St. Brendan's Boys Primary School

Offaly Cumann na mbunscoil hurling final
Date 21st May 2024
Venue – St Brendans Park

St Brendans PS / Gaelscoil na Laochra faced off against Dromakeenan in the Hurling final.
Both teams came into this match unbeaten and the pressure was on the boys as they went for a famous 4-in-a-row. The atmosphere was fantastic as both sides followed the piper around the field to the cheers of their supporters. The ball was thrown in and both sides tackled and blocked with great energy. St B / Gna L took the lead with a great point from inside forward Joey after 3 minutes. Then on 5 minutes a great ball into the forward line was collected by Conall who dispatched the ball to the net. Dromakeenan then found their groove and got a goal on 8 minutes followed by a free. After 10 minutes it was all square 1-1 to 1-1. Then a free from Ryan Kelly who followed up with a lovely 65 and a point from play pushed Birr ahead. Dromakeenan showed great resilience in scoring next. Birr were starting to win the middle third with lovely scores from forwards Cathal and John with Michael and Harry supplying some great ball. Backs were steady with Billy , Ryan Molloy and Nathaniel very solid and keeper Sam hitting some great puckouts.
Halftime and chance to breath- Birr led 1-5 to 1-2
Second half and Birr came out flying with Tadhg winning great possession. Cathal scored a point to be quickly followed by a goal from Tadgh and goal machine Conall. Birr were now rampant and Justin found himself in a free role and kept giving great ball inside. Scores followed from John , Cathal , Ryan and sub Shane. Dromakeenan kept fighting but the senior Birr players were now dominant and the subs who came on brought new energy to the team also. Final whistle sounded and supporters from St Brendans and Gaelscoil na Laochra ran on to congratulate their players on a fantastic second half display and a great win!
The captains received the Fr Vaughan cup from Mr Joe Cleary. Proud captains Cathal Mooney and Michael Conneely thanked their coaches especially Mr Kennedy and also the referee, Cumann na mbunscoil / Dromakeenan and Birr GAA. Then the boys returned to the school via Pilkingtons shop to celebrate.

Fantastic win in the Offaly Cumann na Mbunscoil final today against a young and determined Dromakeenan team -full match report to follow well done to all 33 boys on the training panel and the 30 that togged out today with 26 getting on to play – Thanks to Mr Kennedy as head coach and all the staff who supported with the team / with the early hot lunches for team / with the supporters at the match and with covering classes today -Real team effort and much appreciated to achieve days like this and memories for a lifetime ! Birr Gaa

Dance with Lisa
Thanks to Gravity Dance Academy for our final dance session with Lisa Hogan- huge thanks to Offaly County Council Arts Department for their grant support with this programme. The theme of this years programme was called “ Dance boost” “ and was designed especially for our boys, we aimed to provide them with a unique opportunity to explore a different form of self-expression and physical activity.

Medal Presentation night at our school hall
Wow ! Thanks to Offaly Dual star Cormac Egan for presenting the Offaly Cumann na
Mbunscoil football winners medals to our school panel this week ! ⭐️ Parents Association St. Brendan’s Boys School, Birr Gaelscoil na Laochra Cormac got a great entrance
with “ The boys of Offaly “ blaring out in the hall which brought back great memories !
Cormac spoke so eloquently to the large crowd and to the panel of players .The boys all
received their winner medals and got the photo with Cormac too .
Both school principals Mr Crofton and Ms Ni Chlerigh spoke and thanked the coaches
Mr Kennedy / Mr Carroll and Mr Crofton for their time and congratulated the panel of
39 boys on their achievement
Mr Crofton also thanked the parents and staff of the boys school for their support along
with BOM chairperson Pat Teehan for his support of GAA in the school –
What an absolute role model to all young players- Cormac did a QnA with Mr Crofton
about balancing the demands of dual games along with making sure your studies and
future are focused also – very wise words from such a young man who has a bright future ahead of him both on and off the field
Birr boys / Gaelscoil na laochra Gaelic Gaelic season by numbers :
2 schools 39 players 3 coaches 100% support from all staff / parents
3 matches / 2 challenge matches / 1 final = good game time for all players ( 5 bus trips
paid for by BOM / player contributions)
10 training sessions ( mostly after 3pm) Lunchtime catch and kick league supporting
Gaelic with 40 boys over 4 weeks 19 players who lost last years final = resilience
1 trophy and gold medals = memories for a lifetime

12370c Gaelic Games newsletter term 1 2023

Boys had their cross country running trials around the school last week which brought great excitement to 2rd to 6th classes and the top 4 boys from 3rd to 6th will travel to tullamore harriers this week to take part in the Offaly primary schools cross country 👍 Offaly Sports Partnership

Well done to the 16 boys who travelled to the Harriers tullamore to take part in the Offaly primary schools cross country event – Boys all ran well and placed high- Special congrats to Harry Watkins who came 4th place in the Offaly fifth class boys run – Well done Harry 🙌 Thanks to Ms Doyle and Mr Parsons who travelled with the teams today 👍👍

Great to have 2 Irish rugby jerseys now taking pride of place at our school entrance hall – these jerseys were presented to our school by past pupils Ronan Loughnane and Peter Dooley after they represented Irish teams ⭐️⭐️- hopefully these will inspire a new generation along with the coaching for classes ( 4th / 5th / 6th ) which will begin next week with coach Wren Higgins 🙌 – We look forward to cheering on the Irish Rugby team at World Cup this weekend !! Birr Rugby Club

A thrilling contest between St Brendan’s PS / Gaelscoil na Laochra and St Rynaghs Banagher ended in victory for Birr earlier today.
This was the sixth match since easter for the panel of 29 boys with all boys involved in games leading to the final so well done to all the boys involved.
The pitch at St Brendan’s Park was in excellent condition as both sides lined up behind the piper to be cheered on by a large crowd in the stand.
Both sides were matched well and referee Kieran Shannon let the game flow well.
Rynaghs took the lead and this was answered by a free from Ryan Legace ( won by Cathal Mooney who was lively in the forward line)
Rynaghs scored a brace of points but the back line of Darragh Hand and Jamie o hIarnain were hurling well. In front of them Jack Carroll, Lorcan MacEoin and Billy Carroll were clearing an amount of ball and supplying the forwards. The boys picked up a great goal from Tadhg O Gradaigh and point from full forward Harry Watkins along with a brace of points from Ryan Legace – the latter a super score off the left wing on the run. Half time St.B / GnaL were leading 1-4 ( 6) to 0-4 ( 4) .💪
Pause for Jaffa Cakes / drink / jellies and team talk from Mr Kennedy- focus – heart – workrate- win!
Second half began with the same tempo as the first with Rynaghs scoring a free to be answered by a Ryan Legace free. Midfield of Michael Conneely and Ryan Kelly were working for everything and suppling good ball in. Ryan L scored and goal and then the score of the game with a gorgeous sideline cut from the 45 that sailed over the black spot. He followed that with another point from a Harry Watkins assist. The boys were leading 2-7 to 0-5. Then Rynaghs came storming back with 3 goals over 8 minutes only broken by a super Joey Canham point from play. Birr led 2-8 ( 12) to 3-5 ( 11) with only a point in it. Keeper Sam Cleare was finding his men with the puckouts and calmed the game down.
Sub Yi Xuan Yang came on to steady the back line and another sub Justin Touhy scored a great point on the run from wing forward. Rynaghs had a goal chance and then the joint captains took charge with a clearance from the magnificent Lorcan MacEoin to the star man Ryan Legace to put the ball over to finish with a personal tally of 1-7 🙌🙌
Ref blew the final whistle on final score of 2-10 ( 14) to 3-5 ( 11) and the supporters and panel invaded the pitch to celebrate.
Joint captains accepted the Fr Vaughan cup from Mr Jonathon Dunne to huge applause. Ryan thanked Birr GAA, ref , Cumann na mbunscoil, Rynaghs for a great game and the coaches Mr Kennedy , Mr Crofton, Mr Gorman and the other staff who have supported this season.
The lads then took the cup back to the school via a stop to Pilkingtons shop on the way where they proudly displayed the cup to Birr and Offaly legend Johnny Pilkington ( who kindly sponsored them an ice-cream too ). 😎
We look forward now to the rest of the in-school hurling leagues and medal presentation ceremony in coming weeks. Biorra Abu !! Birr Gaa Gaelscoil na Laochra

24 boys from 5th and 6th represented our school today in Tullamore for FAI Offaly 5 aside competition. The boys were delighted to wear the school jersey with pride and had a very enjoyable day.Thanks to Mr Cunningham and Ms Grace for travelling with the team.