Pride in sporting achievement was the predominant theme of the night at St Ailbe’s school Tipperary on Tuesday 25 May as the St Ailbe’s Sportsperson of the Year Awards took place

Opening the ceremony, Mr O’Callaghan spoke of the fine tradition that St Ailbe’s had in sporting achievement. Mr O’Callaghan finished his opening remarks by bringing to the attention of those gathered the commitment and endeavours of the sporting department of St Ailbe’s pioneered by all the sports staff and in particular all the coaches who gave of their time and energy in coaching teams. 

A slide show illustrating all aspects of sporting life at St Ailbe’s was then shown to the audience.. Once the slide show had finished, the real business of the evening, honouring the students, took place. There were numerous categories on the night encompassing all aspects and many of the students involved in sport at St. Ailbe’s.

 The first awards to be presented were to recognise the achievements of 1^st year students in sports upon arriving in a new school. The recipients of this award were Wayne Barry, in the boys category and Louise Fitzgerald for the girls. The internal junior boys Gaelic football league winners were also honoured with a presentation, received by their captain Brian Fox. Catherine Kelly and Ned Lowry received accolades for their category of junior boy and junior girl. Special Merit awards were also presented to those students who had put a lot of time and effort into sports and organising sports in the school and were received by Karl Greaney, Christopher Doyle, Kirsty O’Connor, Moira Kiely and Denise Connolly. It was then the turn of the senior boy and girl award winners to receive their awards with Phillip Long and Fiona Fox in receipt of these. Representatives of the school on county panels were also honoured on the night; representing the Tipperary Vocational schools Gaelic Football team they received their Munster and all-Ireland medals. There was also a Special Achievement award presented to a former pupil of the school, Anthony Glasheen, who has represented the Irish Colleges Soccer team in an international tournament in Cyprus. Anthony, when receiving his award presented his international jersey to the school.

May 4^th, 2004

2nd Yrs. Outdoor Adventure

in Killary Co. Galway

On the 19th of April, 40 2nd yr. students set out for on a trip to Killary Adventure Centre, near Leenane, Co. Galway for two day of outdoor adventure sports.  They took part in activities such as kayaking, high ropes and gorge walking.  Great fun was has by all which has been confirmed clearly by all the requests to go back again.

April 12^th, 2004

Enterprise Competition, Co. Finals

Sponsored by South Tipperary Co. Enterprise Board

The prise for best overall stand was won by St. Ailbe's "Build a Bank" team at the County Finals of the student Enterprise Competition held in Cashel on February 27^th, 2004.

From left to right:- Fourth year students Mary McDonnell, Sandy Fitzgerald, Michelle Heneghan, Emma Kennedy, Michala Kiely, Maggie Collins, Ciara Lawlor and Ann Purcell, AIB Tipperary Town - team coordinator.

Members of the "Celebration Company" who won second place in the senior category of the Co. Enterprise Board final.  The students established their business enterprise having completed a program of Enterprise Education which was delivered in St. Ailbe's by Sandra Dargan of the Tipperary Institute.

The enterprising students from the Leaving Cert. Applied 6^th yr. students, from left to right are:- Adrian Fitzgerald, Charlene Glasheen, Joseph O'Connor, Rosie Esmonde and Paul Clarke.

December 5^th, 2003

St Ailbe’s Host Primary Schools Tag Rugby Blitz

On Wednesday 3^rd December in Clanwilliam Park Tipperary Town St Ailbe’s hosted a Tag Rugby Blitz for 5^th and 6^th Class pupils from local schools. In total over 75 pupils took part in the blitz comprising of teams from Monastery CBS Tipperary Town, Gaelscoil Tiobraid Árann, Ayle National School and Cahir National School. What was particularly encouraging was to see the number of girls participating.

The event was organised and sponsored by John Lonergan of St Ailbe’s and Jim Kissane, Youth Development Officer with the IRFU & Clanwilliam FC. Over the past few months Jim has been visiting these schools and training pupils in Tag Rugby. The training has surely paid off, evidenced by the very high standards of play by all teams, surely there must be another Alan Quinlan or a Denis Leamey or two among this group. It was great to see so many children participating in this new and very exciting sport, especially those from what would not be considered as traditionally Rugby areas. 

The whole ethos of the blitz was for the pupils involved to have fun and in adherence with IRFU guidelines there were no winners or losers on the day.

At the end of the Blitz Paul O'Callaghan presented medals to all those who took part. He spoke of the great skill and enthusiasm he witnessed over the day. He made particular mention of his hope that all the pupils would continue to take part in the sport for many years to come and that he looked forward to seeing pupils form the Monastery, Gaelscoil, Ayle and Cahir at next years Science Quiz in St Ailbe’s and at other events organised by the school.

November 16^th, 2003

A Famous Visitor

On Tuesday 11th November we had the pleasure of welcoming Alan Quinlan, undoubtedly one of the stars of the Rugby World Cup.

In welcoming Alan, Paul O’Callaghan, Principal, commented on the fact that Alan has shown great example to young people in his determination to overcome the adversity of injuries throughout his career to eventually go on to score the winning try against Argentina to put Ireland into the World Cup quarter finals.   Mr. O’Callaghan also thanked Alan for his huge contribution to the development of rugby in St. Ailbe’s.

Alan thanked all the school for their continuing support of his career and indicated he was always willing to give a hand to young people in the sport.

As always, Alan was very willing to pose for photos and sign autographs.

We in St. Ailbe’s wish to congratulate Alan on his superb performance in the World Cup and wish him speedy recovery from the cruel injury which cut short his trip to Australia.   We very much look forward to seeing him play in the green of Ireland and the red shirt of Munster very soon again.

November 15^th, 2003

Contemporary Issues Day

On Tuesday November 11th, St. Ailbe’s Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) students displayed their project work on various contemporary issues for students and staff in the school.  This project is undertaken as part of the second year of the LCA course and consists of research and presentation elements.

Each group of students chose to work on an issue that was current, with topics such as homelessness, alcohol, smoking, drugs and conflict being investigated.  With much talk in the media about the proposed smoking ban, this group found plenty of information to discuss and develop.  The group investigating war and conflict looked at issues globally in relation to Iraq and East Timor and also concerns on national level.

On completion of their investigation, each student writes a report on their findings and will make a two minute presentation to the examiner.  This task challenges students on all levels, while informing those who view the projects about the broader contexts of contemporary issues.

October 19^th, 2003

Country Schools Lay Siege to Town in

St. Ailbe’s/Pall Science Quiz

The annual St. Ailbe’s/Pall Ireland Primary Schools Science Quiz was held last Wednesday at St. Ailbe’s School. The event is designed to give students a positive and enjoyable experience of science. With eighteen local primary schools present and upwards of 110 primary students participating, the event promised to be electrifying – we were not to be disappointed.  

The twenty-eight eager teams took their places in the ample study hall of St. Ailbe’s. Event organisers Kieran O’Dwyer and Maura Quinlan, both teachers at St. Ailbe’s, complimented  the fourth year students at the school who hosted the event on the night and in particular Kayleigh Ryan, Mary McDonnell and Mark Lonergan on their clear and crisp presentation of the questions. The quiz involved eight rounds of ten questions covering science, history, geography and maths. The questions were carefully prepared by a team of teachers from St. Ailbe’s and a huge turnout of teaching staff on the night ensured the smooth-running of the event. State of the art audio-visual technology unique to St. Ailbe’s, proved to be a powerful medium for the presentation of the questions. Many of the rounds were presented in colourful PowerPoint on the ‘big screen’.

The extent to which each team had prepared for the quiz was obvious from the outset. The standard of answering was the highest ever. At Half time, five teams were neck and neck - St. Michael’s, St. Joseph’s and The Monastery from the town and Oola and Lisvernane from the country. Snapping at their heels were Galbally and Cappawhite. It promised to be a nail biting second half. The participants enjoyed crisps and orange during the break and steeled themselves for the second half.

At the end of round seven, St. Joseph’s A team were in the lead by three marks. Oola A team and Lisvernane were tying for second place. With one round to go a tiebreak situation seemed possible. However as the excitement mounted the teams settled into the final round which was a video observation round. From this emerged clear first, second and third places. In third place was Lisvernane on 53 points; in second place was Oola A team on 55 points and for the second year running St. Joseph’s (A team) took the coveted first place securing 57 points. The winning school received a trophy and €130 for the purchase of science equipment. The members of the winning teams received trophies or medals and individual cash prizes also. 

Oola and Lisvernane have now breached the top three positions, which were traditionally dominated by teams from the town. The question now is which of the country schools will be the first to take this prestigious trophy outside the town? The challenge awaits!

The winning team at the St. Ailbe’s/Pall Primary School Science Quiz from St. Joseph’s Girls National School were from left to right Nessa Fitzgerald, Clare Merrigan, Eilish O’Dwyer and Rachel O’Keefe. Also present are Paul O’Callaghan (Principal St. Ailbe’s), Margaret Troy and Sr. Clare Gunning (St. Joseph’s) and Kieran O’Dwyer (St. Ailbe’s).