Trinity Term ’24 Sports Report

A wet April meant the summer games programme kicked in a little later than usual, with pitches taking their time to dry out. When things finally got up and running, our Senior Boys Cricket team, in particular, found their groove reaching the Leinster Cricket schools final for the second year in a row. Unfortunately though, despite fine individual performance from Jan Dijkstra (50), Seb Dijkstra (58) and Harry Smith Huskinson (22), it sadly ended in a second final loss in a row, this time against Rush. Rush batted first, amassing a fine 278/4. St. Columba’s were on track during the early stages but a few quick wickets saw them end on 192 runs, losing by 86.

In athletics, Archie Monaghan (Triple Jump) and Darren Ulogwara (High Jump) who navigated their way through East Leinster and Leinster schools athletics to qualify for the All Ireland event, taking place today in Tullamore.

Hughie Casey and Alannah McCoole were the winners of our annual 8km mountain run, both setting new records. Hughie has won the last three events!

The College recently hosted a golf competition for local primary schools; read about the Lionel Munn competition here. Also in golf news, the staff vs pupils golf competition ended in a draw.

The highlight of the sporting calendar, our annual Sports Day took place last Saturday. In glorious sunshine, our pupils competed across a range of track and field sports (plus a few others), with the blue team finishing in 1st place. The final event the day – the Cloister Dash – saw Kim Guinness and Helena Schoen seeing their names etched on the cup. Click here for a full report and for loads of photos from a great day of sport.

In the annual Sports Dinner, taking place that evening, colours were awarded to 24 pupils for their outstanding contribution to sport in the College. Click here for a full report from Mr Canning.

/by

Sports Dinner & Awards 2024

Mr Canning, our Head of Sport, reports on last Saturday’s Sports Dinner and the awarding of ‘Colours’.

The annual ‘College Traditional Team Sports Dinner’ was held on Saturday the 25th of May after the colour and fun filled Sports Day. Many thanks to Mr. Havenga and all the teaching staff and external coaches who helped make it a special day filled with colour and combining fun and traditional athletics events.  

During the evening we celebrate the participation and successes of our traditional teams over the year. Of course, individual sporting success is important but we hold particular store in our pupils’ involvement in a team sport.

Our guest speaker was was Old Columban Sophia Cole who left the College during the Covid evacuation of March 2020. In the Second Form Sophia played on the Senior Girls’ Hockey team that won the Senior Schools’ Trophy Cup. She represented Leinster at Under 16 and under 18 level.  She also represented Ireland at Under 16, Under 18, Under 21 and Under 23. This included playing for Ireland in the Junior World Cup in South Africa in 2022. She was part of the 2020 Senior Training Squad for the Tokyo Olympics. She was awarded an Ad Astra Sports’ Scholarship to UCD where she is currently the Club Captain.

Sophia was awarded College ‘Colours’ for her hockey achievements while in St.Columba’s and she would certainly have been Sportsperson of 2019-2020 if Covid had not completely disrupted that academic year and beyond.  

In her address to the pupils Sophia talked about her overall sporting experiences. She touched on the camaraderie and closeness of team mates, the travel experiences and the buzz of the competitive match arena. She also talked about the challenges and difficulties of being an elite sportsperson. How under the surface she  experienced anxiety and a lack of self confidence; that she managed to hold this at bay by implementing a focused and determinedly positive mindset reinforced by a systematic mantra whenever those internal doubts surfaced.

She openly shared that she had been playing in considerable pain since her schooldays and was only diagnosed as  suffering from Compartment Syndrome in her calves; while playing in Australia last summer.  She is currently recuperating from a relieving operation on the calves of both legs.  Hopefully, a full recovery will mean that she will be able to play and train pain free in the future. We certainly hope that Sophia’s dream of being part of the Irish Ladies Squad aiming to play in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will be realised.  

Sophia’s talk resonated with our pupils.  The fact that she is only a few years older than them, candidly shared her thoughts and feelings so generously and openly. The fact that she is a fellow Columban made her talk even more special. I cannot thank her enough for giving us her time the day after her final commerce examinations ended. We wish her the very best while travelling through South East Asia before starting her accountancy internship.  LC

College Sports Colours 

We hold great store in what being awarded Colours means. Those who are awarded Colours are exceptional in every way.

  • They have excellent ability and an excellent attitude.
  • They are committed on and off the playing field.
  • They play and practise with consistency.
  • They are reliable and have character, resilience and courage.
  • They are an example to others either as leaders or soldiers on a team.
  • They are the ones who stand up when things are personally challenging or difficult for the team.
  • They are selfless and put others before themselves.
  • They are true team players.

Colours were awarded to 24 pupils this year and they were:

Boys’ Basketball: Connor Bermann, Chris Atkins, Finn Tabb

Girls’Basketball: Abbie and Raicheal Murray

Cricket: Isaac Dijkstra, Sean Roets, Sebastian Dijikstra, Harry St.Leger

Boys’ Hockey: Cristoph Geyer*, Julius Tenge, Joon Schultheiss, Harry St Leger

Girls’ Hockey: Helena Schoen, Leopoldine Buenau, Elizabeth Hart

Rugby: Noah Kutner, Cameron McKinley, Ned Chambre, Aaron Murray, Tomas Dwyer, Audrey Gardner, Hugo Laurenceau.

Multi Sport Colour (Special Category): Sarah Cron (For consistent commitment to a variety of Senior traditional team sports in the College over more than one year  (Hockey, Basketball, Cricket and Tennis), as well as being consistently involved in all our traditional team sports through her five years in the College)

Sports Persons of the Year

We do not always award this.  The reason is that we have a standard and that standard needs to be met for it to be awarded. We narrowed it down to two candidates this year. Both represented two College Senior Teams Hockey and Cricket for the last two years. They have also represented their country at a variety of age levels.

At Cricket Sebastian Dijikstra has represented Leinster at U15 and U17. He has been on the Leinster Schoolboys’ team for the last two years.  Last year he was on the Irish U17 team and is again. He was also on the U19 training panel and will be on that panel later in the summer.

Harry St. Leger has represented Leinster and Ireland Hockey Teams at U16 and U18 Levels. He also  represented Ireland at an U19 tournament last February. He will be playing for the Leinster Schoolboys cricket team against the MCC.  

The Heads of Sport Committee felt it would be invidious to separate them so they shared the award and the honour.  Joint winners – Sebastian Dijkstra and Harry St. Leger (pictured above with our guest speaker, Sophia Cole).

Sports Team of the Year – Senior Boys’ Cricket XI

The team reached their Leinster final two years in a row. This year’s final was one of a very high quality. St. Columba’s lost the toss and were set the daunting target of 298 runs. The pulses of the game went them and they replied with a creditable 192.

Although they did not win silverware the cricket team are playing in the very top league in the province.  The gained 2nd position last year and maintained it this year. They have four Leinster players on the team and two Irish players. This speaks of the standard they are playing at. On that basis the Senior Boys’ Cricket team beat off strong challenges from both the Senior Girls’ Basketball and Hockey teams.

Many thanks to Rev Owen for his wonderful photos of our very special sporting occasion.

Sports Dinner 2024
Sports Dinner 2024
60 photos
/by
,

Sports Day 2024

Last Saturday, the College was once again awash with colourful energy as practically every pupil in the school took part in our annual Sports Day. There were multiple events taking place including the traditional caterpillar and three-legged race, soccer and rugby kicks, basketballl throws, long jump, high jump, shot put, archery, tug of war and more. Every pupil was assigned a team colour, with points accumulating across all the events. The winning team was BLUE, who were rewarded with the traditional ice cream trophies! Many thanks to Mr Havenga for organising this wonderful showpiece and to every pupil who took part.

The traditional end to Sports Day is the Cloister Dash, where our Form VI pupils compete in a race from the “white gate” to chapel square. The winners this year were Kim Guinness and Helena Schoen. Later that day, our annual Sports Dinner took place where appointments were made for next year and ‘Colours’ were awarded to pupils who have contributed to College sports at the highest level. Many thanks to Rev Owen for his excellent photos below!

Sports Day 2024
Sports Day 2024
147 photos
/by
,

Mountain Race 2024

Well done and congratulations to everyone who took part in this year’s Mountain Race which took place yesterday on Kilmashogue Mountain. Introduced in 2018, to celebrate the College’s long-standing running tradition, this is a now an annual event with the winners being awarded a perpetual trophy engraved with their name. The course follows the Wicklow Way for 4 km, starting in Kilmashogue car park, before returning along the same route and back to the starting point, totalling 8 km (5 miles). We are blessed to have so many wonderful trails around us.

Eighteen runners took part this year. Hughie Casey recorded a hattrick of victories in beating his old record by 27 seconds in an outstandingly fast time of 28 minutes 50 seconds, with Archie McKeever in second place in 31:43.

Two girls beat Thea Clare’s record of 38:03. Oleana Cowan ran the course in 37:37 and Alannah McCoole took the victory in 36:20 beating the old record by 1 minute 43 seconds.

Thanks to Mr Gibbs for driving the bus, Chaplain Owen for taking some great photographs, Mr Duffy for recording the half way stage and Mrs Canning for providing the water and a bucket of recovery jellies.

Mountain Race 2024
Mountain Race 2024
12 photos
/by

Lionel Munn Golf Competition

Friday 17th of May is the 4th time St. Columba’s have run this event. We increased the field to include 4th as well as 5th and 6th class entrants. In total, we had thirty two entrants from nine local schools. The positive energy and excitement was palpable as were some understandable nerves. It was great to see young like minded people playing competitively, sharing a day of fun, camaraderie and competition while making new connections.

The Lionel Munn trophy goes to the combined better ball team of two. This year was again very close with two teams on a combined nine hole gross score of 40 (4 over par). Holy Cross School Dundrum’s team of Taegun Lee and James Cummins won on a final six hole count back from Whitechurch National School’s Alex O’Herlihy and Joshua Cron. Taegun Lee had the day’s best individual gross score of 41 (5 over par).

Scoil Naomi Pádraig Ballyroan’s Ella Byrne won the individual girl’s prize with a 62 gross score and Whitechurch National School’s Alex O’Herlihy’s 42 gross score secured him the individual boy’s prize.

Very well done to all participating schools and players; their parents, accompanying teachers and the well maintained and conditioned St. Columba’s golf course. Thank you also to Kilmashogue Golf Club for facilitating this competition and the use of their clubhouse facilities.

The day would not have been possible without the administrative input of Lorna Wynne, Ian O’Herlihy and our resident PGA professional Josh Adams. The accompanying teachers and parents certainly deserve a mention as they are the ones that take on the tasks of driving, waiting around and supporting their young charges and children. Also thank you to the Warden for presenting the prizes.

/by

End of Term Sports Update

The Senior girls’ basketball team recently won the East Leinster Regional Final and have qualified for the All-Ireland competition, to be played in the New Year. They defeated a strong Luttrellstown Community School side in that final, with brilliant performances from captain Abbie Murray, Ayodeji Ediale, Molly Mann and Laia Perich-Godo. See a full match report here.

The Senior rugby team’s excellent run in the McMullen Cup sadly came to an end on Wednesday after a 12-15 loss to St. Mary’s Drogheda. It was a hugely competitive game with two great tries from Gavin O’Dowd and Aaron Murray, and SCC almost snatched it at the death. The Junior rugby team’s cup run ended early too with defeat against Salesian College Celbridge, despite a four-try scoring performance from David Cron. Our Form I boys played in a highly competitive game against Wilson’s Hospital recently.

In boys’ hockey, our Senior XI had some good wins over High School and Temple Carrig and a narrow loss to Kilkenny College, while the Junior XI had strong victories over Temple Carrig and Kilkenny College. The girls’ teams have also had a good run recently, with big wins over East Glendalough, Sutton Park and Our Lady’s Grove for the Senior XI team, who actually remain unbeaten in their League this season. With one game remaining, they have already qualified for the league quarter-final. The Minor A girls have also qualified for their league quarter-finals; both games will be played in the New Year.

In golf, we wish Form V pupil Danielle Daniy the best of luck as she competes the school at the ‘Golf Mad Junior Open’ in Turkey this week. Danielle is one of the members of our Golf Academy.

/by

Senior Girls’ Basketball Win Regional Final

Our senior girls have gone from strength to strength this year, led by a strong core of Form VI pupils –  Abbie Murray (Captain), Sarah Cron, Raichael Murray, Elisa Bulla, and Lauren Ng. Their hard work and effort were rewarded last week (during exams) with a comprehensive semi-final win over Holy Child Killiney. They then took to the floor a week later on Wednesday 29th November, in the East Region Final at the Oblate Hall in Inchicore against a team they had already met during the league campaign – Luttrellstown Community School. 

The nerves were obvious in the early stages of the game, but they took a 9-2 lead in the first quarter with Holly Murray controlling the tempo and Laia Perich-Godo setting the pace with some excellent lay-ups. Luttrellstown fought back with some nice long-range shooting and the quarter ended 10-8.

The second quarter got off to a shaky start. The team’s offensive play was smooth with excellent ball moving, creating many easy scoring opportunities, but we could not finish. The lead was maintained through tough defense with an ending score 19-12. 

The steadiness of team-play and overall confidence continued to build as the game progressed. Team defense was the decider on the day, fluid moving and talking limited Luttrellstown’s offense options to long-range shots. Sarah Cron, Elisa Bulla, AJ Ediale, and Abbie Murray were all excellent under the boards pulling down strong defensive rebounds, which ignited the fast break. The third quarter saw a surge in focus and energy from the girls. Molly Mann was inspirational with her tough aggressive defense, and tenacious drives to the basket. AJ Ediale was superb from the free-throw line and the third quarter ended with a 33-24 comfortable lead.

Luttrellstown started the 4th quarter with a full-court press and the team took a few minutes to adjust to the pressure, making a number of silly turnovers, which luckily did not result in any scores. Once they regained composure, Holly Murray took to the helm and pushed the ball upcourt, creating numerous scoring opportunities with Molly Mann, AJ Ediale, Laia Perich, and Sarah Cron hitting some impressive scores.

The last four minutes of the game were dominated by strong defensive play, Raichael Murray and Molly Mann worked hard to contain their key shooter. With 2 minutes to go, Henrike Tertilt made an impressive steal and followed it up with a super long-range past to Giulia Trolese for an easy 2 points and ending with the team notching up a 20-8 score line in the 4th for a 49-30 victory.

The entire team worked as a unit, with everyone stepping up and making excellent contributions are various stages throughout the game. This was the first time we had reached this level of competition and winning the title, well that was the icing on the cake.

Laia Perich-Godo (24pts), Molly Mann (6pts), Aj Ediale (6pts), Abbie Murray (3pts), Holly Murray (4pts), Sarah Cron (2pts), Giulia Trolese (2pts), Safia Walker (2pts), Raichael, Murray, Elisa Bulla, Lauren Ng (Illness, DNP)

/by

Half Term Sports News, Oct ’23

It’s been another busy term of sport, briefly disrupted by some recent heavy rain. In rugby, the Senior XV have started their league campaign reasonably well with comfortable victories over De la Salle Churchtown and St. Conleth’s but they’ll rue missed opportunities in their narrow loss to a strong Newpark side at home. The JCT XV have struggled with injuries and a lack of depth, sadly losing their three league games to date. Their captain David Cron has been their star player and he donned the Leinster colours recently for the Metro Under-16s. Our youngest pupils in Form I had a great victory on Wednesday over Mount Temple.

In basketball, the Senior girls have made a strong start to their season with three impressive league and Cup wins. Yesterday, they hosted Naas Community School in the All-Ireland Cup quarter-finals, sadly losing narrowly. The Cadette girls and Seniors boys are mid-table; the Cadettes had impressive wins over Luttrellstown and Loreto Beaufort while the boys’ most recent successes were wins over St. Mary’s College and Terenure College.

Our boys’ hockey teams have started the season really strongly, with some very impressive wins for our Under-13s and Under-14s in recent weeks. The Junior XI have been going exceptionally well, winning all their matches so far except for a narrow defeat to St. Andrew’s. Jan Dijkstra is a goal-scoring machine! Our Senior XI were unlucky to miss out on All-Ireland qualification but have had some good wins since, most notably a 8-0 win over St Kilian’s. A busy programme of girls’ hockey continued; the Minor and Junior Girls’ teams had some good performances while the Senior XI’s best win (4-0) came against East Glendalough.

Sports Photos 2023/2024
Sports Photos 2023/2024
48 photos
/by
,

Golf Academy Official Launch

We were delighted to welcome Irish golfing legend and former Ryder Cup player and captain Paul McGinley to the College yesterday to officially launch the St. Columba’s College Golf Academy and open our new state-of-the-art indoor golf studio. Paul toured the new indoor studio, practised his putting and hit some balls on the new golf simulator. Afterwards, he attended an intimate function in Whispering House and took questions from those in attendance.

The Golf Academy now have a fantastic indoor facility to match our evolving practice area (new greens under construction) and of course our amazing nine-hole golf course. Josh Adams, our resident PGA professional, has created a vibrant programme for our young golfers along with teachers Ian O’Herlihy and Liam Canning.

We were also delighted to welcome to the school representatives from five local golf clubs Kilmashogue, Stackstown, Rathfarnham, Grange and Edmondstown. The school is surrounded by fantastic golf courses (the five listed are all within walking distance, with Kilmashogue GC based on the College course) and our young academy golfers will get a chance to play them all over the course of the year.

You can find out more about golf at St. Columba’s here and check out the photos from the event below.

Golf Academy Official Launch
Golf Academy Official Launch
14 photos
/by

Leinster Schools Golf Competition

The College’s young golfers recently competed in the Leinster Secondary School’s Under 19 Golf Championship, after an absence of nearly twenty years. This is a gross score singles and team event held last Monday in nearby Stackstown Club. Each team comprised of four players with the better three scores counting for the team score. Due to illness, a key player had to withdraw late putting added pressure on our other three players Harry Smith Huskinson (5th Form), Rafael Martinez Tavio (Third Form) and Mateo Munoz-Rogas Salinas (in the First Form and the youngest competitor at twelve years of age). Rafael and Mateo had an impressive gross stableford score of 27 points, making them tied 26th out of 113 competitors; Harry, our team Captain, scored a creditable 24 points in 46th place. 

St. Columba’s was placed 16th out of the 39 competing school teams.

Josh Adams, our PGA professional and Golf Academy leader, was justifiably very proud of our young players who were playing the course for the first time.

Leinster Schools U19 Results Stackstown Golf Club.

/by
,

Lionel Munn Invitation Primary School Golf Competition 2023

This year’s St. Columba’s College ‘Lionel Munn’ Golf Trophy for Primary Schools was played in gorgeous sunshine and with the course in tip-top condition. It was great to see young people playing competitively, sharing a day of fun, camaraderie and competition.

Last year Whitechurch National School lost out to Our Lady’s Grove on a countback after both teams had a 39 Gross Score. Whitechurch entered two teams this year and bounced back securing both first and second-place team positions. Tyler Neill and Olly Conn had a creditable five over par better ball gross score of 42. This year’s winning Whitechurch National School team of Alex O’Herlihy and Joshua Cron had a level-par better ball score of 37. This excellent performance is one that the great Lionel Munn would have enjoyed watching. There were also some notable individual performances including Alex O’Herlihy’s 38 and Tyler Neill’s 48 gross scores.

Very well done to all participating schools and players; their parents, accompanying teachers and the well-maintained and conditioned St.Columba’s golf course.

The day could not have happened without the help of my colleague Ian O’Herlihy who laid out the T-boxes and designed the scorecards. Very many thanks to Brendan Blake of Kilmashogue Golf Club for generously giving his time to walk and guide players around the nine holes. The College Academy’s PGA professional Josh Adams also supported and helped run the day. It was great to see so many smiling and positive young faces enjoying the day, meeting new like-minded people and playing our wonderful game of golf.

Lionel Munn Golf Trophy 2023
Lionel Munn Golf Trophy 2023
5 photos

/by

Trinity Term Sports Update

There was more sporting success this term, with our cricketers reaching three league finals and plenty of individual success for our young athletes too.

The Senior Boys’ Cricket XI took on CUS in the Leinster League final a few weeks ago; it was the first time since 2012 that they reached this point in the competition and SCC last won in 1976. Sadly, they lost out to a strong CUS team who scored 191-7 off 40 overs, with Isaac Dijkstra taking three wickets during SCC’s innings. Isaac, along with his brother Sebastian and Harry St. Leger were selected for the Leinster Schoolboys’ Cricket Development XI who took on the MCC last week. The Form I girls and the Senior Girls’ 2nds both reached their respective finals but sadly missed out on the trophy. The Form I girls were defeated by just 9 runs against a strong Kings Hospital team while the Senior 2nds(pictured above) lost out to a strong Rathdown side in their final.

In athletics, there was success for our young athletes at the East Leinster and Leinster championships in recent weeks. David Cron (triple jump) and Gabriel Murphy (3km walk) took gold at the East Leinsters, came in the top three in Leinster and will now compete in the national finals, which begin today in Tullamore.

Well done to Georgia Goodbody who became Waszp Irish Female National Champion having fought off stiff competition in the Waszp National Championships (the Waszp is a single-handed hydrofoiling yacht that rises out of the water reaching speeds of 28 knots).

In equestrian news, congratulations to Amber Cotton who came second in the Poneys de Grand Prix Fontainebleau in France recently. Also, the best of luck to Oleana Cowen and Daniel Moran, representing Ireland in an international eventing tournament in Millstreet Cork; the event kicked off yesterday.

The album below contains a selection of sports photos from right throughout the year – it’s been a bumper year for Columban sport.

Sports Photos 2022-2023
Sports Photos 2022-2023
533 photos

/by

Sports Day & Sports Dinner 2023

The College’s annual Sports Day always brings colour, energetic competition, a whole lot of fun and, occasionally, even sunshine. This year’s event was no different, with almost every pupil competing across a range of sports and games. There was a competitive edge of course, with the four teams hoping that they will come out on top. In the end, it was the red team that took the glory (and the ice-creams) but sport and fun were the real winners. Many thanks to all the staff who took part and helped with the event but a particular mention must go to the team captains and Mr Havenga, for his organisation of the day. Some of the notable wins at this year’s Sports Day were:

Cloister Dash – Boys: Tom Larke, Girls: Felicitas Boecking

Mountain Run – Boys: Hughie Casey, Girls: Hannah Bergmann

Later that evening, the annual Sports Dinner took part. This event celebrates the achievements of individual pupils but also the College teams. After a tremendously successful season across all codes, it was brilliant to sit down and reflect on such a great year of sport. We were deloghted to welcome Bernard Jackman, former Ireland, Leinster and Connacht rugby player and former coach to Grenoble and the Dragons. Bernard spoke about sport to the assembled pupils and coaching staff before presenting awards and colour to pupils. Some notable awards presented on the evening include:

Girls Hockey Club Person of the Year: Ayodeji Ediale.

Basketball Club Person of the Year: Dishuo Chen

Tennis: Boys’ Singles – August Schoen, Girls’ Singles- Sarah Cron

The highlight of the Sports Dinner is the awarding of ‘colours’ – an honour which acknowledges the exceptional contribution pupils have made to College sports. And, finally, the Sports Person of the Year, for both boys and girls, was annouced. Colours were awarded to the following pupils for 2022/2023:

Colours

Boys’ Basketball: George King and Stephen Kou

Cricket: Carl Kerenski, Caleb Owen, Marco Trolese

Boys’ Hockey: Johannes Pabsch, Tyrone Shi, Marco Trolese, Cristoph Geyer

Girls’ Hockey: Elys Walker

Rugby: Solomon Babajide, Tommy Casado, Kieran Ovenden, Caleb Owen, Ben Patterson, Marco Trolese.

Sports Persons of the Year

Boys: Caleb Owens and Marco Trolese, ex aequo
Girls: Abbie Murray

Team of the Year

Senior Boys Rugby

Below is a selection of photos from both the Sports Day and Sports Dinner.

Sports Day 2023
Sports Day 2023
121 photos

Sports Dinner 2023
Sports Dinner 2023
60 photos

/by

Minor Girls’ Basketball at All Ireland Play Offs

On April 17th, the Minor Girls Basketball team, along with Coach David Doran, participated in the first round of the AIl-Ireland play-offs. The event saw 18 schools from around the country competing for quarterfinal spots. The opponents on the day were the North East league winners  Colaiste Na Hinse, Meath, and Midlands Runners-up St.Pauls, Monestervein. It was very unfortunate that the competition took place during our Easter break and a number of girls were unable to participate due to family commitments. Despite this, we still had a strong team and the girls performed admirably and were highly competitive in both games. Overall an excellent experience and a fantastic achievement to get to this level in the competition. A huge thank you to all the parents who helped with transport and were there to support us on the day.
/by
,

Senior Rugby Team Win Ian McKinley Cup

The Senior Rugby Team have won the inaugural Ian McKinley Cup, presented to the winners of the reestablished Metro Senior League (Section A). Ian McKinley, one of the College’s greatest ever sportsmen, presented the team with their trophy – fitting for both Ian and the College.

League or cup finals can often be anticlimactic, nervous affairs with low scores. All the signs pointed to the opposite as the weather was fine, the pitch was firm and the referee was clear that he was looking for a free-flowing game. St. Columba’s didn’t disappoint, producing a scintillating 35 minutes of rugby in the opening half.

As the referee’s whistle signalled the start of the game, there didn’t seem to be any nerves on show as St Columba’s came out firing. After a solid scrum, Nikolai Foster fed Tommy Casado and he set the backs away as he has done all season with a well timed skip pass to Marco Trolese who drew his man and used soft hands to send Kieran Ovenden sprinting through the Newpark defence and under the posts. Kieran then added the extras for a 7-0 lead after just two minutes.

Newpark looked to build into the game from the kick off but they gave away a couple of penalties which Kieran Ovenden expertly placed into touch. The second of which set up a great opportunity just 6 metres outs. Some deception at the lineout with a dummy jump by Aaron Murray and a perfectly placed throw from Ben Patterson into Caleb Owen set the foundation for a maul which drove towards the line for Ned Chambre to touch down for a 12-0 lead.

From the kick off, Columba’s uncharacteristically attacked from deep against coaches orders. It proved to be the right decision as Aubrey Gardner who was destructive all day, carried hard and through the Newpark defence; he appeared in open country and beat another defender and sprinted into the Newpark half, before drawing the full back and setting Thomas Dwyer free with a 40 metre race to the line which he won with metres to spare for a 17-0 lead after just 10 minutes.

Newpark finally got the ball in their hands following the kick off and started to put some pressure on. Some indiscipline from Columba’s gifted them a number of opportunities and despite some very good defence from Cameron McKinley, Noah Kutner and Bene Huessen in particular, Newpark managed to scramble over from close range. They added the conversion to cut the lead to 10.  Some words of encouragement from coaches Alex Lee and Conor Anderson under the posts seemed to remind the team about the game plan. From the kick off the game calmed a little and we settled well into our system with some big carries from captain Solomon Babajide and Ben Patterson. Another solid maul was set up after Aaron Murray soared to claim yet another lineout and Newpark could do nothing but illegally pull it down to stop an almost certain try, The resulting tap penalty saw Caleb Owen carry well into three Newpark defenders. This meant there was space out wide which the backs identified and slick hands saw Marco Trolese crash over for our 4th try wide on the left. Kieran added the conversion for a 24-7 lead.

The resulting kick off saw one of the most amazing pieces of individual skill, power and determination many have seen in a green and white shirt. Caleb Owen recieved what looked like a simple crash ball, but he refused to be stopped by the two Newpark defenders and barged through the defensive line. He continued past another defender, before being tripped by a committed tackle, only to bounce back to his feet and beat another would be tacker, before eventually being dragged down 70 metres from where he received the initial pass. This set us up with a great opportunity, one which the backs spotted and Aaron Murray‘s well timed pass set Marco Trolese up; but he still had work to do to outpace the last defender as he dived in near the right touchline. Kieran Ovenden used the post and crossbar to get the ball over and add the extra 2 points for a 31-7 lead just before the end of the first half.

Despite playing with the wind in the second half, we couldnt add to our half time score, Newpark came with some skill and powerful carries and added a try after 15 minutes, to keep it interesting. Monty Walsh, Georg Wachs, Pablo Shavlov were brought on and added speed and power. Gavin O’Dowd‘s passing was accurate and allowed Aubrey Gardner to once again break free, his offload, unfortunately, didn’t stick for Camilo Nordmann for what would have been a try to remember. Newpark came firing again late on to add another try, but it was too little too late and as the final whistle went the party began!

It was a fantastic achievement to win the first ever  Ian McKinley Cup, made all the more special having Ian’s nephew Cameron on the winning team! They were cheered on the majority of the pupils and staff in the school and by Tom Larke, who represented Ireland U19’s last week against Japan but was unavailable for the league decider. Congratulations to Solomon and his team, the coaching team of Hein Havenga, Alex Lee, Conor Anderson, Will Gibbs, Ian O’Herlihy and team logistics manager Charlie Poole.

Below is a photo album from the game, courtesy of Rev Owen.
/by
,

Senior Boys’ Hockey Win Leinster Trophy Final

The Senior Boys’ Hockey team had a fantastic win in their Trophy final against Kilkenny College this week, bringing home some well-deserved silverware to the College.

The 3-2 victory saw the team win the Leinster Trophy for the first time since 2014 and the third time since its inception in 2010.  The team dominated the first quarter, scoring two goals as well as creating a number of other chances but some excellent saves from the Kilkenny goalkeeper kept them in touch going into the second quarter.  The first goal was a well-taken short corner by Christoph Geyer with a well-directed slap. The second goal came from a good cross into a crowded circle. Joon Schultheis received the ball and manoeuvred himself into space to shoot evading the attention of a number of Kilkenny defenders. He finished with an excellent flick past the keeper and into the net.

In the second quarter, Columba’s were a bit flat, perhaps thinking that the job was done. They still looked the better team but they were not passing the ball around as fluently as they had in the first quarter. Kilkenny took advantage of a few lazy mistakes which gave them the opportunity to attack the Columba’s Circle.  One of these attacks came down our right-hand side and a neat ball into a free Kilkenny player on the penalty spot left Benedict Huessen too much to cover as the ball was directed past his left foot.  Kilkenny were back in the game and began to play with a bit more confidence and forced more mistakes from the Columba’s players.

Columba’s came out after halftime playing the ball around a bit more like they had in the first quarter and this led to an early goal from Edvard Zujest who got an excellent deflection from a dangerous cross in front of the keeper. Down by two goals, Kilkenny had nothing to lose and threw themselves into every challenge.  This limited the time that Columba’s players had on the ball leading to more mistakes.  In the final quarter, Kilkenny really piled on the pressure and eventually, it paid off for them clawing back one of the goals.  It was a nervy final 10 minutes with only the one goal separating the sides but the Columba’s players kept hold of the ball for longer periods and were able to exert pressure on Kilkenny rather than having to defend. It led to a few more chances for Columba’s but again the Kilkenny keeper kept them in it.

It was certainly a well-earned win for the team who have worked incredibly hard all season.  They were very unfortunate early on in the season to have missed out on qualifying for the All Irelands and the Senior Cup but they turned their season around by remaining unbeaten in all competitions since October. A special mention must go to Grant Glutz, the Senior’s coach, who has transformed the squad into a formidable team capable of competing against the best teams in the province.

Senior Boys' Hockey Trophy Final March, 2023
Senior Boys' Hockey Trophy Final March, 2023
80 photos

/by

Junior Girls’ Hockey Win League Decider

Congratulations to the Junior Girls’ Hockey XI who last week won their league final in emphatic fashion, with a 3-0 win over Santa Sabina at Three Rock Rover HC. The match’s first goal came one minute before halftime, Rachel Pollock choosing the perfect time to score, and it served to settle the team’s nerves. They came out much more confident in the second half, playing more fluidly with linking passes resulting in a quick second goal for Rachel. Santa Sabina continued to fight to the end; still, with the St. Columba’s team growing in confidence and the defensive line pushing up to the halfway line putting the Santa Sabina midfield & defence under a lot of pressure, the third goal came ensuring the win. That third goal completed a superb hat trick for Rachel Pollock. The team celebrated and so they should; it was a fantastic team performance and they thoroughly deserved their win.
Team:
S. Walker
S. Pollock
R. Pollock
G. McCarthy
A. McCarthy
D. Murray
T. Larke
P. Pringle
C. Penwill
S. Dobbs
H. Moffett
H. Robertson
D. Brady
G. Trolese
N. Bradley Brady
Coach: Stef Haughton