Scoil Gear is Open for Orders!

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

Visit Scoil online store

HAVE QUESTIONS?

We know it can all be very confusing — so we’ve gone ahead and drafted some answers to FAQs that have come up.

Read them here

Oneness Reflection from a Scoil Ambassador

Any journalist worth their salt knows; if you want to get the real story, you need to talk to those with boots on the ground.

Many thanks to Niamh Murphy for her wonderful reflective article of how proceedings panned out over the course of the few exciting days in Chicago in the name of Oneness…

Scoil Uí Chonaill — Oneness

By Niamh Murphy

A few memories from a wonderful trip to Chicago…

Arriving in Chicago on Monday evening was slightly surreal after we had spent so much of 2018 planning for the Oneness events in the City. Each Scoil Ambassador (SA) was lucky enough to be in a position to travel to Chicago, both financially and time wise, with members travelling from Dublin, London and other parts of the US to attend the events. We were also lucky enough to have great weather for our trip with the sunshine a welcome bonus and some members enjoying a daily morning dip in Lake Michigan.

Tuesday — Notre Dame

A bonus for me was the trip to the University of Notre Dame which was arranged in conjunction with the Stayer Center for Executive Education at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College. We had a 7.30am start on Tuesday morning for the nine SAs who were travelling to South Bend, Indiana to meet with Paul Slaggert from the Stayer Center. After almost two hours we arrived at the beautiful Notre Dame campus and our tour included a visit to the Stayer Center, Basilica, Grotto, Log Cabin, Student Center and Museum. Golf Buggies were the transport for our visit and a great way to see the beautiful buildings and features of Notre Dame. At a special buffet lunch in the Slayer Center we also got to meet senior staff from other faculties who gave us an outline of their roles while we had an opportunity to talk about Scoil and our Oneness programme.

The highlight for many was the chance to visit the iconic football stadium with a capacity of 80,795. As well as a tour of the Corporate and Premium levels we were brought on to the pitch through the players tunnel — an honour which we understand is only available to a lucky few. The venue hosts wedding receptions, conferences and events, with Garth Brooks in concert next month. We received a wonderful welcome at Notre Dame with a guide and host waiting at each venue to share the history and traditions of the University. A trip never to be forgotten for the lucky SAs and plenty of great memories. Go Irish!

A few of us managed to get tickets to Hamilton in Chicago so a quick turnaround once we made it back to the city before the show started.

Wednesday — Oneness Networking Lunch & River Cruise

Wednesday was the day of the Oneness Networking Lunch which took place in the Chicago Cut restaurant with over 100 attendees. The centrepiece of the event was a Business Innovation Competition with the City Colleges of Chicago. The attendees and judges were impressed with the ideas brought forward by the students and the work they had put in to the competition. Israel Idonije, former Chicago Bear and now an Entrepreneur who has established a foundation to work with young people in Chicago, was Emcee for our event.

Also on Wednesday, some of the SAs attended the Chicago Ireland Network – evening river cruise. While the rain came down as we walked to the river (a taxi might have been a better idea), the shower passed and we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and sights of the city. A raffle was arranged during the cruise with the proceeds going to the ‘Oneness events’ — Joan Cushen did a great job selling tickets (nothing new there of course). As the cruise was coming to a conclusion, John Coady gave an outline of our fund raising programme to the attendees. For most of us the highlights included a rendition of ‘Dublin in the rare oul times’ from the Lord Mayor and especially the singing of ‘Mother Mo Chroi’ by Peter Morley as we sailed under the bridges of Chicago. Plenty of tears as both recent arrivals and long time Chicago Irish were thinking of home.

We managed to find a local bar to finish the night with some pizza and chat.

Thursday — Oneness Gala

Thursday was the ‘big one’ so we started with a good breakfast before the work began. A trip to the Drake Hotel venue for our first glimpse of the room was followed by packing ‘gift bags’, getting auction materials ready and lots of little special touches organised by Sheila our project co-ordinator. Ramona & Colm Kennedy had the tough job of organising and finalising the table plan — never an easy task. One of things we couldn’t plan for was a chambermaid strike in Chicago with pickets outside many hotels, including the Drake. There’s always something!

An afternoon trip to a local hairdresser for a few of us ladies was an interesting experience — although we would probably prefer the Irish version!

All the SAs met at the Drake Hotel at 5pm to complete the final preparations and receive a briefing on our roles for the evening — anything from ‘greeter’ to auction ‘watcher’. The guests began arriving at 6.30pm for the reception and the format of the evening began to take shape. It was also great to meet up with Scoil members currently based in the US who had travelled to Chicago.

The Shannon Rovers Pipe Band marched through the room at 7.15pm to start the formal proceedings, something I found very emotional as I felt so proud that our Club had put these events together. We heard both the Irish and US anthems sung with great emotion while the violinist Patricia Treacy entertained the room during dinner. We also heard from Colm Kennedy, Brother Pat Madigan, Neil Ring, Lord Mayor of Dublin and Enda Kenny. To see the room look so beautiful with all the Scoil /Oneness logos, flags and sponsor materials made the preparations well worth it. Of course, the SAs all looked fantastic on the night too and everyone of us shared the ‘Scoil’ story with the guests in the room. What a night for Scoil Uí Chonaill in Chicago!

Many of us had a chance to catch up and share stories at breakfast on Friday morning.

For everyone who made the trip it was a wonderful experience and we learnt a lot, including:

• The former Taoiseach Enda Kenny is a big hit in Chicago and has a word for everyone. He’s also a great Scoil Ambassador and his speech strongly supported our Oneness programme.

• Apparently the Mayo team are regular visitors to Chicago so it was good to mix it up with a contingent of Dubs!

• Neil Ring, Lord Mayor of Dublin is a past pupil of O’Connell School and a great advocate of the Club. He is also willing to sing, take selfies and help us any way he can.

• American events start on time and finish early

• Chicago is a great city with lots of public parks, beautiful scenery and plenty to do.

• Our Club has great ambition and can deliver on it’s plans. There are lots of ideas for building on this venture so Chicago 2018 was also a great investment for the future.

Next year anyone?????

See all the pictures on Facebook:

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Meet…You?

“Hey, where’s the Meet the Members?”

Wondering why there’s no members to meet this week? Well, see that little blurb and link to survey below? We need YOU to complete that.

This is a very popular section of the newsletter for members, about members and BY members. So, step up and introduce yourself to the community!

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

Well done to players of the week Sarah, Dylan and Fionn.
Special thanks to the 28 Scoil volunteers who got up for the 6.30am meeting point at the Club. Collie Deans alarm failed to go off, allegedly…
Sam Maguire will be making an appearance in Scoil on Saturday, 20th October, from 2pm til 6pm.

Fair play to Scoil u13 Caoilinn for taking the time to take a quick selfie with some fella named Joe Canning at the Ploughing Championship…
Clontarf Residents Association AGM will be held on Monday the 15th October 2018 at 8pm in the Holy Faith Secondary School, Clontarf.
- Agenda includes update on the flood defences for the Clontarf Promenade and the campaign to Save St Anne’s.
Congrats to the son of ex OCS and Scoil man Kwame Ampadu for signing a new five-year deal at Chelsea!
Finally, make sure you run from the Guards!

From? Sorry, we meant with… 😉

Team News

Full reports below

The Adult Footballers will look to book their place in the Intermediate Football Championship semi-final with a win over O’Tooles @5pm on Saturday Sept 29th in Scoil.
The Adult Hurlers secured their Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final spot against St Mark’s on Saturday Oct 6th @3pm in O’ToolePark following their 6-point win over St Kevin’s last Saturday.
Scoil & O’Tooles combined minor team (St Paul’s) with hard fought win against st Marks.
Jim Gavin-esque panel performance for U16 girls.
U10 Hurlers starting to find a real feel for working as a team against Ballinteer St. John’s.
Competitive, hard-working & independent U9 & U10 Camogie teams with strong performances.
U9s blitz Castleknock and Brigids.

MINOR BOYS FOOTBALL

St. Paul’s 2-12 St Marks 1-9; Sun, Sept 23rd

Scoil & O’Tooles combined minor team (St Paul’s) had a hard fought win against st marks.

We played into a strong breeze in the first half and went into the break 4 points down. We had conceded a penalty just before half time.

Both teams traded points through the second half but with 15 mins to go we were still 5 points down.

A battling final quarter that showed great resilience & determination ensured a good victory. Good scores from Feargal O’Connell & Donal Mckay helped us to outscore st marks by 2-5 to 0-0 in the final quarter for a hard fought but deserved win. Very good defensive work from Callum Osbourne, Adam Nolan & Peter Cronin throughout.

Next round away to Thomas Davis on Oct 6th.

U16 GIRLS FOOTBALL

vs Na Fianna ‘C’ Sept 23rd

Jim Gavin uses his panel to win games and so too did coaches Paul and Brian on Sunday. There is quite a slope on Na Fianna’s pitch on Collinstown Lane and it is very noisy being so near the airport. Add to that a gale force breeze and it was likely that the conditions alone would win this game. We started off playing downhill with the breeze and quickly slotted in two goals. Na Fianna replied with a goal and a point while we added more points to leave it 2.5 to 1.2 at half time. The second half was, we thought, going to be more challenging playing uphill with a strong breeze against us but our girls rose magnificently to the challenge. Lia made some superlative saves ably defended by Eve who was determined no Na Fianna girl was going to get a ball past her. Caoimhe Mulligan popped up and down catching balls that should have been uncatchable. Sophia was hugely in evidence catching balls time and time again. When Kellyann joined the defence she made some great saves and some very powerful kick outs and even though winded was determined to go back out to do her bit. Siobhan was magical playing everywhere she was needed and causing mayhem to the opposition. Abby Donnelly simply didn’t lose a single ball. Roisin could best be described as tenacious never giving in to pressure. Both Ella and Holly covered every inch of the pitch bringing the ball dangerously close to the opposition goal. Blathnaid was in scoring mode and Jody was just Jody always doing her trademark blocks to the consternation of her opposite number. Sadhbh Murphy was unbeatable intercepting balls high and low while Abby Redmond proved her long lay off had not affected her skill at all. Meadhbh O Flaherty work ethic was in evidence and Sadhbh Ni Philibin had definitely graduated to under 16 games with first class honours reading every movement correctly. Caoimhe Keoghan was her usual dangerous self until she had to come off injured at half time. So despite injuries and illness this was probably the best under 16 performance we have seen the girls having jelled passing the ball to each other denying Na Fianna at every turn.

Scorers were Caoimhe K, Siobhan, Abby R Sadhbh P Jody and Abby Blathnaid and Ella and the final score was Scoil 4.11 to Na Fianna I.6.

Next game is an under 15 match against Na Fianna next Saturday in Mobhi Road.

U10 BOYS HURLING

vs Ballinteer St. John’s Sept 22nd 2018

The under ten boys had an away game to Ballinteer St. John’s last Saturday. The game was one of the highlights of the last 12 months for the coaches and players alike as the boys are starting to find a real feel for working as a team. They’ve worked a lot on field position in recent weeks of training and this was evident in the game throughout. Cries of ‘shape’ from our back line quickly had the midfielders and forwards scramble to mark up and smother the opposition and the backs are starting directing midfield without any coach ‘intervention’.

Team Brendan consisted of: Evan, David, Temi, Conor K, Eoghan Og, Callum and Ruairi.

The game was generally even throughout with an end score of Scoil 5 goals to Ballinteer 2 goals 1 point. The referee called it a draw in skillpoints and performance. We had 2 goals from David, 1 from Temi and 1 from Eoghan Og. As well as scoring we had quite a few point attempts mainly from Conor K and Eoghan Og. Whether points go over or not the main thing is that we are getting the ball up and getting shots off under pressure. We had great defensive performances from Callum, Ruairi and Conor K when he came out of goals. Strong puckouts from Conor allowed us to retain a lot of procession at midfield with Temi and Eoghan Og working really hard to get the ball forward for David and Evan.

The most impressive thing was the ability of the lads to retain the shape of the team in terms of sticking mostly to their positions and putting into practice all things that Thomas had done in the training drills the previous Wednesday.

It is evident that team work is really coming on as the lads are looking for someone to pass to rather than just hitting the ball and on Saturday there was usually someone looking for the pass and waiting to help out.

Team Colin consisted of Isaac, Michael, Senan, Jake, Cillian, Luke and Conor M.

The mid-week training on jab lifting and hitting on the move was clearly evident in Conor Meehan’s fast clear-outs from mid-field (Conor also managed to drop a goal puck-out into the opposition box a number of time times – they’ll be lengthening the pitch next time). Cillian Gilbride continues to be our fighting back-line, putting his body on the line a number of times to thwart some fine attacking efforts from Ballinteer. Senan Ryan was fast on his feet in mid-field to clear out to the sides and puck the ball up for the forwards whilst on the move. Luke Halpin and Michael Jordan, our new member, played a class double act to put away 5 goals through the game and far more strong shots that were saved or marginally wide. Meanwhile Isaac Russell demonstrated the value of a hard working and committed midfielder covering defence and attacking positions through the course of play but always coming back in to “shape” on the break of play. Overall the coaches were hugely proud of great team work, a demonstration of the benefits of practice and a strong 5-1 to 0-5 victory.

Overall it was good to see 14 kids out playing and we were able to field 2 teams on the day. Keep up the good attendance at training and matches.

U9 & U10 Girls CAMOGIE

Girls under 10s. – Saturday vs Naomh Mearnog

Team Green – The girls second football outing since the summer break was always going to be tough against a very strong club. With our usual mix of under 10s and 9s the girls got stuck in from the start and never stopped working. With a little ‘guidance’ from the side-line we started to kick the ball more and faster and found our forwards in a lot of space. We get this up for the two games and put on an excellent performance with great score and clever moves against a well drilled opposition. The team spirit was exemplified by Eabha Mulligan who despite being ill carried out until the end, never giving up and setting up some great scores.

Team Blue – This team had a great battling draw against strong opposition in the first match. In the second match against an equally strong opposition we got our combinations right. The key move of the day was placing Niamh at full back and ably assisted by Andrea and Sorcha they just shut the firmly closed on the Mearnog attack. Our mid field of Aishat and Ella were suberb throughout and every player contributed to a great performance.

Girls under 9s. – Sunday vs St Peregrines

Team Red – With some superb skills from a trio of Abbey, Nessa and Abigail, this team played some of the best football of the year at this level. Despite playing against an extra player in one game, the work rate and interplay from our team meant that we were always in control even when put under severe pressure from the opposition with tough honest tackling. It was great to have Ella Rose making her debut and even the opposition were impressed with the skills on show. Well done to all

Team Yellow – We played two very competitive games against two good Peregrines teams. The highlight of the day was the performance of Aoibhinn Geraghty who put on a master class of all the skills including the ones we have been focussing on of supporting our own player in possession, taking your steps and scoring from hand or foot. We were also delighted to have Eliza and Emily Rose making their debuts and both worked very hard and were a terrific addition.

Fixtures

Sat 29th U10 Camogie V Beann Eadair Howth 2pm

Sun 30th U9 Camogie V Erins Isle/ Fingallians (blitz) Erins Isle 10am

U9 BOYS HURLING

U9s blitz Castleknock and Brigids

The U9s hosted Castleknock and St Brigids in a hurling blitz in Clontarf Road on Saturday. Our focus on skills in recent weeks – and the participation of many of our parents at training – were rewarded with some strong performances.

For the maroon team, Brodie worked hard and showed great determination and tackling skills throughout. Sean had a powerful game, winning great ball and looking up to find a team mate before delivering long accurate passes.

The Amber team put in 2 superb performances. The hard running they are putting in during training is showing as they were first to almost every ball and left no puc uncontested. It is difficult to pick out individuals on a morning like this but Caleb’s tenacious tackling certainly set the tone for the team. Conall too was a real leader on the pitch and was a rock at the back taking up covering positions and getting in long clearances. Danny had a superb game up front lifting the ball into his hands on 5 or 6 occasions. It was no surprise to hear afterwards that he had spent Friday evening practising before the match.

The Blues found the going tough against strong opponents. Jeaic showed that his ball striking has come on leaps and bounds and he won lots of territory with long strikes. Orson had a super match and quickly closed down the opposing forwards before delivering quality passes into our forwards

With so many players lifting the ball well the next thing we need to focus on is to make sure we take 4 big steps to get into space before striking. Any parent who feels that their child needs help to master the basics (particularly ‘air hurling’) should speak to the coaches who will be happy to recommend drills that the players can practice at home.