SPORTS NEWS
Gaelic football has taken centre stage in Ardnagrath for the last term. The boys have narrowly defeated Tang, Ballymore and Rosemount and lost to Mount Temple. The girls have defeated Baylin and Ballymore and lost to Rosemount. As a result, both teams have qualified for the cup final of the Marita Stone Tournament, with the boys playing Tang and the girls playing Rosemount on Wednesday, 23rd of June, in Rosemount at 6.30 p.m. and 7.45 p.m. respectively.
In sport, both the boys and the girls just fell short of qualifying for their group with both teams losing their final game after a hard fought campaign.
We also took part in the Tag Rugby blitz in Bucaneers on Tuesday 24th of March. This proved to be a fantastic occasion which everyone enjoyed thoroughly. The following Thursday, took us to A.I.T. for the 5 aside soccer competition. The boys started with a great win over Baylin but despite a great effort, didn’t manage to make the knock out stages.
The girls on the other had came agonisingly close to emulating last year’s team with a narrow 1-0 defeat in the final. This was the final game of 7 and proved to be one step too far for our brave but exhausted girls. Well done to all and hopefully next year we can go one step further.
We would like to congratulate our boys football team who won the ‘Marita Stone Cup’ this year and our girls for being runners up, we are very proud of you all.
Well done to the ‘Ardnagrath Basketball Team’ who were runners up in the Midlands Basketball Competition.
Well done to both our Boys and Girls for winning the 5 a side South Westmeath Soccer Competition.
Congrats to all our Sports Day winners.
Congrats to all our pupils on winning the ‘GAA 125 Years Schools Day Photograph Competition’.
The Marita Stone Tournament has also commenced lately with the girls recording two wins from two games and the boys also victorious in their first two games. The finals are scheduled to take place on Friday, June 5th, in Rosemount G.A.A.. We are counting down the days!!
Well done to all who did us proud in Mullingar at the cross country championships. To finish the race was a superb achievement.
Well done also to those who finished in the top 15 in their race and received medals:
Liam Moran
Maria Donoghue
Annemarie Moran
Stephanie Moran
We were also delighted to bump into past pupil, Kaman Halford at the championship who was very proud to announce he had come 8th in his race! Well done Kaman, keep up the good work.
GAELIC:
On Wednesday 18th June the Marita Stone Memorial Tournament was held in Rosemount G.A.A. grounds. Four finals took place over the course of the evening with a total of 5 schools represented.
The girl’s shield final was a keenly contested affair with an ever improving Ballinahown team just coming up short against a strong Baylin team.
In the girl’s cup final, Ardnagrath defeated Ballymore in a hard fought match full of skill and passion.
In the game of the day, Baylin overcame a determined Castledaly side by 3 points in the boy’s cup final. This was a fantastic game which could have gone either way in the final
minutes.
Ardnagrath and Ballymore were in opposition once again in the boy’s shield final. Ballymore were unfortunate in the first half not to have put more on the scoreboard and eventually, Ardnagrath ran out winners.
A great day was had by all the children with medals received by all winners and runners-up respectively. The captains of the winning teams were Cian Hayden (Baylin boys), Aisling Flynn (Baylin girls), Conor Brady (Ardnagrath boys) and (Nicky Moran) Ardnagrath girls.
BASKETBALL:
On Wednesday the 11th June the Sixth class basketball team did the school very proud, coming third place in the Small Schools Basketball League! Their final game against the Gaelscoil in Athlone was played in Drum Community Centre, Athlone. It was a very exciting game, neck in neck all the way. At half time, the Gaelscoil was ahead by only one shot and it was all to play for. At full time is was 6 all and the tension could be felt all the way back in Ardnagrath! With only one minute of extra time to be played there wasn’t a minute to relax. Every team member knew it was up to them to make the difference. But it was Conor Smyth who found an opportunity to get the ball through the net with only seconds to the final whistle! The final score finished 8 -6, a victory for Ardnagrath! Well done to the Gaelscoil for an excellent game and a huge congratulations to all on the Ardnagrath team!
GAELIC:
The girls and boys Gaelic Finals (Cup and Shield) will take place in Rosemount G.A.A. on Wednesday 18th June 2008. The girl’s game will kick off at 6.30 pm and the boys will play immediately after (approximately 7.15). Please ensure everyone is at the pitch for 6.00 pm.
This is a great occasion for the children and all support is welcome. Come on ARDNAGRATH!
Both our girls and boys have commenced their end of year football competition.
Our boy’s team have endured mixed fortunes in their opening two games. On Friday last, we were defeated by a very capable Ballinahown team (trained by ex Ardnagrath pupil Thomas Keena) on the amazing scoreline of 9-12 to 9-8. We managed to make up for that defeat with a great victory against Ballymore yesterday, Wednesday 28th May. This puts us back in contention for a place in either the shield or cup final at the end of June.
Our girl’s team had their first outing against a strong Ballymore team yesterday. After a slow start (we were 7 points down at half time) our girls fought hard to bring the game level midway through the second half. A late goal for Ballymore, however, sealed our fate and despite a great effort, we suffered our first defeat of this campaign.
Well done to all our girls who have improved 100% since the beginning of the year. If we keep up the hard work, I’m sure we’ll be fighting for some silverware by the end of the campaign!
FIXTURES FOR GIRLS FOOTBALL MAY/JUNE 2008
Week commencing 26 May: Ballymore v Ardnagrath
Week commencing 2 June: Ardnagrath v Baylin
Week commencing 16 June: Ardnagrath v Ballinahown
FIXTURES FOR BOYS FOOTBALL MAY/JUNE 2008
Week commencing 19 May: Ardnagrath v Ballinahown
Week commencing 26 May: Ardnagrath v Ballymore
Week commencing 2 June: Baylin v Ardnagrath
Week commencing 16 June: Castledaly v Ardnagrath
FOOTBALL RESULTS (Ardnagrath V Ballinahown, Friday 23 May)
BASKETBALL:
On Monday the 19th May, our basketball team played Ardkeena N.S in the semi-finals of the basketball league. It was a tough match and Ardkeena had a great win. Congratulations to them. We will now play either the Gael Scoil of Tang N.S., in the play-offs for third and fourth place. This will take place in Drum Community centre on the 11th June, and we are really looking forward to it!
SWIMMING
Swimming for the summer term - Thursday 8th May to19th June.
GAELIC
Our boys and girls football teams are still training hard for the upcoming league. We hope to commence the competition within the next two weeks. The other teams involved include: Baylin, Ballinahown, Ballymore and Castledaly. Tune in next week for full list of fixtures!
Lads and girls, don't forget! Bring football gear everyday. If the weather permits, training will take place.
BASKETBALL
Sixth class have been taking part in a small schools' basketball league. We have played Tang N.S and Drumraney N.S.. Even though we played extremely well against Tang, sadly we were beaten. However, a good win against Drumraney has secured us a place in the semi-finals, which will be against Ardkeena N.S.
CUMANN NA MBUN SCOL 2007/2008
Our senior Football team took part again this school year in the Cumann na mBun Scol.
The teams we played were as follows:
Tang
Castledaly
Clonbonny
Ballymore
We were very unlucky not to qualify for the final. It came down to the last game where sadly, we were beaten by Tang.
The girls senior team trained very hard this year and it showed in our matches. Although, we did not get through to the finals, there were some great scores and saves throughout the tournament.
FIRST AND SECOND CLASS:
Mr Keena's Room held a soccer league. Four teams played over three weeks. The teams were as follows:
Soccer
CELTIC: Dean, Caroline, Katie
LIVERPOOL: Seán, Orlaith, Annemarie, Kryzs
MAN UNITED: Ciarán, Franek, Anna
BARCELONA: Fintan, Tara, Maria
We had two finals where we saw Man United clash with Barcelona and Celtic clash with Liverpool! Exciting stuff!
GAELIC
Well done to our boys and girls Gaelic team. First and second class have played two matches during this school year. They played Baylin National School, their first game representing Ardnagrath N.S. This exciting game ended in a draw.
They beat Tang N.S. in their second game. This was a great success for the team winning their first ever school match. All team members played fantastic in this very exciting clash between the local schools. We look forward to playing more games when we get our new football pitch up and running.
ATHLETICS
Well done to all first and second class who represented our school in a cross country running competition before Christmas in Mullingar. All athletes trained very hard for this competition and did our school proud, finishing very highly in the school team event.
THIRD AND FOURTH CLASS
GAELIC
Third class played Tang and Baylin in Gaelic last term. They did very well in both matches, and really enjoyed it!
ATHLETICS
Well done to the members of third and fourth class who represented our school in a cross country running competition before Christmas in Mullingar. You did us all proud!
FIFTH AND SIXTH CLASS
ATHLETICS
Our 5th and 6th classes proved that they are no slouches when it comes to athletics. This was the first time Ardnagrath school participated in the Westmeath Cross Country Championships and we received noteworthy praise from officials and organizers of the event itself. With some of the races containing up to 250 children, it was a fantastic achievement for all involved to leave such a lasting impression on the event. We hope this will become an annual outing for the school and look forward to further success in the event in the future. The children from 5th and 6th that took part were Nadia, Paddy, Keith, Bart, Kaman, Conor, Kristina, Anna and Colm.