Colaiste Chiarain v's Confey College. Match report by Ciara Mulleady and Laura Doyle

Thursday 26th October saw our u14s make the short trip up the hill to play our neighbours, Confey College.

Colaiste Chiarain got off to a great start against our rivals with a penalty in the opening minutes taken by Conor Brennan which was saved and rebounded with a goal by Owen Mulleady. Then points followed by Liam Cahill and Conor Brennan. Confey then began take a foothold in the game and despite a super goal by Harry Farrell, Confey were deservedly up by five points at halftime.

Score at half time was 2-3 to 2-8.

At the start of the second half there were some fantastic saves by Colaiste Chiarain’s keeper, Cian Tiernan. A goal was scored by Conor Brennan followed by points from Liam Cahill and Owen Mulleady, which was taken from a tight sideline angle. Halfway through the second half the game was level, however,  another goal and a point was scored by Confey to seal the win.

The final score was 4:8 - 4:12 with Confey taking the win.

This was a game Colaiste Chiarain will feel they left behind. One wonders what could have been if we showed the same passion and pride in the first half as we did in the second. This result now means our next game against HFCS Rathcoole is now a must win.

Team: Cian Tiernan, Niall Hession, James Foster, Paul Donnellan, Ethan Meehan, Conall Henson, Alexander Buisman, Liam Cahill (capt.), Harry Farrell, Owen Mulleady, Sean Hussey, Shane McCarthy, Harry Power, Conor Brennan, Daragh Hughes.

Subs Used: Keelan Byrne, Oisin Dolan, Calum Cleary


 

Match report by: Ciara Mulleady and Laura Doyle

 

October Newsletter 2017

This publications highlights the news from Colaiste Chiarain during our first term. We plan to produce another newsletter at Easter and one before the end of year.

Creepy Chronicles of Colaiste Chiarain

Our second volume of Chronicles of Colaiste Chiarain was launched in the library this morning. Creepy Chronicles aim to showcase the work of our students drawn from across all year groups and had a Halloween theme running through all the featured work.

A special work of thanks and appreciation to Ms.Keher, Ms.McConnon and Ms.O'Hara for their support with the project and in particular to our students for putting so much time and effort into this collection.

Senior Camogie Champions

The Coláiste Chiaráin Senior Camogie team beat Boyne CS today in the Meath/North Kildare Shield final. After going two points down early in the second half, they battled hard to win by five. Well done girls on a super performance!

The 1st/2nd years were unlucky to lose out to the same opposition earlier in the day. While we were on top for long spells, we couldn't find a way through the strong Trim defence. A great team performance however...good job girls! We'll be working on our touch in the sports hall at lunchtime on Tuesdays!

A special word of thanks to team mentor Ms.Murphy for her work with the team. It appears that great efforts are being made to persuade Ms.Murphy to sign the transfer form from her native Cork and join with the girls on the Leixlip camogie team. Ms. Murphy was not available for comment today but an announcement is expected in due course.

"Schools Will Rock You" takes to the stage

This year's school show was 'School's Will Rock You' .  It is a school version of the hit Westend musical 'We Will Rock You'.  The show was produced by Queen and Ben Elton.  It features many of Queen's hit songs.  The story is set in the future in a time when musical instruments and composers are forbidden. Everyone wears the same clothes, listens to the same music and holds the same opinions. Anyone trying to be different or break the rules is severely punished by the evil 'Killer Queen' (who is in charge of the Globalsoft Corporation) and her head of secret police 'Khashoggi'.  Our heroes 'Galileo' and 'Scaramouche' who are rebels, meet a group of 'Bohemians' who are trying to fight against the 'Globalsoft Corporation' and bring back live rock music.

We began rehearsing seven weeks ago with our two Transition Year classes.  As well as performing in the show (with help from a number of students from other year groups) the TYS have produced the show themselves.  They were all given specific tasks including costumes, props, advertising, tickets, raffle prizes, choreography and multimedia. 

This year we have had a few obstacles to overcome like hurricanes and powercuts but as always 'the show must go on' and we have had a great time working with the students to help them produce their school show.

A special note of thanks to staff who helped us including Ms Flood, Mr McCarthy, Mr Daly, Ms O'Hara, Mr Cash, Mr Sweeney and all the other teachers who supported us along the way.  It would not be possible to this without your help.

Thanks to all the parents who supported us and for donating to our raffle and to the local businesses who every year support us with advertising and raffle prizes.

A special mention must be given to our band made up of past and present students. They have done an amazing job bringing Queen's music to life for the cast and the audience. 

Thanks again.

Ms Sullivan, Ms Doran, Ms Caffrey and Mr Farrell. 

Senior debating success

The school came alive on the night of Monday the 23rd of October when we welcomed Salesian College, Celbridge to debate the motion "For women to access leadership positions, gender quotas must be implemented". A fascinating debate ensued, made all the more interesting by the attendance of a woman who sees the reality of gender quotas in operation everyday, Ms Catherine Murphy TD. We were delighted to hear Ms. Murphy address the topic after the debate which really made the motion come to life. Colaiste Chiarain were the victors on the night making it a very special night and two in a row for the team. Well done to Saoirse Flattery (captain), Oisin Scanlon, Saoirse Hyland and Ellen Coburn and we wish you continued success in your remaining debates.

Super Victory for U14 Footballers

On Monday 23rd October, our 14 boys gaelic footballers opened their league account with a terrific 9-12 to 3-2 victory over Moyle Park College from Clondalkin.

After an even start to the game, captain Liam Cahill popped up with a point which seemed to the settle the team. That score was soon followed by some quickfire goals by Harry Farrell, Ciaran Enright and Sean Hussey. Colaiste Chiarain took control of the game after this and played some high quality attacking football to lead at halftime on a score of 6-8 to 1-1.

The half time switch around meant that the men in navy and red had now the advantage of playing downhill, which meant further trouble for our opponents from Clondalkin. The Colaiste Chiarain students added a further 3-4 to the scoreboard and were full value for their comprehensive victory. A word has to be said about our defensive unit, our six backs showed some gallant defending and tenacious tackling as Moyle Park struggled to break down our rearguard. Paul Donnellan’s accurate kick outs allowed us to attack quickly and set up some fine team scores. We kicked over some well taken points in the second half and the subs we brought on impressed and settled into the game quite well.

We now look forward to our next game which is against Confey College on 26/10/17 at 11:15am in Confey GAA grounds. The students of Colaiste Chiarain will be full of confidence going into this game and will be looking take the bragging rights against our near neighbours.

Team: Paul Donnellan, Niall Hession, Darragh Enright, James Foster, Ethan Meehan, Connall Henson, Alexander Buisman, Liam Cahill (capt), Harry Farrell, Owen Mulleady, Sean Hussey, Ciaran Enright, Shane McCarthy, Conor Brennan, Harry Power.

Subs used: Keelan Byrne, Oisin Dolan, Darragh Hughes.

 

Kildare Intermediate camogie champions

The school was visited today by the Kildare Intermediate cup in. Senior student's Ciara Harrington, Anna Cullen and Ciara Bracken were all part of the victorious Leixlip team and our Coláiste Chiaráin camogie girls came out to congratulate them and manager Bernie Shinnors! We wish them luck in their Leinster semi-final next Sunday (22nd). A big thanks to Ms.Murphy for her assistance in organising the visit.

Senior debating success

Colaiste Chiarain’s senior debating team had a wonderful victory in their first debate of the year on Tuesday night against Patrician Secondary School Newbridge. Our team, comprising of Saoirse Flattery (captain), Nathan Carney, Ellen Coburn and David Wall, successfully opposed the motion that “To end hunger, the world must embrace GMOs” in the first round of the prestigious Concern debate competition. Well done to all involved.

Back to the Future

History students in 1A2 sealed the lid on their very own time capsule today in class. The class were invited to bring in contemporary objects that represent themselves and present times. Family photos, a GAA program, old phones, newspapers, coins and even fidget spinners were some of the artefacts submitted! A class photo (as shown above) was also interred. 

The time capsule will be stored in a top secret location until 2022 when all the students will be in senior cycle. Hopefully it will prove to be an interesting retrospective for our future selves! 

Study Skills and Anti-Bullying programme

Anti-Bullying
On Wed 4th and Thurs 5th Oct, our 2nd & 5th year students participated in the Sticks and Stones Anti-Bullying Programme, a European award winning anti-bullying programme for Irish schools.

Using a combination of in-depth discussion, communication exercises, role-play and drama the  facilitators encouraged  students to explore and articulate their feelings and attitudes towards bullying. The approach is not to attribute blame to individuals, but to look at the class holistically and to examine the group dynamics at play. It is intensive and participative  and  gave the students the opportunity to look at their behaviour in a fun, imaginative and non-threatening way

Study Skills
On Mon 3rd Oct, each 1st  Year classes had an 80 minute study skills workshop delivered by trainer, Raymond Langan from The Super Generation. It was a dynamic and fun seminar which gave students some basic tools and strategies for better study. 1st Year SPHE teachers were in attendance and will continue to embed these learning techniques

Also, on Mon 3rd Oct, our 3rd Year students attended a 2 hour workshop delivered by Ben Best from  The Tree of Knowledge. The excellent feedback from the students revealed that they had embraced the message of the workshop  - ‘the dreams of young adults are very real and why not be the best you can be!’

Colaiste Chiarain storm into quarter finals

Colaiste Chiarain 7.19       Colaiste Mhuire 1.5

Colaiste Chiarian produced a high quality second half to qualify for this years Dublin hurling schools quarter final. Leading by only 5 points at half time to a battling Colaiste Mhuire team, the Leixlip lads turned on the style in the second half to qualify for the quarter finals for the second year in a row. This was a great result and performance after the disappointment of losing to local rivals Confey College last week. Colaiste Chiarain got off to the worst possible start when they conceded a goal from Colaiste Mhuires first attack. However, Colaiste Chiarain soon fought back into the game and were ahead at the half-time whistle 1.7 to 1.2 with the goal coming from Ben Travers.

The students of Colaiste Chiarain made use of the wind and the hill in the second half and added a further 5 goals and 12 points to their half time tally to earn a resounding victory. Special mention to captain Ben Travers who scored a hat trick and to first year students James Foster, Conall Henson, Paul Donnellan and Sean McManus, who came on and scored 2 goals. The other goal scorers were Darragh Melville and Michael Ball who bundled over from 2 yards! Well done to all and we look forward to the quarter final.

Team: Karl Burke, James, Foster, James Bowden, Conall Henson, Dara Mooney, Evan Malone, Jake Casey, Nathan Browne, Alex Barrett, Ben Travers, Darragh Melville, Ethan Meehan, Paul Donnellan.
Subs used: Rory Noonan, Michael Ball, Sean McManus.

Social Justice group

Our Social Justice group was delighted to welcome Deirdre Walsh, Youth Activism Officer from Amnesty International. A group of aspiring activists , both Junior and students gathered in the library where Deirdre explained the work of Amnesty to the group and gave them great direction on setting up an Amnesty group in the school. The students were left enthused and are resolved to take action as soon as possible ! 

Clondalkin Men's Shed, a big thank you.

Clondalkin's Men shed paid us a visit today and presented a magnificent bench for use in our memorial garden. The bench was made and presented in memory of all past students and staff members who have died over the years. Our sincere appreciation to the group and in particular to past staff member Kevin Sherwin for his efforts in organising this wonderful gift.

Thomas Lennon, Michael McGreevy and Kevin Sherwin delivered and installed the bench.