Parents Council The Panto Dick Whittington was again a huge success. Many Clonkeen chronicle thanks to the Social Committee, staff and everyone involved in the spring 2005 front of house activites. The whole school benefits from the energy and enthusiasm which the produc- is justifiably proud of his student’s success. tion gives rise to. None of this Principal’s foreword We are equally delighted at such public rec- would be possible without the ognition of a remarkable teacher. Congratula- unstinting work of all our volun- tions to two special people on a wonderful t e e r s . Welcome to the February newsletter. On be- We look forward to organising the joint achievement. half of the whole school community I’d like forthcoming table quiz in aid of to express my appreciation of Mr Daly’s en- Pantomime. the Clonkeen College Ethiopian Fund. The date and venue will be ergy and enthusiasm in producing these regu- This year’s pantomime was, once again, an lar reviews of the many facets of life in Clon- announced shortly. With the over- outstanding success. Congratulations to eve- whelming response to the Tsu- keen College. My thanks also to ryone involved. Our production nami disaster, the Ethiopian Fund all the staff members, students team of Lorraine Mason, Fiona needs support more than ever. I and parents who contribute their Lester and James O’Keeffe, would appeal to all parents and time and efforts to making the with a talented and enthusiastic their friends to support this social school such a vibrant place. cast, gave us an extravaganza e v e n t . of colour, light and action. The It costs the Parents' Council Leaving Certificate. around €250 each time we send band, who worked very hard With this year’s exams looming out a mail shot. It eats into our under the direction of Ms Ryan large, Leaving Certificate 2004 funds which consist only of your and Mr Clarke impressed with seems a long time ago. Never- contribution to the Parents' Coun- their sheer drive and expertise. theless it was a time of great cil (€10 per family). For this rea- Thanks to all the staff and par- son we resort to the school bag as success, in particular for Dar- ents involved and to everyone our postman. Please ask your son, ragh Kirk and John Lavelle who who supported the show which or check his school bag regularly, secured entrance awards to Trin- generated profits of over for notes or announcements. ity College and Philip Tully €8,000-00. Paula McCarthy who received the same distinction from Chairperson U.C.D. Darragh and Philip also shared the I.T. Student Council achievement of attaining the full 600 points The school continues to upgrade its I.T. pro- in the exam. I would like to thank last year’s vision. As part of the Government’s broad- prefects for their efforts and en- On Monday, February 7th, Darragh’s proud band initiative we will be expanding the net- thusiasm during the year. Al- parents and sister had the pleasure of watch- work throughout the school and are currently though each of the committees ing the Minister for Education, Mary in negotiations to put in place a five-year achieved much throughout the Hanafin, present him with the Business lease programme to upgrade all computers to year I feel a special mention must Teachers’ Association of award for be ready for September 1st next year. be given to the social committee for the introduction of the water the highest mark in the country for Econom- fountains. They have proved to be ics. Darragh gained full marks in the subject, a great success with the students. a remarkable achievement indeed. His The social committee would like teacher was the redoubtable Bro. Kelly, who to acknowledge the support and advice given to them by Mr. D Twomey. Fundraising. observe the March 1st deadline but the following dates have requested for their contribution. been standardised by the De- It was a pleasure to work with this Plans for the forthcoming Past In early March the Board of partment of Education and Sci- year’s prefects. Special thanks Pupils’ Function in Jury’s Hotel, Management will have to make ence: must go to the chairperson Kevin Ballsbridge, on April 15th are at serious decisions with regard to Reid. Kevin did a wonderful job. I an advanced stage. The response October mid-term: investment in buildings for next was very fortunate to have him at has been very positive and we year, based on the school’s fi- October 31st to November 4th the helm. Chris O’Sullivan did are confident that it will be a nancial position at that time. inclusive. fantastic work as secretary, a diffi- very enjoyable occasion for cult position at the best of times! many old school friends. It is Christmas: Calendar 2005-2006. Chris proved to be very efficient very heartening to find them so nd An important date for parents of Close Dec. 22 (final day of and competent at his job. appreciative of the role of the th Third Year students is Monday, term); re-open Jan. 9 2006. school in their lives and we are In my opinion this particular February 28th, when the Transi- very grateful for their generosity February mid-term: group of prefects represented the tion Year information night will to those students who now fol- th th student body very effectively take place at 7.00 p.m. in the February 13 to February 17 low in their footsteps. school hall. inclusive. Congratulations to all those who A huge thank you to all the were elected to this years student There have been some enquiries Easter 2006: parents whose contributions of council. I am looking forward to about next year’s calendar by th €130 towards the Development Close April 7 (final day of working with you. people anxious to make arrange- th Fund have already arrived. Can term); re-open April 24 . ments for breaks. The full calen- Mr Noonan (prefect co-ordinator) I ask parents, if possible, to dar has not yet been finalised Pantomime reunion run some very successful summer camps in Prefect council videoing. He hopes to make a career of it and Back in September the auditions were held Another new year for the student council; next year should see him pursuing a course for the 2004 Clonkeen College pantomime following the elections held in Dec 2004, 18 in the DunLaoire College. Even though next “Dick Wittington”. I remember then almost new prefects were elected. They are: Andrew summer’s course is already booked out give everybody I saw asked me who was Dick Williams (Chairperson), Chris O’Donoghue him a call [email protected] Wittington and what was the story. Well the (Deputy Chair), Richard Nestor (Secretary), first people to find that out were the over 80 (D. Ed) Colm Murphy (Deputy Secretary), Conor people from Clonkeen College and St. Jo- Hayes, Graham Kinsella, Ciaran Monaghan, Prefects of 2004 seph’s of Cluny who auditioned for the Patrick O’Sullivan, Richard Moore, Conor show. In late September and October the 80 Over the Christmas a new group of prefects Foley, Graham Doolin, David Blake, David had become 40 and close friendships had was elected and put in Place. We said good- McIlwee, Gareth Byrne, Stephen Mooney, begun to form. So we skip forward to De- bye to the prefects of old who now look for- Sean Kingston, Chris Corrigan and Dean cember when everybody suddenly realised ward to the unenviable task of the leaving Zambra. that we had to put on a show in a few days. It Cert. It was fitting that on their last day in After the success 2004 which culminated in was in those few days that friendships were office, their main achievement, the new wa- the installation of two new water fountains, made that will never break. ter fountain (providing filtered chilled water) the Student Council of 2005 has it’s work cut were installed. They symbolise the effort all On the first Wednesday in February the en- out for it. One of our key aims is to seek 18 prefects put in over the last 12 months. tire cast and crew of the show reunited for improvements considered necessary by the Numerous initiatives were undertaken, and the 2nd time. The first was a trip to funder- students. There are possibilities of obtaining the now annual 1st year social proved to be land over the Christmas break but this was to new nets for indoor soccer, student internet one of the highlights of the year. All the come together to watch our own show on access during lunchtime, etc… etc school community worked in tandem and the video. night was a huge success. As the new pre- If you have any suggestions come and talk to We began in the Bio-lab where I showed fects take over, we wish them all the best for us and we’ll see what we can do. We’re also everyone the priceless picture I took of Mr the forthcoming year. Finally we would like open to any ideas you might have. We hope O’Toole on the pink throne in a top hat (he to thank Mr Noonan for his great support and that this year will be a successful and an always did have ideas of grandeur -D Ed.) guidance throughout the year. Hopefully the enjoyable one for this Student Council then we looked at the rest of the photos as new student council will get the same sup- R Nestor (secretary) the girls cringed at the sight of themselves in port and guidance from all the staff. rat costumes, and “Brock” at the sight of Irish Examiner all Ireland quiz K Reid Chairman himself in his pink shirt. We narrowly failed to reach the last 32 of the Yearbook We moved eventually to room 18 to watch all Ireland quiz. With over 200 schools tak- the video. The next 2 hours or so were spent For the past month now, Jason Masterson, ing part, it was no mean achievement. Well spotting mistakes –like a missing girl in one Conor Casey, Mike Lernihan and Brian done to our seniors, Padraic Lamb and Rich- of the dances, a giant palm leaf left in the Courtney have been slaving away in the ard Nestor, and our juniors, Karl O’Sullivan palace but the one which caused the most student computer room, working on the mas- and Andrew Lavelle, who earned their places laughter was when I ruined the last scene by terpiece that is the Clonkeen College year- by finishing top dogs in their respective trials shouting my line too early and caused the book 2005. All the photos have been taken, J. Lynch sharp exit of “Wan Go Loo”. I was just the submissions and write-ups have been happy it wasn’t the Thursday night when the collected and the 5 of us are enjoying our Music Mr. Clarke’s Guitar lessons continue lights mysteriously failed. time reminiscing over our past six years in to prove very popular with students in Clon- the school. We have also acquired some keen College. Classes are on Weds and So a good night was had by all and the final photos of the year taken at the First Year trip Thurs between 4 and 5. Students are learning curtain has closed on what was the most to Zoo and the art class are busy different styles of guitar playing – from clas- successful Clonkeen show to date. drawing caricatures of every student in the sical to folk to modern songs. year. All going well (actually it seldom does, (Jason Masterson) Many thanks to all Panto Musicians but all will be right on the night D. Ed) the A special word of thanks must go to Simon yearbooks will be distributed to the sixth Ms Ryan and Mr Clarke would like to thank Keenan (6th) Graeme Kirwan, Alan Worral years on graduation night. Thanks to all for this year’s panto band for their dedication, and Conor Rochford who organised the tap- the submissions, essays and write ups. hard work and outstanding performance. So ing and editing of the show. Simon is an thanks once again to Chris O’Sullivan 6th experienced hand at video editing and has Chris O’Sullivan – yearbook committee (keyboards/vocals), Andrew Williams 5th (lead guitar), Glen Polly TY (rhythm guitar), nd st Third world fundraising lows; €9,500.00 to Self Help, €1,500.00 to Ciaran Carrick 2 (Bass), Conor Hayes 1 st The third world support group has been very Agnes Daly’s EPEC Ethiopian Charity and (Clarinet), Barry McGovern 1 (drums) busy over the last few months. In November €1,000.00 to the Irish red Cross Tsunami Art ; Once again there is a great response to and December the boys were involved in bag Appeal the TEXACO Art Competition amongst the packing in Dunlaoire. On Christmas Eve boys. Past successes in the competition are they also braved the cold and the rain to One fund raising event deserves to be dealt an inspiration to the boys collect money in Grafton street Dublin, and with in isolation namely the Table Quiz or- K. O’Donoghue in Georges Street Dunlaoire. Nearly half the ganised by the Parent’s Council and the third school took part in the Christmas fast: as world support group. This proved to be a Lateral thinking: indeed did the writer of this article, who most enjoyable experience and will no doubt A woman buys a new pair of shoes. She vows never to subject himself to such pains be repeated in the future. forgets to inform her employer that she has again. A special thanks to Niall Lehane who Finally three students are going off this done so and dies! What could possibly have raised nearly €500.00 from sponsorship as a Easter to study the many projects Self Help happened? result of his running the Dublin marathon. is running in Malawi. They are Graham Kir- From our many fundraising enterprises we wan 6th, Simon Keenan 6th and Chris Mr Enigma th have raised €12000.00 since September O’Donoghue 5 . Our best wishes go with (P.S. how did you all make out on the last 2004. thank you so much for your generos- them. one? - D Ed.) ity. The money has been distributed as fol- C McGauley Clonkeen College U16 Football Team always change your mind up to 5hr15 on team comprises Stephen Coughlain 6th, Brian July the 1st 2005 McGreal 6th and David Green 3rd. The year started with a narrow defeat at the hands of Coláiste Éanna. The team showed D. O’Hora (Careers) The senior and junior match play is under- great character by winning comfortably the way now with all first round matches to be TY News remaining group games, against Beneavin, played by February the 28th. All information Blackrock and MacDara’s, with great per- Transition year students are on their second regarding this competition is on the notice formances from Alan Judge, Daryl Dodd and work experience period. Coming up is a table board S. Coughlin Adam Cole. The semi-final was played in quiz with the TY students of St. Joseph of Cross Country terrible conditions against Salesian’s College Cluny. A group of students recently attended in DCU. Against the wind in the first half, “The Shaughran” at the Abbey Theatre. The season was short this year due to the absence of the C/C league. we were within one point at the break. We Tourism related visits were to Croke Park came out flying in the second half, holding and Kilmainham Jail The school’s leading runner Eoin Healy . 4th Salesian’s scoreless, without captain Alex year, has a had a fine year: winner of the The TY students travelling to Paris will leave Brock at full-back. Oisín Gough , Alan CBS Senior at ALSAA pre- Christmas, on Sun 27th March and return the following Judge, David Greene and Stephen Butler had winner of the East Leinster Senior at Phoenix Wednesday. About 30 students will make a fantastic game. We won relatively easily in Park and then in Leinster Final held at DCU this trip. J Byrne (TY co-ordinator) the end. a fine 2nd to holder and All-Ireland favourite The final was played at Terenue VEC against Outdoor pursuits in the Ardeche Danny Darcy from Carlow. We wish Eoin old rivals, Coláiste Éanna. Despite a magnifi- Easter is early this year so we may not ex- good luck in the All-Ireland finals in Dun- cent team performance and the encourage- perience the warm weather we have had in garvan. ment from the crowd, we lost out by two previous years, but I don't think this will Philip Nolan , S3 ., better known as a foot- points, having been six points down at half lessen the experience. Six days of adventure baller had a fine 2nd place in East Leinster u- time. We held most of the possession, which (climbing, canoeing, abseiling, mountain 14 and finished in 14th in the Leinster Finals. we could not unfortunately convert into biking, orienteering, caving etc) are some- Very good for an inexperienced runner. scores. A super-sub performance from thing to look forward to. So even if the out- The u-14 team finished 4th in East Leinster. Stephen Butler, who was unlucky not to door pool will not be open I don't think we The team was Philip Nolan S3 , Steven start, scoring 1-1 in two minutes to make for will be bored. an exciting finish. The match finished 2-10 Roddy S3 , Niall Murphy S3 , Colin to 2-8. An information night for parents will be held O’Shaughnessy S1 , Philip Higgins S3 and in the school shortly after the mid term. Aaron Sweetman S3 . Thanks to Mr. Brennan and Mr. O’ Hora for Please make sure students travelling have an In the U-15 Abdul Marrar R1 finished 8th all their efforts. We look forward to a suc- up to date passport and an E111 form. cessful season next year at U-18 level. but could not compete in the final due to O Daly illness and Richard Farrelly S1 , finished in Careers 26th place. Well done to all. We now look Golf (Mr Noonan) Great! February is past and all the CAO forward to the Track and Field season . First forms are in. Now just relax and concentrate Over the past few months things have been big meet is Santry ,April 22nd. on the Mocks, which have been nicely split quiet on the golfing front. There is a GUI th Br. Kelly up, so you can study better for them. The stroke play tournament on the 14 February great thing about the CAO is that you can in Nass Golf Club and after holding a play- off for places (in ) Golf Club. The

Sidelines tunity to race despite always having a match or a training ses- We would like to wish T.Y. student Alan Judge every suc- sion around the corner. He was a prominent player in our Lein- cess in his chosen career with Blackburn Rovers, with ster Senior Soccer Cup final of last year where we narrowly whom he has just signed a three-year contract. His first year missed out on ultimate glory after a penalty shoot out. Right up of contract is a scholarship scheme in which to last month he wore the Clonkeen jersey with he will be studying sports science a few days pride just failing to add a Dublin U-16 medal to per week towards acquiring a diploma, which his U-14 memento of 2002 is the equivalent of 2 A- levels. Clonkeen’s loss is Blackburn Rover’s gain!!! These studies could eventually open up the door to a career as a physio, coach, or in lei- Ms Coady sure club management, should the need arise. We all wish Ms Coady every success next Alan’s soccer career started with St. Joseph’s weekend. With her team Ms Coady has reached Boys Sallynoggin at the tender age of 7years. the Semi finals in the national Camogie champi- He has won international caps with Ireland at onship. Who knows, when we see her again she U-16 and U-17 level playing against Portugal, may have an All Ireland medal in her póca. Turkey, Russia, France, Germany, Holland as Good luck – the whole school is behind you well as in a recent tournament in Japan. He has scored 4 international goals to date. Inci- Mr Ward, also new to the staff, is also very dentally Alan’s dad Dermot was captain of involved in Gaelic Sports and not just at a Na- the Bray wanderer’s team that won the F.A.I tional level but at an international level. In ef- cup in 1990 when he had 2 former Clonkeen Students as fect Mr Ward has played professionally in the States for the last team-mates (Andy Lynch and Kevin Reynolds). two summers and has had his contract renewed again this year. Alan’s contribution to Clonkeen sport since first year has D. Ed been enormous, representing us in , soccer and cross-country. For the latter he never missed an oppor- 1st Year Indoor Win

Having been U.16 hurling champions last year, Clonkeen College got off to a superb start to 2005 as our 1st Year Indoor Hurlers won the Indoor Hurling Blitz at St. Benildus College recently. The crucial games were against College and St. Benildus. We won the former 5-3, with a superb individual performance from Philip Nolan, scoring four, with the very impressive Conor O’Brien getting on the s c o r e - sheet also. The final against St. Benildus was a tough, defensive game, finishing on a score-line of 3-2. Philip Nolan found the net twice and the skilful Sárán Green goaled superbly also. All members of the panel played, superbly. In an earlier qualifier, Robert Farrelly scored an impres- sive hat-trick and Gareth Byrne scored also. Cilian Casey and Denis Dowling were superb in goal and were protected well by Philip Higgins and Conor Murray in defence, while tenacious Andrew Simmons set up many an attack from the centre. Well done to the players, and well done also to those who competed in the trials. We’ll be looking forward to seeing you all when the real thing (outdoor!) starts in a few weeks. Following our win in the U14 Competition last year, we will be competing at a higher grade, so there’s lots of training to be done! The school would like to express its gratitude to the teachers involved. First Year Gaelic Football S3; Philip Nolan, Conor O’Brien, Philip Hurling Coaches: Frank Hayes, Mary Higgins, Steven Roddy, Kevin Walsh, Alan Ryan, Ciarán Collins Following on from the U-14 campaign be- Merriman fore Christmas the first year team will be up Under 18 Gaelic football and running in March. Our opponents will be Manager Mr McBride The under 18 Gaelic football team were Colaiste Eoin, St Benildu’s and St. Colm- U14 Soccer disappointingly eliminated before Christmas. cille’s in November. The first year’s had a Promising Displays against challenge in St. Colmcille’s beating them by The u14 soccer team is back on the road had raised expectations, but consecutive 4-5 to 2-7. training resumes on Tuesday again – a long wait for the last fixture which defeats to Drimnagh Castle and St. McDaras February 22nd. took place Thursday the qualifier for the cup. The team is also in the last 16 of the league. meant an end to this years campaign. We J. Lynch went into the Drimnagh game as underdogs Things are looking good and with a bit of but, at half time the game was evenly poised Under 13 soccer luck this team could go the whole way mainly thanks to a good display by Adam D. O’Hora G Monnelly Cole, however Drimnagh pulled away in the The first year under 13 soccer team has second half. With only miniuts to go and reached the semi-final of the Leinster cup. The team started with a 2-1 home win only 5 points behind Kevin Reid missed the Hope you enjoy this latest update on life in chance to cut the lead from the penalty spot. against De La Salle Wicklow, with Conor O’Brien getting the winning goal. This was the College. It is only when we sit down and 3 quick pointsfrom Clonkeen made the miss begin to list all the activities in the school all more crucial. We had to go through the followed by 2 away games against Synge street and Drimnagh where we won compre- that we realise what is involved. At different qualifier rounds to advance in the competi- stages in the year different activities take tion. We got drawn against St. McDara’s. A hensively. The quarter final was a tougher fixture up in Skerries, where we scored a place ,so this only represents a fraction of dismal first half display against only 14 men what happens over the entire year. left us 14 points behind. Another inspiring goal at the end of 60 mins by Denis Dowling speech by Mr Twomey motivated the team, to force extra time. The final result was a Many thanks to the staff and students of the and great spirit was shown in the second hard won 4-3. Currently we are waiting the college for the contributions to these pages. half. A great comeback left only 5 points in draw for the semi-finals My job is reduced to that of a cut and paste the difference at the end. The display showed Players: S1; Conor Quinn, Hugh O’Connor, merchant, while basking in the reflected the determination of the team and the year James Toner, Josh Green, Eoghan Aherne, glory of our academic, cultural and sporting ended on a relatively high note. Richard Shiggins. heros. K Reid (Captain) S2; Stephen Dunn, Des Cryan, Conor Mur- D. Ed. phy, Denis Dowling, Robert Doyle Managers D. Twomey and C. Collinsw