Pupils from Herbertstown NS took part in races ranging from 80metres to 400 metres, as well as relays and long jumps. Everybody gave their all in their events and did their school proud.
The Herbertstown girls reached the South final after wins over Knockainey, Ballylanders and Emly. Despite a spirited display in the final, Bruree NS claimed the South title.
Our boys’ team reached the semi-final of the competition following wins over Ballylanders NS and Hospital NS. In a tight and tense game with Emly NS, Herbertstown went agonising close to getting through, with a fine save denying Herbertstown a goal with the final kick of the game as Emly won by 2 points.
In the camogie, Herbertstown had wins over Knocklong and Kilfinane. Hospital NS edged an exciting clash of neighbours and this was enough to send them through to the final.
Herbertstown and Knockainey met in the opening round of the competition and all that separated two evenly matched teams at the end of the game was 1 goal, which was scored by the boys in black in the final minute. Herbertstown regrouped to record a win over Hospital NS but Knockainey had done enough to secure passage to the South Final where they beat Kilmallock NS.
Attention now turns to the main Cumann na mBunscol competitions in the coming weeks.
It is fantastic to have James with us to promote hurling and the boys and girls are showing great enthusiasm during their sessions.
In a superb game of football, played between teams from fifth class, the Mr Franklin coached Kerry side got the telling scores in the final moments to win the Ned Daly Shield.
Congratulations to both teams on great performances and a big thank you to Dylan O’Connor who referred the game.
On Wednesday a football match between two teams from within the sixth class bubble took place.
The teams, Dublin (coached by Mr Franklin) and Galway (coached by Mr Fitzgerald), had been picked some weeks previous and had been training during lunch time ahead of the game.
The onlooking support from the other classes in the school were treated to a lively encounter, full of skill and enthusiasm. Dublin built on a half time lead to stretch ahead by 8 points in the second half. However, some quickfire goals from Galway brought the deficit back to one point with around a minute to go. Dublin held their nerve and landed a late point to secure a two point win.
Afterwards, Mrs Heelan presented the Pádraig Pearse Cup to the Dublin captain.
The girls are through to play Effin NS in the Roinn B decider following wins over Ballylanders NS and Knockainey NS yesterday in Martinstown.
The boys are through to the Roinn A final following victories over Kilfinane NS, Hospital NS, Galbally NS and Croom NS in their blitz last week. In a local derby, Herbertstown will play Hospital in the final and it will be the first time Herbertstown have played in the Roinn A final since 1988.
Members of our Active School Flag Committee were busy last week as they carried out a survey of our pupils’ views on sport & P.E. in the school.
The committee tallied up all the results just before the Easter holidays and produced some very interesting results!
A big thanks to Limerick GAA GDA James Ryan who coached all classes in the school in hurling prior to the mid-term break. The children had a lot of fun and also got excellent practise with the skills of the game. The school is working towards renewing its Active School Flag and securing GAA 5 Star Centre status and the work James did with the children was a huge help towards these goals. Well done to the boys and girls for the great effort they made with James in sometimes very cold conditions!
Limerick players Colin Ryan and Conor O’Grady (past pupil of Herbertstown NS) called to the school today with the Munster and All Ireland cups won by Limerick in 2017. There was great excitement as the pupils had an opportunity to ask questions and hold the cups.
Thank you to Limerick GAA for facilitating the visit.
The boys started playing handball following a visit to the school from local handball player Paudí Quish. A multiple All Ireland champion, Paudí then became their coach at Hospital Handball club and today was the first opportunity the boys had to represent their school in the game. They can be very proud of their performances as we had players in both the A & B U11 finals with the U11 A title coming back to the school. It’s great to see our pupils playing one of our national games and hopefully we will have more boys and girls taking up the sport in the coming months.
