On Saturday last 4 Good Counsel students from the 2010 Leaving Cert. class were honoured at the Engineering and Technology Teachers Association awards in GMIT, Galway. Billy Conran, Jack Wall and Patrick Greene received awards for being in the top 3 nationally in Design an Communications Graphics while Michael Martin Carroll was recognised for his outstanding achievement in Leaving Certificate Applied Technology. In fact Good Counsel College students filled the first 2 places in the country in Higher Level DCG, a remarkable achievement. Well done to the young men concerned on their achievement of which they and their families can be proud, as we in GCC are.
It was a week of achievement on the sportsfield also with the U-14 footballers landing the Leinster A title on Friday in a remarkable game against St. Josephs, Rochfortbridge. Scoring 1-1 deep into injury time, the Counsel lads secured a dramatic victory to retain the title. Well done to all the squad and to their coaches, Mr Bates and Mr Kehoe on their success and a word of thanks also to the many who travelled to Stradbally in support of the team - they too played their part. (A full report will be posted on the Sports reports section of this site.)
The U-14 success capped a great week for the footballers as the U-16s had earlier in the week also qualified for the Leinster Final when beating Carlow CBS in the South Leinster decider. They await the winners of the other semi final to be played between Dublin and North Leinster winners.
The All Ireland Inter Schools Hunter Trials which the school hosts takes place on Saturday next in Moorefields Kennels near Old Ross. With over 70 teams and 400 individual competitors it promises to be a busy day and hopefully the weather will be kind. Details of the event are posted on this site.
This week the Transition Years return from their 2 week work experience block and the 5th years sit their Differential Aptitude Tests on Wednesday.
Therewill be no school on Friday 18th as per Calendar.
A happy St Patrick's Day to all. Continue Reading...
Action from the Keith Madigan memorial football match.
On Saturday last, the 1999 All Ireland football winning side gathered in Mullinavat to play the local side in a Keith Madigan memorial game, marking the 10th anniversary of Keith's death. Almost all of the squad from '99 were in attendance with a few unavoidably absent. It may be 12 years since Hogan Cup glory and while the pace and tempo may have dropped a little, the touch of class remains. At the end of a highly entertaining game, Counsel '99 were victorious by a single point. It is worth noting that the Mullinavat squad itself had no fewer than 18 past pupils involved, including such Liam McCarthy cup winners, Walter Burke and Willie O'Dwyer.
Great credit to Conor Conway and the other Mullinavat lads for organising the event to remember their great comrade and friend and after the game Good Counsel captain, Walter Delaney spoke eloquently of the regard in which Keith was held. The winning trophy was presented back to the Madigan family as a tribute to his memory. Mrs Biddy Madigan recalled the day of the All Ireland final in 1999 and the juggling of priorities in their house on the day as a younger sibling was being confirmed. Of course the confirmation time was brought forward - even the bishop had to defer to the importance of the game in Croke Park. The reminiscences continued back in 'The Rod Iron' where a fabulous lay out of food was provided by the Kellys. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to a most enjoyable occasion and in particular to Eugene, Biddy Madigan and their family for their kind support of the event.
John Paul Phelan on the Senior Hurling Team of 1996/97
Congratulations to John Paul Phelan, past pupil on his election to the Dail last week. A memer of the Senate for the past 5 years, he took a seat for Fine Gael in the Carlow/Kilkenny constituency. Best wishes to him in what will undoubtedly be a tough task ahead.
A fantastic first for the u-14 Badminton team during the week when they won the Leinster Division 1 title sweeping past their opponents and winning 17 out of their 18 games. While the school has lifted Leinster badminton titles previously, this was the first time to win the top division. The team of Ian Carthy, Noel Dunne, Jack Dunne and Stephen O'Gorman now go on to play in the All Ireland Finals on April 6th. Well done, and good luck to them and their coach Ms Karen Byrne.
Continue Reading...
Mocks over, mid term just about over; year hurtlng on. By this time next week we will have a new government, whatever that may bring particularly in relation to education. We keep hearing the ' we need an educated workforce' mantra - lets hope our new government subscribes in deed as in word.
On the mocks - thanks go to all the 3rd and 6th year students, secretarial staff, those who helped set up the hall, Mr Dunbar as exam secretary and all the teachers for the smooth running of the exams which were condensed into a shorter than normal timeframe to minimise loss of class contact time. Well done and thanks to everyone for their co-operation.
A mention of a very worthy event taking place on Saturday, Feb. 26th. The Hogan Cup winning team of 1999 get back together to play a friendly against Mullinavat in a game organised by the Mullinavat club to mark the 10th anniversary of the tragic passing of the great Keith Madigan who was a peerless centre back on that '99 team. It promises to be a great day of fun and nostalgia and I can tell you that the intervening years have taken a greater toll on the athletic prowess of some more than others. Anyway in the era of comebacks, it will be great to see old friends reunite in memory of a fallen but never to be forgotten comrade. Everyone welcome - Mullinavat GAA pitch, 2.30pm.
The Transition year classes are on work experience for the next 2 weeks - good luck to them. Hopefully by the time they are ready to join the workforce in earnest there will be jobs available.
The Hunter Trials committee continue to prepare for the All Ireland schools event on the 19th March for which there is a huge entry from schools around the country. The competition will be held in Moorefield Kennels, Old Ross. Anyone interested in helping on the day, or any business interested in sponsoring a fence or an advert can contact us at the school.
The senior hurlers certainly put up a bold show against reigning All Ireland champions St Kierans in the Leinster semi final on Saturday last. There was nothing between them for 50 minutes and only a wonderful save from the Kierans keeper followed immediately by their second goal prevented what would most likely have been a Counsel victory. They did themselves and the school proud - we thank them for it and thank also Mr Walsh and Mr Wall for the huge effort put in.
Finally, congratulations to two 1st years recently crowned national champions - Caleb O'Keeffe in Sheep dog trials and Jack Breen Barron in kick boxing. Fantastic achievement, well done to both. Continue Reading...
On Saturday, Feb. 12th, the assessment morning for all incoming 1st years - Sept. 2011- takes place. The boys will gather in the church initially prior to 10am and will proceed to the Sports hall where the assessment will take place. A snack will be provided for all the boys during the course of the morning.
The Junior Cert. mock exams started on Thursday and continue until next Friday. The Leaving Cert. equivalent starts on Monday and also continues for the full week. Good luck to all the students sitting those.
The Transition Year students have been busy with their YSI projects, a particular highlight being the CD recording featuring Michael O'Gorman on vocals, while they have also been engaged in film making during the week.
A mass was held in the college church on sunday last for the families and friends of those bereaved by suicide. Thanks in particular to Fr. Collander for organising this event which was much appreciated by those in attendance.
Seamus Sutton receiving his certificate from the curator of the National Library following his success in the Poetry Aloud competition.
Another busy week on the sports fields and courts with the U-16 footballers enjoying a comfortable win against Colaiste Iosogain, Portarlington to qualify for the South Leinster final where they will meet Carlow CBS. Meanwhile the senior hurlers continued their preparations ahead of their championship quarter final against Birr CS this Saturday. Best of luck to them.
In Badminton there was further success as the U- 14 A and C teams both won their divisions of the Wexford championships in St Peters to qualify for the Leinster Finals in Dublin.
In athletics, the minor boys team finished 2nd in the South Leinster Cross Country championships recently and have qualified for the Leinster finals as has Stephen Gorman who finished 13th in the Intermediate boys event. Well done to them and thanks to Mr. Bates for his work with them.
Well done to 3rd year student, Roy Daniels who represented Leinster recently in the All Ireland on shore Fishing championships held in Antrim and best of luck to Jack Farragher and Breen Howlin who represent Wexford in the U-19 darts championships in Ennis at the weekend. Continue Reading...
The Leaving Cert. Applied classes had task assessments during the week, the 6th year group being particularly busy with 3 tasks for examination. The Junior Cert. mocks begin on Thursday next running through the following week while the 6th year mocks run from Monday 14 to Friday 18th when the Mid Term starts.
Mr. O'Brien and Mr Chappell , Art Teacher with LCA students who ran an art competition with 1st years to raise awareness around bullying.
In a busy week of sporting activity., the U-16 Badminton team travelled to Dublin for the Leinster Finals and only lost out by 1 game in the final to St Finians of Swords who have a number of internationals on their side. Only the previous week the team had won the Wexford final defeating another Good Counsel team in the final. It was a great effort from the team and their coach Ms Byrne.
The U-16 Badminton squads with coach Ms. Byrne after their victory in the Wexford finals.
In handball 1st years Patrick Carthy, singles, and Danny McWilliams /Pj Chapman, doubles, advanced to the Leinster semi finals in the 40 x 20 competition earlier in the week. John Walsh and Sean Stafford also progressed in the u-15 doubles. Well done to all of them.
In football the U-14 team moved within one step of retaining their Leinster Title with a hard fought win over St. Peters in the South Leinster Final. The game played in St Patricks Park, Enniscorthy was finely balanced right to the end but the Counsel boys would not be denied.
The Seniors were less fortunate suffering a heartbreaking defeat to St Marys Edenderry who scored a winning point 5 minutes into injury time after the Counsel had clawed their way back from a 4 point deficit. It was a cruel blow for a team who had shown tremendous courage in the second half after a subdued performance in the opening period. Despite exiting the championship, this group have been fine ambassadors for the school. Hopefully they will have better fortune in the hurling championship against Birr C.S. next Saturday.
Swimmers from the Good Counsel College travelled to The National Schools Swimming Finals at the Leisure Land Centre in Salthill Last weekend 29th to 30th Jan 2011. Only two swimmers from the school qualified for the championships nationals this year, Luke FitzGibbon,3rd Year and Ben Curran,1st Year.
Ben had qualified in the 100m Back Stroke and the 200m Individual Medley where he finished a very respectable 6th and 10th respectively. He finished the highest in his age group as he was swimming out of age this year.
Luke Fitzgibbon
Luke FitzGibbon was competing in the nationals for the 3rd succesive year and retaianed his title in the 200m Back Stroke Invitational Time Trial. In his other event he was beaten into 3rd by one hundredth of a second. Luke also swam out of age and is currently the fastest in his own age category in Ireland.
Following the championships and based on the national Schools Selection Committee Luke has been selected for the National
Schools Swim team which will be hosting the WISE (Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England) Swim Meet later this year and he will also be representing the school for another year at International Level.
Well done to both boys and best of luck in the coming years swimming events. Both swimmers are members of the New Ross Swimming Club and train at the Kennedy Memorial Swimming Pool and the National Aquatic Centre.
The Transition year groups are currently working on their projects for Young Social Innovators. TY1 are working on a road safety campaign with 'Don't Learn about Safety by Accident' as their slogan. They have produced the above poster to raise awareness and are currently carrying out surveys and other activities.
TY2 meanwhile are busy working to collect scarves, hats and gloves for Focus Ireland and the Simon Community who work with the homeless and any such items can be dropped into the school office. Any unwanted Christmas presents will also be gratefully accepted.
The third TY group are engaged in raising awareness of an initiative called TIME - Telephone in Medical Emergency. This encourages people to put emergency contact details into their phones under the contact name, TIME another very worthwhile initiative.
Best of luck to the 8 sixth year students competing in the Wexford schoools Maths Quiz on Friday night in Enniscorthy. Forming two teams, (4 x 2=8!!), the boys will be hoping to defend the title won by the school last year. Many thanks to their teachers, Ms Dempsey and Mr. Fanning who organise the event and look after the school teams respectively.
The U-14 Footballers qualified for the South leinster Final by beating a fancied Newbridge side on Tuesday last. The boys gave a sound performance as they bid to put back to back Leinster U-14 titles together, a feat previously achieved in 95-96 by a group many of whom went on to bring the Hogan Cup to Wexford for the only time in 1999. The boys now play St. Peters on Friday next in St. Patrick's Park, Enniscorthy. Good luck to them and their mentors, Mr Bates and Mr Kehoe.
The Senior football team take on 2008 leinster champions, St. Mary's , Edenderry in the Leinster quarter final on Saturday next. The venue is yet to be confirmed but is likely to be in the Carlow area.
While the Senior and Junior rugby teams bowed out of Leinster competition, losing to Kilkenny CBS and St Columbas respectively, they put up very respectable performances in both grades. Thanks to them and to Mr McGinley for all his work with the teams.
Entry forms for the 2011 All Ireland Inter Schools Hunter Trials can now be downloaded from this site. Just click on the homepage image to navigate to the relevant page.
Badminton Success ( by Colm Doherty - TY)
This years Wexford schools u16 badminton competition was held at Ramsgrange Community School. Good Counsel had 3 teams represented, an A, B and a C team. Good Counsel competed in both division 2 and 3, the winners of each going into the Leinster finals. In the qualifiers for division 2 Leinster finals were GCC A team (Declan Carrol, Darren Carty, MJ Dunne and Eanna Burke) and GCC B team (James Carrol, Daniel Walsh, Colm Doherty and Conor O' Callaghan). Also in the division 2 qualifiers , were St. Peters A and B team. Every team was scheduled to play each other, and GCC A team dominated the competition, gaining a place in the final later that day. It then came down to a battle between GCC B team and St.Peters A team for the remaining place in the final, and a battle it was, only score difference separating the teams. The GCC B team were victorious, knocking the defending champions out of the competition, and making it an all Good Counsel final, but only one to win top prize. The GCC A team won the final, winning gold and qualification for the Leinster finals, and left the B team with silver medal. The GCC C team (Alex McKenzie, Patrick Murphy, Eoghan Foran, Michael Doyle and sub Patrick Roche) competed with teams from Ramsgrange, Enniscorthy and St. Peters in division 3 qualifiers. The strong GCC C team won their division with ease and with gold medals in their pockets, looking forward to Leinster finals, hoping for the 1st prize. Overall, it was a successful day for Good Counsel teams, all players leaving with medals, and 2 teams looking forward to representing the school in the Leinster finals in Baldoyle, Dublin on the 3rd of February. Congratulations to the boys and to all who participated. A special thanks to both Mrs. Byrne for coaching the boys, and also to Ramsgrange for providing a great venue. Continue Reading...
Parent/Teacher meetings for all years took place on Thursday and Friday running to 6.45 each evening. Many thanks to everyone, staff and parents, who contributed to the smooth running of the event. A particular thanks to Mr Younger who took care of all the Sports Hall arrangements and co-ordinated the whole schedule. Thanks also to Sr Mary and the kitchen staff for the ever availabe cup of tea, scone and slice of apple tart.
A reminder to 3rd and Transition Year students, and their parents, that 5th year subject choice forms must be completed and returned by Wednesday, Feb. 2nd. To help inform the decision making process, students will have a presentation from Career Guidance teacher, Ms Byrne, on Friday next.
Both Junior and Senior football teams had championship victories during the week, The Juniors won their final group game against Carlow CBS and advance to the South Leinster semi finals. The Seniors travelled to Athy on Wednesday to take on local school, Ard Scoil ns Trionoide, and despite being considered underdogs, gave a spirited performance to ensure a place in the Leinster quarter finals where they will meet St Marys Edenderry, themselves 17 point winners during the week, on Feb. 5th.
Eoin Power, TY, an Irish schools international last summer, won bronze last Sunday in the junior men's 60 metre hurdles held in Nenagh where he returns this weekend to compete in the combined events. An exceptional athlete, we wish him well.
In swimming, Ben Curran, 1st year, recently finished 3rd and 5th in his events in the Leinster Schools championships held in Portmarnock pool. He and Luke Fitzgibbon, 3rd, will now take part in the Irish Schools championships which take place in Galway on Friday next. Best of luck to both of them.
The school hosts the annual All Ireland Inter schools Hunter Trials on March 19tth in Old Ross, near Ballinaboola. Forms are available from the 'Hunter Trials Secretary' at the school address or online. Continue Reading...
It was business as usual this week as school re commenced after the Christmas break. Hopefully this term will be less disrupted than the first one and the weather will be a little kinder.
On Thursday and Friday next, Jan 20th and 21st, Parent/Teacher meetings will take place for all year groups. Because 3rd and 5th year meetings had to be postponed due to weather back in December, we are trying to accommodate all parents over the course of the 2 days. Needless to say it will be an extremely busy couple of days for staff, and parents' co-operation in 'keeping things moving' will be much appreciated. A cup of tea and a scone will be available to all in the school dining room during the course of the meetings.
Members of the ski group on Loon Mountain with Mr. Coffey. (More pictures on Flickr page)
.The annual ski trip took place over the Christmas holidays and by all accounts was a huge success. The group travelled to Loon and Cannon Mountains in Lincoln, New Hampshire where groups from Good Counsel have visited for the past number of years and reports received here suggest the boys enjoyed a great week, proved highly proficient at skiing and were excellent ambassadors for the school. Well done to them and to the teachers who travelled with them, especially Mr Teague, chief organiser.
6th year student, Seamus Sutton, travelled to the National Library of Ireland on Friday to compete in the All Ireland final of the Poetry Aloud, poetry reading competition. Reading from the works of Siegfried Sassoon, Paula Meehan, Wilfred Owen and W.B. Yeats, Seamus made it to the final eight, a considerable achievement given the huge entry nationally. Well done to him and thanks to his English teacher, Ms Cushen, for her work and support.
Congratulations to the Junior Football team who overcame St Peters College in a tight game played in Ballycullane on Wednesday last to win the Keevans Cup. There was only a 2 point margin in it at the end. The Senior Keevans Cup final was played simultaneously in Gusserane, again with St Peters as the opposition. The game ended in a draw and will hopefully have served to sharpen up the boys for their championship opener against Athy CBS, a side who enjoyed a big win against the Counsel in the League earlier in the school year, on Wednesday next. That game is scheduled for Athy at 2.00pm. Best of luck to the team.
A mention of Ben Curran, 1st year, who won 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze in an international swimming meet held in Cardiff just before Christmas. A fine achievement for a very dedicated young man. Continue Reading...
