1. Scoil Darkness Into Light

2. Team News

3. Fleadh Ceol

4. Celebrating Minor Heroes

5. Other News

Scoil Darkness Into Light

On Saturday the 11th of May, over 20 Scoil volunteers helped out at the amazing Darkness Into Light event. On a beautiful morning, the club was opened for participants of the walk to use the club facilities and have a tea or coffee. This amazing initiative was set up by Pieta House a number of years ago in the fight against suicide and self harm. This was the first year it has been held in Clontarf, and we look forward to the event again next year. Thank you in particular to Jackie Geraghty for organising the event on the clubs side. We even had a few special guests at the club in the form of the Dublin Senior Footballers!

Team News

• Adult Ladies – Foxrock/Cabinteely  4-9  Scoil Ui Chonaill  1-8

  A disappointing start to the championship for the ladies A team as they were well beaten by a useful Fox/Cab team. 

  On a night more like mid January than the middle of May, Scoil played the first half against a strong wind and into the driving rain. They were behind for most of the half and would have been happy to be just 4 points in arrears coming up to  half time but 2 Foxcab points in the last minute made the chance of a recovery difficult.

  Even with wind advantage, the Scoil players could not play with any fluency and instead Foxcab scored 3 goals in the second half. A fine goal by Sinead de Burca through a crowded goalmouth and excellent points from Sophie Gibney and Lucy Murphy were the highlights.

  The defeat was all the more disappointing after the impressive away win against St Judes in the previous game. Admittedly, there were 6 changes in personnel from that game. In that regard, we would like to thank Izzie Dillon, the under 16 goalkeeper,who was on her way to the B team home game and got her dad Damian to divert to Cabinteely in time for the throw in.

  Scoil ui Chonaill B 4-8  St Brendans 3-2

  The B team continued their good start to the season with their third straight win against St Brendans. 

  The win was even more meritorious as they had to cope with the last minute withdrawal of Izzie Dillon, who stepped in at short notice to assist the A team. Eve Courtney deputised in goal for the first half with midfielder Aoife Murphy in goal for the second half.

  While Scoil were well on top in the first half, the concession of 2 late goals left the sides level at half time. 

  The change of goalkeeper resulted in a number of positional changes, including a new midfield pairing of Caoimhe de Buitlear and Sadhbh Murphy. What the pair lack in physique they more than make make up in skill and speed, and they dominated that area of the field. The goalkeeper switch also worked, as Eve showed her versatility with a fine goal and Aoife kept a clean sheet. Kate Walley also did well in both attack and defence

• Under 17/16 Girls:

  Scoil v Naomh Mearnóg 12/5/2019 

   As eight of our girls were playing in the Fleadh this weekend, we were short on numbers when we travelled to Naomh Mearnóg for a challenge match on Sunday. However, warned in advance, they had plenty to spare and kindly loaned us a few. So we took on an under 16 team who are in the top half of division two against our division three girls and it proved to be very interesting to see how they played and how we responded. They started with a bang with two points and a goal before we got into our stride. One of our visitors then slammed in a great goal for us followed by a point from Caoimhe in her first match since her injury. The opposition continued to put pressure on our backs who fought back with grim determination The opposition got six more points and another goal in the first half but we were delighted to have our Caoimhe Keoghane back in scoring form because she got another point and a goal and then, after one of some brilliant passages  of play by Eve one of our Portmarnock players slammed in another goal before half time. So when they girls took a break it was 3. 2 to Scoil 4.6. to Naomh Mearnóg.

  The opposition took their points relentlessly in the second half but we put down a marker by getting a point in the first few minutes followed by a lovely long range one from Reailtin. Holly scored a super penalty and a point as a result of a lovely pass from Siofra.  Jody, Sofia and Siobhan fought tooth and nail to protect the goal and Izzy made some splendid saves.  Sadhbh Murphy used her ballet jumps to intercept ball after ball. Caoimhe Mulligan had to take a rest she got so breathless playing all over the pitch and Meadhbh was her usual steady self. It was very evident that the opposition trained hard in passing the ball very quickly and accurately and their passes rarely went astray. Yet we fought hard to keep up with them and had a great second half display. In fact with the help of the girls on loan we finished only two points down.  A lighthearted moment during the game was one of the girls who was on loan to us forgot which way she was supposed playing but needless to say she got lots of instruction from the sideline.

  End score Naomh Mearnóg 5.11. to Scoil 6.6.

   Next game Scoil v O’Tooles pitch 22 Tuesday 14th meeting at 7pm. Hope we’ll have our squad back!

• Under 12’s: Kilmacud Crokes (2-8) v Scoil Ui Chonaill (5-2)

  Scoil Ui Chonaill U12 Footballers travelled to Kilmacud Crokes this evening.
  This was definitely a game not for the faint hearted and was even tougher than our last/ recent encounter. A Full throttle, high intensity game between two fully committed teams.

  From back to front, Scoil kids put in some shift.
  I could mention all the players and they would be deserving of praise but I’ll leave it to the players themselves, who singled out Luke M in goal, goal scoring machine Alan M and the absolutely outstanding Fahad for special mention.

  Despite being in middle of Ramadan, Fahad played like an absolute giant and was the epitome of what it means to be committed to our team/club – Scoil Legend in the making!

  Scoil managed to come from behind to win game late on by x3 pts which was probably hard on Crokes kids. Ignoring the result this was a game to be savoured by both teams/clubs/Mentors

  It must be said this game would not have happened without Kilmacud Crokes and their mentors’ (Declan & Co) support and agreement re facilitating our request to play this evening, rather than Saturday due to a number of our kids having prior commitments. 
  Well done lads and much appreciated by Scoil U12 Mentors/Players.

  Regards Jp / Liam / Ronan

• Under 10’s:

  Scoil met Man O’War at home in two well-contested games.

  Team Andrew (thanks to Andrew for taking on the responsibility with one of the teams for the day) started slowly but found their feet as the game went on, culminating in a strong second half performance. While some of the basics were good, including disciplined marking at the back and forwards finding clever pockets of space, there was plenty to work on. We’ve been talking about the damage “hail Mary” kicks can do for a few weeks now and unfortunately the message hasn’t sunk in yet! The other area in need of a bit of work is lifting the ball from the ground. By all accounts there was a bit too much soccerball going on. Not the teams greatest performance, but great credit to the team and the stand in manager for turning things around in the second half.

  Team Cormac were involved in a cracking end to end game. The defensive purists won’t have enjoyed the first half as marking was hit and miss and tackling seemed to be purely optional. Scoil had fallen a couple of points behind by half time and we talked about what was and wasn’t a tackle (waving a hand in the general direction of the opposition an example of what’s not a tackle :-)). There was a huge improvement in the second half and the Scoil lads really stood up, hauling in Man O’War and taking the win with the last kick of the game.There were a few super second half performances but special mention must be made of James Reilly who had a great game in defence, getting to the ball first on countless occasions. He grew in confidence as the game went on, not only winning the ball, but using his steps to burst into space and look up to find the right pass.

  Thanks to Cian, Jack, Jake and Noah from the u9s for stepping in for us – they all had great games.

• Under 8’s: The under 8s were at home to  Sylvesters of Malahide on Saturday for football. With numbers reduced due to first communion,  there were several under 7s who stepped up to play to name a few Daniel, Blaithin Fionn and Shane. Eoghan scored many points against a tough physical Sylvesters side. Bill shone in goals with some fine saves as did Senan who playes 2/3 matches as he had to go to his first communion. Dedication to the end and Senan still looked smashing in his suit and bow tie. Sarah worked hard and was able to tackle hard for the ball. We are back next week to play these guys in hurling. With a mid week hurling match against O Tooles we should be well prepared for this encounter. 

• Nursery:
  We had great turnout for the Nursery last Saturday. The blues worked hard on their football and hurling skills. It would be great if the kids did some practice at home on their hand passing!!
  The green and yellows worked on their football and hurling skills. The coaches were really impressed with the effort the kids made.  
  Players of the week were Tadhg, Feidhlim & Taylor. Well done. 

Fleadh Ceol

Artane was full of the sound of music this weekend as hundred of young musicians arrived at St. David’s school to take part in the Dublin Fleadh ceol. It was fascinating to watch them arrive chatting away carrying their flutes and fiddles drums and tin whistles. As anyone who has attended music sessions in the club will know we have very many talented young musicians as members. 

We don’t know how many members actually played their instruments over the weekend but we do know that in our under 16 girls team Sadhbh Nic Philibin won gold on the fiddle while Meibhin Ni Raghallaigh won silver on the whistle. In the Ceili band section who won bronze there were three of our younger players Tadhg and Eoghan from the under 12 boys and Danu from the under 11 girls. Tadhg also won four silver medals. Gold and silver medalists qualify for the Leinster Fleadh so Scoil will be well represented, proving that our players are multi talented. Well done to all our members who took part, keeping alive our traditional music and good luck to those playing in the Leinster! 

Fleadh we are very proud of you all, both on and off the pitch.

Celebrating Minor Heroes

Scoil will be celebrating the amazing achievements of the Minor teams of the 60’s where the club won five minor championship titles and an under 21 title in a seven year period!

Not many members of the Club will be aware of the Scoil glory days when the Club  contested six Minor Championship Finals in eight years and won FIVE Dublin Minor Championship titles!

The Scoil also contested and won an U21 title in that period.

To revive and relive some of the memories, some of the stars of that era are having a reunion on Friday 7th June at 7.30pm in the Clubhouse.

So get out the photos, put on the memory caps and  spread the word (50 years plus is a long time)

Main contact points are: Robbie Kelleher(086 2583796), Barry Kenna (087 4196789), Bernie O Sullivan (086 0688101) and Gerry Rowley  (087 6287395)

Other News

• Swim Ireland are holding an event on Sunday 26th May in the afternoon/ evening.Club are providing parking bbq bar facilities. Swim Ireland expect up to 500 people to attend. If anyone is available to assist with the above please contact Mossey O’Connell or TJ Farrelly.

• Oulton Tennis are hosting the Irish Vets Open Bank Holiday weekend from Friday 31st to June 3rd. Scoil have agreed to them parking cars in the Club grounds for the event, with the exception of Saturday 1st when we host our own Blitz event and Champions League Final event!
  Please consider the above if arranging matches training etc during this period.

• ‘Hurl with Scoil’ initiative will take place on the 16th and 23rd of June, with former Dublin Camogie star Áine Fanning taking training sessions. All are invited to take part. For more info please contact Ronan Murphy or Jackie Geraghty.

• Scoil Skillz will be opening up again this summer during the months of June, July and August – so get practicing!