Éabha Andrea Hughes wins Special Merit Award for Texaco Art Competition 2017

Congratulations to Eabha Hughes (4^th year) who won a special merit award in the Senior category A at the Texaco Art Competition this year. Her piece entitled “An t’Súil Ghéar” (The Sharp Eye) which consisted of black pencil on white paper. Eabha travelled to the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, on May 25^th to collect her award from the Texaco Award Ceremony. Eabha collected her prize from host Ryan Tubridy and Professor Declan McGonagle.

Rugby has gone from strength to strength this year and has been very evident by the number of finals they have reached in both boys and girls rugby.
The U16 boys team reached the final of the Giles Shield this month and there was great excitement ahead of the game after the victory by the U19 team to win the O Gorman cup.
There was a great sense of nervousness on Tuesday as the boys travelled from Killaloe into the grounds of Thomond Park where their game would take place on the back pitch. A fitting backdrop for the two Munster teams who both had hunger and a drive for success. St. Anne’s were taking on the Kerry side from Intermediate School Killorglin who would definitely be a strong match to the Killaloe team.
The match kicked off at half 1 with nerves on both sides evident from the whistle. After a long passage of play, St. Anne’s gave up a penalty and ISK took full advantage with a penalty going over. St. Anne’s 0 – 3 ISK after 5 minutes. This was not the start Killaloe had wanted but under the encouragement of captain Joseph McEvoy the boys reloaded from the kick off securing good possession and bringing up the field. After some fancy footwork by the backs, Liam Hart went over for the first try of the game. Liam also converted the try leaving the score St. Anne’s 7-3 ISK. The teams were very equally matched with great plays by both teams. After some great breaks by the ISK players, a penalty was awarded for coming in from the side and ISK would capitalise on the infringement by slotting over another 3 points. With the half time whistle the score was St. Anne’s 7 – 6 ISK.
The start of the second half, St. Anne’s came out with all guns blazing and again showing some great skill by both the backs and forwards a great team try was scored by Liam Hart, his second of the game. He converted his own try to leave the score St. Anne’s 14 – 6 ISK. It was important to keep this pressure on and this is exactly what St. Anne’s did. Joseph McEvoy receiving a pass from Liam stormed up the outside beating three defenders and even finding another gear to make sure he scored in under the post for a great individual effort by the captain. Liam Hart converted to bring the score line to 21-6. With some tired bodies from both sides, this immense battle continued with both packs showing their power and strength. After some power carries by the ISK players, they would capitalise on some good possession with a try of their own. This would be converted bringing the score to 21-13 in the final 10 minutes of the game. There was a nervous energy for the final 10 minutes on both camps but the fantastic supporters from St. Anne’s school rallied their troops to give them the push on they needed to close the game out. With the final whistle, there was a scream of delight as St. Anne’s were victorious and claimed their second ever rugby trophy for the school. The second within as many weeks.
Final score St. Anne’s 21
ISK Killorglin 13

Congratulations to the winning team :
1. Charlie Byrnes
2. Shane Whelan Carey
3. Brian Cahill
4. Jimi O Baoill
5. Sammy Pooley
6. Séan Hale
7. Adam Cunnane
8. James Crotty
9. Cathal McKeogh
10. Conor Power
11. Jack McEvoy
12. Tadgh Maguire
13. Joseph McEvoy (Captain)
14. Patrick Lucas
15. Liam Hart
16. Dean Carey
17. Sam Loughran
18. Oisin Monaghan
19. Conor Meagher
20. Cathal O Donnell
21. Omar Erdem
22. Joe McGrath
23. Eoin Gilmartin
24. Adam Fogarty

A special thank you to Tyrone Elliott and Tony Carey for their help and assistance at training.

Congratulations to the students who represented the school this weekend in the Munster Schools Athletics finals in CIT, Cork on Saturday.
Jack McEvoy (2nd Year) continued his winning ways with an impressive victory in the Junior Boys 80m hurdles in a time of 12.89. Jack also competed in the Junior Boys Javelin finishing in second with a best throw of 34.22m.
Sarah Lane (2nd Year) had a great race in the Junior Girls 800m with a time of 2:22.12 to finish in second.
Dean Mulqueen (4th Year) competed in the Intermediate boys 200m finishing just outside the medals in 5th place.
Cathal McKeogh (3rd Year) competed in the U16 1 Mile run and came in 5th.
Well done to all the athletes who travelled and best of luck to Jack and Sarah who will go forward to represent the school in the All Ireland Finals in June.

Well done to Leah O’Brien, Lucy McEvoy, Roisin Houlihan & Emma Flynn on being runners up in the U16 Munster Schools tennis Championships in Rushbrooke TC Cobh yesterday.

Congrats to Caitlin McEvoy, Chloe McCarthy, Naoise Houlihan & Jessica McCarthy Gilligan on winning the Munster Schools Championships U14 Shield yesterday in Rushbrooke TC Cobh.

Friday night saw St. Anne’s play Castleisland in the final of the U19 O’Gorman Cup in Thomond Park. The U19 team have been unlucky over the years reaching many finals just to fall short. The team travelled to Thomond with a sense of excitement and feeling that this was their year.

The match started with an air of nervousness and it would be Castleisland who would get their campaign off to the better start scoring an early try under the posts. This was converted to leave the score 7-0 after only 5 minutes. St. Anne’s have always had great fighting spirit and would never let this early set back get in their way. After a great team effort, Gary O Brien went over for a great team try. Harry Byrnes (Captain) converted the try to leave the score 7-7. St. Anne’s kept this momentum going and 4 minutes later Cian O’Donnell went over for a well worked try leaving the score at 12-7. With some great plays by both sides, Castleisland would score an important score just at the break of half time leaving the score at the break as 12-12.

Half time saw much needed team talks for both sides and it would be St. Anne’s who would come back out with the fighting spirit with another great try from Gary O’ Brien whoch would be converted by Harry Byrne. Score now standing at 19-12. St. Anne’s were now playing with the belief that today could be their day and leading by example Harry Byrnes goes over for another try which he then converted. Score now 26-12 with only 15 minutes left to play.

The bodies from both sides were getting tired and sore as this close contest was coming to an end. With 10 minutes remaining, Castleisland scored a well structured try bringing the score to 26-17. This was quickly followed by a Castleisland penalty leaving many of the Killaloe supporters biting their nails as the game was within a score. The final minutes of the game saw chances for both sides but the St. Anne’s boys with their fighting spirit held on for a famous 26-20 victory.

Congratulations to the team on a well fought victory.

U19 Team:

1. James Prentice
2. Felim Tuite
3. Rory Kennedy
4. Eddie Pooley
5. Kyle Collins
6. Jack Lynch
7. David Slevin
8. Gary O Brien
9. Evan Jones
10. Harry Byrnes (C)
11. Cian O Donnell
12. Ciaran Sheedy
13. Hugh Denning
14. Joseph McEvoy
15. Marc Loughran
16. James Hanly
17. Kieran Bourke
18. John Power
19. Conor Bourke
20. Liam Hart
21. Rory Miley

The U15 and U18 girls rugby teams travelled to Rockwell College this week to play in a Munster Invitational 7’s tournament. The U15 girls had a tough group but played very well getting through to the semi final. The U18’s played extremely well reaching the final after beating Rockwell in the semi final. Unfortunately they lost the final to a strong Carrick School team.

The highlight of the day was when the girls had the opportunity to meet the Irish Women’s Captain Niamh Briggs. Niamh was very complementary to the girls and gave them lots of tips for the future. The girls also had the opportunity to have their picture taken with the Women’s World Cup trophy. The girls will travel to cheer on Niamh and the rest of the Irish Women’s team on August 9th.

Four students from St. Anne’s Community College, Killaloe will put on the Green jersey of Ireland this summer at the World Junior Fastpitch Championships in Clearwater, Florida in July. This will be the first-time Ireland will be represented at the Junior World Championships after a successful trip by the first Irish Senior women’s fastpitch team to the World Championships in Vancouver last year.

Maeve Óg O Leary (Ballina), Ellen Lane (Ballina), Eithne Walsh (Ogonnelloe) and Bríd McMahon (Ogonnelloe) will represent Ireland for the first time as they line out on the U19 Junior Fastpitch team in Florida this July.

Fastpitch is a form of softball which is relatively new to Ireland although the co-ed version of Slow-pitch softball has been played since 1989. The game, which is the female equivalent of Baseball, is a game played on a diamond by two teams each with 9 players with both teams having the opportunity to play offence and defence with the team who scores the most runs winning.  Although softball has been a sport in Ireland since 1989, it wasn’t until 2014 that women’s fastpitch was introduced due to the high level of interest of the female players to compete at a higher level on a women’s team. The fastpitch senior team has competed in the European Championships 2015 and the World Championships in Vancouver last year.

The girls were introduced to the sport as part of Transition Year when their teacher, Grace Kearney a member of the Irish Fastpitch Softball team, brought her National Squad coaches to the school to introduce them to the sport. It was during this training day that the students impressed the coaches and were extended an invitation to come to an open training session in Dublin for the national squad programme.

This summer, 26 countries will be represented at the World Championships in Florida and for the first-time Ireland will send a team to compete in the youth softball flagship event.

Similar to other minority and female sports in Ireland, the teams are completely self-funded and rely on fundraising and family to help with the costs. The girls have travelled up to Dublin every second weekend for team training sessions with the rest of the National squad as well as training after school two days a week.

With only 94 days to go before the tournament, we hope that everyone gets behind the four students as they chase their dream of playing for Ireland in this major International tournament. If anyone would like to support the girls and the Irish team they can sign up to the Grand slam supporters club at http://www.softball.ie/supporters-club/ with 12 month memberships packages starting at €25.

The U15 Boys hurling team represented the school this week in the final of the Kevin Marren Cup. The played exceptionally well and came out on top in a hard fought final. Congratulations to Mr. Gleeson and Mr. E. Hayes for all their hard work with the boys throughout the year.

Transition year students, as part of their community outreach programme, have been very busy the last few weeks gathering items for the shoe box appeal run by Team Hope. The shoe box appeal has been taking place for the past 18 years and delivers filled shoe boxes to over 3 million children in the worlds poorest and most remote areas.

The students encouraged younger students to either make a shoe box themselves or bring in items to fill a box.

This year, along with help from Ms. McNamara’s first year, the students collected enough items to fill 26 boxes. Emer Smyth from Team Hope Ireland came yesterday to collected the boxes and told the students that they will have given joy and hope to children who would otherwise have received nothing.

Well done to the students involved and the teachers who helped with the project.

The annual Senior Citizens dinner party took place in The Lakeside Hotel on Sunday 13th November.

Transition Year students volunteered to help out with the event as they have been for the last number of years. The students enjoyed the experience immensely  and partied ’till they dropped! There was lovely music and great dancing and a brilliant time was had by all.