Contents:

• In Pictures: Oneness Kicks Off

• Want to earn €400 per hour?

• U9s Cake Sale: Saturday 22nd

• In Pictures: Scoil All-Ireland 7s Shield

• Scoil Gear Xmas Order Starting….NOW!

• Scoil Sirens Update

• Meet the Members: Emma Smith

• Other News

  • Congrats Dublin Ladies

  • Sam Maguire in Scoil: 20th October

  • Pictures & Video: North Inner City Folklore Project

  • An apology: website email error

• Team News

• Fixtures

In Pictures: Oneness Kicks Off!

The Scoil contingent who are our boots on the ground, enjoyed a wonderful visit to Notre Dame University. The hospitality from the College was fantastic as the group visited the important parts of the campus including the Museum, Basilica, Grotto, Student Centre and football stadium. The guides at each location were fantastic and shared the history and traditions of the College. A once in a lifetime experience for the Scoil Uí Chonaill members on their tour of Chicago, before they roll their sleeves up and get everything in place for the Lunch & Gala.

What to earn €400 per hour?

Nothing like a misleading headline to get your attention! But really, you can earn €1,000 for 2.5 hours work (for the Club!). Details below:

Volunteers Wanted!!

The Club is for the second year stewarding at the Great Dublin Bike Ride next Sunday.

The volunteers will meet at the Clubhouse and be placed along the route from Fairview to Baldoyle.

We are looking for your time from 7.00am-9.30am next Sunday 23rd September.

The Club will receive funding of €1,000 from the organisers if we can reach 30 volunteers.

The funding received will be used to purchase equipment for the Juvenile section.

Please contact Ronan Murphy 087 9295105 if you can spare a couple of hours for Scoil.

U9s Cake Sale: Saturday, 22nd

With their intensive training regime and targeted nutrition program, the u9 boys are beginning to grow out of their nursery match jerseys. The team is holding a bake sale on the morning of Saturday Sept 22nd in the Clubhouse to go towards funding a couple of new sets of jerseys for next year! It’s thought that the new jerseys will make them 5% more effective on the pitch and 20% more handsome. Thanks in advance for your support.

Scoil Ladies All-Ireland 7s Runners-Up

Well done to the Scoil adult ladies team who reached the Shield Final of the All Ireland Junior Sevens competition last Saturday. There were 30 teams in the competition from all over Ireland and overseas. Each team was allowed a panel of 12 players, but due to some late withdrawals there were only 9 Scoil players available to participate.

The final opponents were Ballyboughal who were runners up in the main competition last year and were clearly well prepared for this years event. The Scoil players gave their all, but six tough games had taken their toll and while the spirits were willing, the legs were weak. Final score was 6-4 to 2-8 for Ballyboughal. While disappointed, the players were absolutely delighted to have done so well and were very pleasantly surprised with the lovely set of trophies they received.

Full report in Team News section

Scoil Gear is Open for Orders!

With unfaltering demand, and an increasingly dapper-looking Club, we’ve decided to reopen the Club online shop for orders.

Please note the following:

• We must order in bulk so orders will be submitted as one large order following order deadline of end of this month

  • What that means is that your waiting period will start from this point

• This is the pre-Xmas order, so if you want Scoil gear for pressies – order now!

• We will be adding a few additional items to our offering in the coming days – more on that to come!

• Sample sizes will be available for fitting in the Club shop on the next two Saturday mornings (22nd & 29th) from 9.30am – 11.30am

Scoil Sirens (G4Mas) Update

As the Scoil Sirens are gathering momentum and had 23 ladies out last week, they’re in serious (not!) training for the National G4M&O Blitz in Naomh Mearnóg on Sat 6th October.

In the last two weeks the Sirens hosted friendlies against G4M&O teams from neighbours St.Vincents & Whitehall Colmchilles.

And would ya look! They’re also the promotional poster girls for the Inner City Initiative funded by Dublin City Council. 

THEY’re always welcoming new ladies on Tuesday nights 7pm-8pm @Scoil grounds

Meet Emma Smith!

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

Do you have any nicknames? How do you like to be addressed?
Some people like to call me Ronaldo

Where do you hail from?
Raheny, Dublin.

How did you come to be involved in Scoil?
Was a dual star with soccer as an 11 year old and Fred Quinn approached me and asked me to come down and give the GAA a go as well and have never looked back..

Briefly describe your Scoil career as a player / mentor / contributor, if any. 
Have won quite a few medals throughout the years and also coached in a few of the camps and at the girls nursery over the years too.

What is your favourite sporting moment / sportsperson? (any club, any sport)
Has to be Cluxton in 2011

Relive the moment…AGAIN!

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you in Scoil?
Probably ruining my reputation of once being a soccer star and missing a penalty in a match

What would you say you are most known for within Scoil? i.e. what do people associate you with?
Probably talking about love island excessively at training. But that’s done now for another year

What has been your greatest Scoil moment / achievement?
Probably beating Ballyboden at under 14 for Richie Egan

What is your profession / field of study / passion?
Very exciting Accountant

What are your favourite hobbies outside of GAA?
Coppers

What is your favourite Scoil ‘quirk’?
The jerseys

Finally, if you could make one addition to Scoil in any way (don’t be restricted by the plausible!), what would it be?
Bring Grainne Egan back from South America to be a full time goalkeeper for the ladies team. An all weather pitch would also be a great addition.

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

• Congrats to the Dublin Ladies on retaining their All-Ireland title in Sunday’s match vs Cork. And particular congrats to our own Hannah Leahy, pictured above.

• North Inner City Folklore Project: Enda Kenny was joined by Lord Mayor Nial Ring, Dubs Brian Fenton & Michael Darragh McAuley and a strong contingent of OCS pupils as he officially opened Dublin’s newest (and possibly smallest) museum. Also in attendance were Scoil’s Ramona & Colm Kennedy and Br. Pat Madigan. Watch the video here

• Well done to players of the week Calum, Eimear and Ultan.

• Apologies to all those who received an email from Scoil relating to order fulfilments. This was in error and was caused by some routine website back-end housekeeping! Shame on us!

• Sam Maguire will be making an appearance in Scoil on Saturday, 20th October, from 2pm til 6pm.

Team News

Full reports below

• The Adult Hurlers aim to secure their Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final spot as they face St Kevin’s this Saturday 22nd @5pm in Dolphin’s Park.

• The Adult Footballers booked their place in the Intermediate Football Championship 1/4 Final with a convincing win vs Garda – next up: O’Tooles @5pm on Saturday Sept 29th in Scoil.

• Ladies 7s runners-up in All-Ireland Junior Shield.

• U16 girls win strongly in game of ooh’s and aah’s

• U9s pound Pats with tenacious tackling

Ladies 7s Football

Well done to the Scoil adult ladies team who reached the Shield Final of the All Ireland Junior Sevens competition last Saturday. There were 30 teams in the competition from all over Ireland and overseas.Each team were allowed a panel of 12 players, but due to some late withdrawals there were only 9 Scoil players available to participate.

The first game in the round robin section was against a strong Ballyhaunis (Mayo) team. In a game which could have gone either way, Ballyhaunis won 3-5 to 2-4. Next up were wins against Galtee Gaels (Limerick) 3-6 to 2-4, Colmcilles (London) 3-11 to 1-5 and possibly the toughest game of the day Caherlistrane (Galway) 1-7 to 1-5. The latter win meant that the Scoil ladies tied for first place in the group with Ballyhaunis. A shoot out was necessary to determine which team went into the  main competition and the other team into the Shield. Scoil narrowly lost the shoot out. 

The first knockout game took place immediately against Robert Emmets (Donegal). The Scoil players were now playing with great confidence and attacking flair and scored an emphatic win 3-11 to 1-5. There was just time for a short break to take on some refreshments before the semi final against Douglas (Cork). Semi finals are usually tense cagey affairs but Scoil maintained their attacking policy and were rewarded early with 3 goals in quick succession from live wire Sophie Gibney. Douglas were always dangerous but Scoil maintained the advantage to the end to win 4-8 to 2-9.

When the game finished, it took the players and mentors a few moments to realise that they had reached an All Ireland final. As they set out early that morning from Clontarf with just 9 players, the players thoughts were about doing their best and enjoying the games. No one mentioned semi finals or finals.

The final opponents were Ballyboughal who were runners up in the main competition last year and were clearly well prepared for this years event. The Scoil players gave their all, but 6 tough games had taken their toll and while the spirits were willing, the legs were weak. Final score was 6-4 to 2-8 for Ballyboughal. While disappointed, the players were absolutely delighted to have done so well and were very pleasantly surprised with the lovely set of trophies they received.

Scorers: Aoife de Burca 7-8, Lucy Murphy 0-18, Sophie Gibney 5-3, Caelinn Ni Bhroin 2-9, Ciara McComish 1-5, Anna Power 1-3, Cathy Delaney 0-4 Katie Doolan 0-1. While she was the only player not to score, Nicole was the rock in defence

U16 Girls Football

vs St. Mary’s Saggart Sept 9th 2018

This was a game of ooh’s and aah’s because there were so many near misses at both end of the pitch. The ball hit the goalposts and was saved so many times during the game that our parents could hardly catch their breath. It didn’t start well for us with two immediate points for St. Mary’s but soon a ball sent in from Holly to Caoimhe who slammed it right into the goal.  So we were one point ahead but we didn’t stay like that for long because Mary’s soon got another point.  This was the story of the whole game. We got goals from Ella and Caoimhe and included a penalty from Holly and they got point after point.  This was a game where all the Scoil girls were stars. In the second half they had to play uphill and it was more of a struggle but they kept going till the bitter end. They came out as well deserved winners with the score of 7.3. for Scoil 2.12 for St. Mary’s

Our next game will be on Saturday 22nd against Clanna Gael at home for the under 15’s while the under 16’s will play on Sunday the 23rd away to Na Fianna.

U9 BOYS FOOTBALL

vs St Pats Donabate 15 Sept 2018

The u9s played with great spirit on Saturday against St Pats Donabate and there were plenty of good performances – especially from the Amber team. Our stats man tells us that the tackle count hit an all-time high across all 3 games but that our percentage of kick-outs won dipped below target levels!

The Blues got off to a great start with 3 of the first 4 scores of the game. Jamie up front was anticipating every pass and got out in front of his marker repeatedly. Pats began to dominate the kick outs and exerted a lot of pressure in the last 5 minutes of the half. Some superb committed defending though, from Sam and Brodie in particular, forced Pats into wides and turnovers and there was very little in it at half time. The struggle with kick outs continued in the second half, although there were some great counter attacks from James and Sean to keep Scoil in the game. With the tie in the balance, the efforts of the Scoil defence finally told and Pats got a few handy scores to allow them to pull away in the end. The commitment of the Blues couldn’t be faulted and with a bit more work on passing the ball out of defence, the Blues will be on the right road.

The Maroons faced a very strong Pats side. Oisín put in one of his best performances for Scoil covering every inch of the pitch throughout the game. Danny had a great stint in goals – on one occasion pulling off a great save while himself being bundled over the goal line. Dennis too did well in defence and it’s great to see him start to use his steps to burst out of the tackle. Highlight of the game though was a superb goal from Zach from a sideline ball.

The performance of the morning came from the Amber team. Jeaic had a tremendous game in goals, not only pulling off a couple of great saves but also giving his team a great platform with pinpoint accurate kickouts. He was ably assisted by Eoin at the back who has clearly been working on his slap tackle. In one period of play he stopped 4 attacks in a row by getting his body between the attacker and the goal and dispossessing him. Paddy meanwhile sprinted back twice to cover counter attacks. Faolain had his best game of the year and solo’d through the St Pats defence a number of times to set up scores. Shay also had a great game – running into space for kickouts and giving long accurate kicks into forwards. Overall it was a great team performance.

Next week the u9s host a blitz Vs Castleknock and St Brigids.

Fixtures