOR CUP MATCH (28th January 2008)

St. Gerard’s 10 Blackrock College 46

The above score line does not reflect the spirited efforts of our SCT yesterday who gave a wonderful first half performance and led 10-5 for much of the first half. The strength of the Blackrock team came to the fore in the second half and we congratulate them on their success.

Well done to Garret Grotty for his excellent leadership of the SCT and to Joe MacDonnell, Tony Ward, Seamus Jennings and Damien Hall for their tireless work with this years’ Squad since last August.

We look forward to the SCT v Roscrea in the Vinnie Murray Cup next week and to the Senior Cup Plate competition which will be gin in February with optimism.

Father Godfrey Cup – Junior Rugby Cup Team (21st January 2008)

St. Gerard’s School 20 The High School 0

Many congratulations our JCT on an excellent initial win in the first round of the Father Godfrey Cup.

The team executed three excellent tries and had a fully deserved win. The team know themselves there is much room for improvement in performance and in their mental preparation for the next game.

The next round of the Junior Cup is against Kilkenny College on Wednesday 23rd January. We look forward to further success.

Well done and thank you to the coaches – Shaun McCarthy, Jason Emery, Victor Drummy and Paul Crosbie.

SENIOR CUP TEAM – VINNIE MURRAY CUP (23rd January 2008)

ST. GERARD’S 6 DE LA SALLE CHURCHTOWN 3

Well done to the Senior Cup Team and their Captain, Gareth Crotty, on a workmanlike performance in defeating De La Salle Churchtown in atrocious weather conditions on Tuesday afternoon January 22nd. They are now in the semi-final of the Vinnie Murray Cup and have qualified for the Senior Cup proper v Blackrock College on Monday January 28th.

We look forward to a wonderful day next Monday and for a truly inspiring performance from our Senior Cup Team which I know will be forthcoming.

JUNIOR CUP TEAM (23rd January 2008)

St. Gerard’s 8 Kilkenny College 5

Congratulations to the Junior Cup Team on progressing to the Junior Cup proper against Newbridge on Wednesday next. In an enthralling game of skill with nothing between the two sides, it took an amazing penalty kick from Jett Desmond to separate the sides late in injury time. Kilkenny will be heartbroken to lose in such circumstances.

I commend the Junior side on the sportsmanship they showed throughout the match.

Senior Rugby Cup Team (8th January 2008)

ST. GERARD’S CUP TEAM 9
GLENSTAL ABBEY 13

Our SCT gave undoubtedly their best performance of the season on Saturday 5th January against Glenstal Abbey at home under floodlights. This was definitely a game the Senior side know they should have won and I trust that they will take and learn from the lessons gained from the match.

We wish the Senior and Junior Rugby Teams and our Senior and Junior Hockey Teams every success over the coming weeks as they prepare for the upcoming Cup matches.

Forthcoming Cup Matches:

JCT
Wed Jan 16th @ 2.30 in Donnybrook VS. High School

SCT
Mon Jan 21st @ 2.30 in Churchtown VS. De La Salle

Show Jumping Team (15th January 2008)

Congratulations and well done to the St. Gerard’s Show Jumping Team of Oisin Boyd (2ND Yr), Aoibheann Boyd (1st Yr), Vanessa Looby (1st Yr) and Alison O’Kane (4th Yr) who came 3rd out of 16 at the Kilrossery Stude Novice Inter Schools Jumping in Kilrossey Lodge on Sunday last.

SENIOR LEINSTER HOCKEY CUP (28th January 2008)

St. Gerard’s 0 Alexandra College 3

A sincere hard luck to the Senior Hockey Team and Captain, Sinead Duffy, on losing to an excellent Alexandra College on Friday last.

This was a superb display by our Senior Girls who conceded their first goal just at half time. Alexandra’s final score was the last play of the match.

The score does not do justice to an excellent and spirited performance throughout the game.

Well done to the whole Squad and especially to the coaches, Cathy McKean and Sarah Scott on their preparation of the team.

Junior Hockey Cup Team (28th January 2008)

St Gerards 1 Our Lady’s Terenure 1

Commiserations to our Junior 1 Hockey team who were narrowly beaten by Our Lady’s Terenure in the 2nd round of the Leinster Junior Cup last Thursday.

The team played extremely well and it was a tightly fought game with Madison Duffy scoring in normal time. However the game ended 1-1 at full time and after no score in extra time, St. Gerard’s lost on penalty strokes by 3-2.

Senior Girls Hockey Cup – 1st Round (15th January 2008)

St. Gerard’s 3 Sutton Park 0

Congratulations and well done to the Senior Girls Hockey Team on a great win against Sutton Park yesterday with a score line of 3–0. The goal scorers were Sinead Duffy (2) and Meadhbh Delahunt (1). They will know their opponents in the next round at the end of this week.

Forthcoming Cup Matches:

SENIOR HOCKEY
Mon Jan 21st @ 2.00 pm in Sutton VS. Sutton Park School.

INTERNATIONAL SKIING COMPETITIONS (23rd January 2008)

Hubert Gallagher – 1st Year - has been selected on the Ski Club of Ireland Team to represent Ireland in competitions in Andorra and Italy over the coming weeks.

We wish him every success in his endeavours.

NATIONAL FORUM ON EUROPE PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION (17th January 2008)

YOUNG SOCIAL INNOVATORS SPEAKERS FORUM (17th January 2008)

The Young Social Innovators Team of Claire Cullen, Amy Deignan, Sorcha Brady are participating in the Speakers Forum at the end of January in Griffith College.

We wish them well.