Contents:

• Enda Makes Headlines
• Summer Camps
• Coffee Morning
• Meet the Members: Aifric Ní Neachtain
• Other News
• Team News
• Fixtures

Enda Gets Down to Business

Great to see Enda Kenny making headlines in the Sunday Business Post for his role as keynote speaker at the Oneness Gala this September in Chicago.

Help keep this hype going by sharing the article on your LinkedIn / Twitter / Facebook.

This fundraiser is a Club effort and we need YOUR help to promote it! 

Don’t be shy – get sharin’!

I say SUMMER you say CAMP

It’s that time of year again… time to book your kids’ place at the legendary Scoil Uí Chonaill Summer Camps!

Catering to all ages, skill levels and at an affordable cost, these camps are not to be missed.

Being outdoors, getting active & making new friends – could you think of a better way to spend your summer?

Contact Thomas @ 085 113 77 28 to book a place.

Coffee Morning

If you didn’t already know, June is Motor Neuron Disease awareness month.

A coffee morning will be held in Scoil Neasáin on Saturday 16th June 10.30 am – 2.30pm in aid of the Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association.

If you aren’t cáca-ed out, head on down this Saturday to support this great cause!

For enquiries text Deidre 087 237 88 08 / Ann 086 827 35 74

Meet Aifric Ní Neachtain

How long have you been involved in Scoil Uí Chonaill?
13 years

Do you have any nicknames? How do you like to be addressed? 
Aif, Africa, “This time for Africa”

Where do you hail from?
Clontarf

How did you come to be involved in Scoil?
Didn’t wanna be the only person in Scoil Neasáin who didn’t play for Scoil!

Briefly describe your Scoil career as a player / mentor / contributor, if any.
Began at aged 10 with Mick and Ger O’Connell’s team tripping over myself trying to solo a ball having come from a running background. Once I had managed to stop throwing the ball I moved up to Chris and Danny Smiths team. I remember first playing up with the Ladies teams from about third year to procrastinate that aul Junior Cert. Kept on doing so till unfortunately procrastination led to injuries. Thankfully back now training and involved with Ladies Bs for matches , occasionally hobbling out onto the pitch!

What is your favourite sporting moment/sportsperson? 
I luckily managed to see Katie Taylor win the gold in the London Olympics in 2012 which was pretty outstanding! !! I also love our past member Ellen Keane! She’s a Paralympic swimmer and has won bronze for Ireland in Rio. She is an all-round super human. I have played GAA and danced with her through the years and she would put everyone to shame! Proving that disability doesn’t prevent you from playing sports and succeeding! Up the Mná!

If Scoil was a country what would it be? Why? 
Romania, that same beautiful tricolour flag!

What would you say you are most known for within Scoil? 
To be honest probably my name. I remember a referee stopped me a few years ago and said “Yeah I remember you and that name!! You’re not as fast these days are ya?” Refs aye!!

What has been your greatest Scoil moment / achievement?
I remember one time at about aged 14 I won player of the match. It wasn’t a very important match but always remember feeling so chuffed and always good to give ya that boost. I won young player of the year a while back which was lovely too 🙂

What is your profession / field of study / passion?
Special Needs/ Adaptive Physical Activity/ Working with kiddos

What are your favourite hobbies outside of GAA?
Balllet (great combo with the GAA, no injuries…ever!) Surfing, hiking, cycling and naps

What is your favourite Scoil ‘quirk’? 
We might not have the 100+ teams like other clubs but there’s something so nice and personal about Scoil. Other clubs come across really competitive and sometimes aggressive but I never get that impression from Scoil. We’re sound like.

If you could make one addition to Scoil in any way, what would it be?
Ah god the size of that main pitch! I can barely make it through a half without dying! 

Want to feature in the Stag’s Voice?

As a Club, we really pride ourselves on the close-knit community that we have at Scoil Uí Chonaill – help us in our effort in getting to know all of our members by filling out the Meet the Member’s Questionnaire! 

Other News

• Reminder that the Defib/AED training is taking place tomorrow at 7-10pm in the Clubhouse for those who have reserved a place with Mairead.
• The new gear is expected to arrive on Friday so keep an eye on you emails for collection details. Anyone who has been contacted directly by GAA Store regarding their order should consider that information up to date.

Team News

Summary:

• U10 Girls battling back strongly against tough opposition
• U9 Girls were in very good form on Sunday morning
• U9 Hurlers dazzle in sunshine
• Enjoyable football blitz in Clanna Gael for our U7s
• U12 Hurlers maintain their unbeaten streak against Lucan
• U10s Boys finish off a great blitz with ice-creams and medals
• U11s make JP & Alex proud with a fantastic performance

U12 Hurling

Lucan Sarsfields 3-3 v Scoil Ui Chonaill U12s 3-4

Our U12s claimed another great victory vs a tough Lucan side to maintain our unbeaten streaks & top of table position this season in both hurling & football.

Some superb performances from the whole team with some stand out scores from Jack Kennedy & Dylan Doyle from midfield.

Player of the week went to Conall De Bleine after a great week’s work in both training and the match.

Special mention to Deansey and Eoghan backfilling Wayne’s coaching role while he suns himself again on some foreign soil! 

Welcome back to all the Scoil Neasain boys post-Inis Oirr and next up is a top of the table football clash away vs St Margarets on Saturday!

U10 Boys Football

We hosted a blitz on a very sunny Saturday morning with Scoil, Good Counsel, Shankill and Faughs. It was ideal weather for hurling with the pitch in great shape. 

We had three games and Scoil won 2 out of the three against Good Counsel and Faughs. All were very even games with really only a puck of a ball between teams. Shankill had 1 or 2 players that made the difference for them.

The blitz was a real team effort as it was a long hot day finished off with ice creams and medals for all participants. It would be unfair to pick one or two players as over the course of the three games all kids contributed really well.

For most of the games we had a slightly injured Conor K in goal who really got play going with some long puckouts. In defence we had Isaac, Cillian and Eoghan Og who worked really well together as a unit with some fantastic ground hurling in particular from Isaac. In midfield we had Conor M, Joe, Luke and Jake winning a lot of ball from puckouts and competing really hard to win/keep the ball. Up front we had Ruiri, Callum, Noah and Evan all of worked really hard to help set up and take scores.

The team have come a long way from this time last year when we didn’t enter a team in hurling. Skills are coming on and more importantly we are competitive in every match and the boys seem to be enjoying it.

U10 Girls Football

We played at home to Thomas Davis on Saturday afternoon in what should have been a two team fixture but the opposition only turned up with enough for 1 team. We started off very slow and the opposition got a bit of a run on us in the first half not helped by the amount of changes we had to make to get every player game time. However a few positional switches at half time steadied the ship and we got to grip with the opposition and we shaded a closely fought second half. Standout performances were from Niamh who took command at midfield and Abbey who gave a full back masterclass in the second half. Cliodhna, Caoimhe and Taiya linked up well in attack and our team play under pressure was great to see. Mentors were very proud of the heart shown by all players for battling back strongly against tough opposition.

U9 Girls Football

U9s were in very good form on Sunday morning and showed a marked improvement in use of possession and support play. Our ability to win possession at midfield supplied plenty of quality ball into our forward line. Emilie Curran got on an amount of ball and was a constant threat to the opposition defence. Lauren excelled in a number of positions and got some excellent scores. Aifric easily exceeded the work rate targets and covered every blade of grass. Orlaith had a great game overall and really excelled in the mid field position.

U9 Hurling

Our u9 hurlers served up sizzling performances in glorious sunshine against St Sylvester’s on Saturday morning.

The firm pitches meant a fast moving ball which perfectly suited our style of play. The mentors were delighted with the progress made by the players since the start of the year and most are now able to jab lift and strike in the air with confidence.

Playing against top class opponents, the maroon team had a tough, tight game with a lot of tackling and few scores. The standard of our hurling, particularly in the air was fantastic throughout the game. Eoin delivered some excellent long puc outs to put us on the attack. Sean and Sam delivered a defensive master class with some wonderful blocking, hooking and long clearances.  Jake displayed the full range of skills and executed a perfect hook to prevent an opponent from scoring while Brodie covered lots of ground in the first half and scored an excellent goal. Conall and Cian were determined in attack, tackling the defenders to prevent them from clearing the sliotar. A huge thanks to Noah who agreed to play in goal for the Sylvesters as they were short of players. His long puc outs put us under pressure on a number of occasions!

The amber team as usual didn’t disappoint and played hard to get a great result. The teamwork displayed, the intensity shown and the skills demonstrated were evident of their hard work at training.

Joseph was in super form and caused all sorts of problems for the opposition. Danny showed that he has been practicing hard in the park with some great tackling and striking. There were huge performances too from Rory, Cody and Tadhg.  Ben, Aodh and Faolain also worked tirelessly to keep the ball moving forward. Oisin volunteered to play in goal for the opposition and had a brilliant match with some super long puc outs.

The blue team had a slow start which was followed by a dominant second half. We had difficulty converting possession into scores due to a brilliant Sylvester’s defence. Darragh, James and a wonderful long range strike from Fionán all came close. With moments remaining our determination was rewarded with a great score. Our determination was epitomised by Caleb who must have had something in his porridge that morning as he made a wonderful hook and some super tackles and clearances (accompanied by ninja sound effects) and was up and down the pitch for the entire match. In the second half it was great to see three different players jab lifting and striking the sliotar. We need to build on this and have even more players jab lifting in our next match. Practice at home is key to improving these core skills.

Nursery

The Scoil Uí Chonaill Under 7s (Scoil Academy) played last Saturday in a really enjoyable football blitz well organised by Clanna Gael.  There were a total of 20 teams from Scoil, Clanna Gael and Cuala – 14 boys and 6 girls.  Our two boys teams brilliantly managed by Aideen and Brenda had 4 really competitive matches and both coaches and parents alike were well impressed with the range of skills on show especially hand-passing and tackling.  

For a lot of our girls it was their first match for Scoil and with some great support from coach Sean and parents they put on a great show. Both the Cuala and Clanna Gael coaches were very impressed by their skills.  

We host Whitehall next Saturday for hurling matches at 09:30.  

Nursery continued as usual for everyone last Saturday morning at 09:30 and it was great to see parents joining in.  Congrats to our players of the week and as always new players are welcome to join in and have fun.

U9 Football Blitz – 30th May

Our u9s travelled to Trinity Gaels where each team played a game Vs the hosts and Clontarf. The clubs each fielded 4 teams and most matches were keenly contested.

For one week only we had a Green team. Everyone on this team played really well. Hand and kick passes were on target and this led to some flowing team play which moved the ball up the pitch very effectively. Cian was strong in defence, Aibhilín was great and really put it up the boys with great help from Noah. The team got a bucket load of super scores in their first match. The second match was even more enjoyable as it was more keenly contested, there being no more than a score between the teams throughout the match.

Great range and accuracy with passes was again a feature for the Yellow team. The coaches noted in particular that the players always looked up before playing a pass. Brody made a large pitch seem small covering every blade of grass. Niamh also covered lots of ground and marked tightly. Despite a nasty little jury she still finished as strong as she started. The second game saw them up against stronger opposition, but Tadhg in goal kept the scoreline down with great saves and precision kick outs. Cody also showed great composure in defence and didn’t panic when under pressure in possession.

Great team spirit was shown by all on the Maroon team with everyone willing to pass to whoever was best placed. Great goalkeeping by Faolán who kept us in the game in the second match. Rory and Seán covered huge amounts of ground on the huge pitches in both matches and Riain and Oisín played solidly in defence. Fionán did well playing forward, often with little backup.

Finally, for the Blues, their first match against Clontarf was a ding dong battle – falling behind, going ahead and so on back and forth. In particular, some of the passing from both teams was a joy to behold as we saw players taking up clever positions in space to receive the ball. Darragh showed his scoring instinct with a couple of great close range points and if he can continue to practice his kicking he’ll find more opportunities to score from further distance. Meanwhile, Jake showed his ability to read the game by making countless interceptions to set up attacks. In the second game, after some positional changes, the Blues got off to a bad start. At half time we talked about the need for forwards to work hard too and to tackle back when necessary and a different team went out in the second half. Conall and Sam combined really well on occasions, supporting each other up the right wing, while Aoibhinn was a constant threat up front. While we pulled back a number of scores, we also hit at least half a dozen good chances wide in that second half, so the coaches are encouraging the kids to get out to the park and practice kicking with both feet.

At the end the kids were all presented with medals for their great efforts.

Fixtures