Herbertstown NS was well represented in Croke Park yesterday during the Go Games played at half time in the All Ireland Senior Football Semi-Final between Mayo and Dublin.
A proud day for the school, well done!
2019 saw another action packed Sports Day play out in Herbertstown and great fun was had by all in lovely weather.
Congratulations to Ms Davis and her committee on securing the Health Promoting Schools flag following months of hard work.
Herbertstown NS was celebrating on the double with the raising of the new GAA 5 Star Centre Flag. Our school is one of the first in the county to be awarded this flag and huge credit is due to the hard work of the pupils over the course of the year working on their GAA skills and taking part in games and after school training. Limerick hurler Paddy O’Loughlin was on hand to raise the flag.
Our Pádraig Pearse Cup and Ned Daly Shield finals were played as per tradition and congratulations to Limerick and Dublin, the victorious teams. Well done to all who took part and produced some high quality football.
Congratulations are also due to Argentina who captured the coveted World Cup trophy following a gripping final that went all the way to penalties!
Pat O’Dea was on hand earlier in the day with his dance performances which showcased all the great preparation the pupils had been doing in the previous couple of months.
As usual, the school sports day was awash with colour as our teams did their best to pick up those all important ‘Team Spirit’ points. The races were a source of super excitement with some thrilling finishes! At the end of proceedings Mr Gubbins totted up all the results and it was The Frogs who were champions again! Well done to everyone that took part and made it such an enjoyable day!
Best wishes to Seán, our representative on the Limerick Primary Game team, who will play during the half time interval on Sunday.
The cup is awarded to the winners of the Roinn A South Cumann na mBunscol 3rd and 4th class blitz which was played this year for the first time.
Knockainey NS, Ballylanders NS, Kilfinane NS, Galbally NS and Herbertstown NS participated in the competition which was played in Martinstown.
Near neighbours Knockainey NS and Herbertstown NS met in the final which was keenly contested with Herbertstown emerging as winners.
Christina Greensmyth, wife of the late Harry, presented the cup to the Herbertstown captain. Harry’s name was synonymous with GAA in South Limerick and beyond and it is fitting that he is honoured for his service to our national games.
The 2019 Anthony Baggott Cup took place on Thursday June 13th in Anthony Baggott Park in Herbertstown.
As has been the case for the last few years, our neighbouring schools, Hospital NS, Knockainey NS and Caherline NS joined Herbertstown NS to make up the 4 team competition.
This year’s tournament could easily have been the most competitive yet with 4 very evenly matched teams facing off against each other. Round one saw Herbertstown defeat Knockainey while Hospital defeated the 2017 and 2018 winners Caherline.
Round two pitched the South Roinn A finalists against each other once more as Herbertstown edged a very close battle with Hospital. At the same time, Knockainey picked up their first win of the day against Caherline.
Round three saw Herbertstown, who had already secured passage to the final, suffer a defeat to Caherline. In what was effectively a semi-final, Knockainey clinched the all important victory over Hospital.
Before the final , Herbertstown and Knockainey marched behind piper Kathleen Fitzgerald of the Liam Lynch Pipe Band and following Amhrán na bhFiann action got under way.
In what is becoming a habit of our hurlers, an early goal settled nerves and Herbertstown maintained a narrow lead into the half time break. A blitz of goals in the second half saw the boys in maroon celebrate victory on home soil for the first time since 2016.
Eileen Baggott presented the Anthony Baggott Cup to the Herbertstown captain after the game.
The girls produced a fantastic performance and provided a real test for eventual winners Effin NS. Effin have won this competition for the last few years and were very strong, but the Herbertstown girls matched them in almost all areas except unluckily on the scoreboard.
We are very proud of this bunch of girls who have represented the school with distinction throughout the year.
The final started very positively for Herbertstown with some quick-fire goals giving the team a lead which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
This start would prove to be all important as the free flowing hurling of the first half was replaced by tight, tense passages of play and our boys showed great determination and resilience to hold off a strong fight back from Hospital.
Huge congratulations to the team who have worked very hard in training all year.
A nice link to the last time the school won the A title was that two players from that team, Kevin Higgins and Edmond Heffernan had sons playing in today’s game.
This year’s Active School Week was a very enjoyable one with the school involved in many different activities.
On Monday, the whole school were dancing with Pat O’Dea and the school’s camogie team were in action in the South Cumann na mBunscol blitz.
On Tuesday, Mrs Heelan’s 5th & 6th class had a great time on their activity based school tour to Ballyhass Lakes in Cork. The rest of the school took part in Gaelic Football which was tutored by visiting coach Gearóid Balfry from the Munster Ladies Football Association.
On Wednesday our planned activity could not take place as we had quite a wet day. Rugby was the designated event and we had 2 visiting coaches from Munster Rugby in the school ready to get out on the pitch but unfortunately the morning weather never improved. They hope to return to the school before the summer holidays.
Thursday had a whole school walk up to Barrysfarm. The children also got to play basketball. After school training continued for the boys and girls in 4th, 5th and 6th in hurling and camogie.
Friday was our designated swimming day for 1st to 4th class while the infants and 5th & 6th had hurling with former Limerick hurler and current GDA James Ryan.
Gearóid helped the children work on the skills of Gaelic Football. They also got to take part in lots of fun games and activities.
