This year Cumann na mBunscol Chiarrai organised an inter-school quiz based on the Divisional structure of the Kerry County Board. Here is the team that represented Knockaclarig NS.

The quiz was a great success. It was held in "The Meadowlands Hotel " in Tralee. Sean O Domhnaill was an excellent quiz master. Topics in the quiz included Kerry and All-Ireland GAA, History, Geography,Irish Legends,Gaeilge and famous Kerry People in all walks of life.

Ardfert NS. proved to be worthy and popular winners. Congratulations to them.

Already the quiz is set to becoming an annual event.

Picture:   Thanks to "The Kerryman".

As the school year draws to its close we would like to thank all the visitors world wide who have logged on to this blog and followed our activities during the year on the school sporting front. Remember this blog is comment enabled so if you want to post a comment let's hear from you.

We publish a map here showing the locations of our e-visitors. Africa is the only continent in the world where we do not have a digital presence. So if you are from Africa let's see you.

Here Patrikia, our Irish dancer introduces two Slovak friends to our national dances.

This was part of our International Talent Show which turned out to be a brilliant event for all the participating countries.

At Cork Airport heading for Thessaloniki via Heathrow, Munich and Thessaloniki...........................

This image is the featured splashscreen on the Leargas website.

www.leargas.ie

Castleisland  INTO Mini-Sevens

This eagerly awaited tournament was played at the splendid Castleisland Desmonds GAA Grounds on Wednesday last.It attracted an entry of 18 teams, boys and girls and great credit is due to Michael Herlihy (Loughfouder NS.) who promoted the event.. Referees Tom McCarthy and son, Jason (Desmonds) aided by the evergreen Paddy O’Sullivan (Beale) kept the busy schedule moving .

Group A Boys featured Castleisland Boys NS., Brosna NS., Curranes NS., Currow NS., Scartaglin NS.,and Loughfouder NS. Castleisland Boys emerged as winners from this group after some great games of football.

Group B Boys consisted of Knocknagoshel NS., Knockaclarig NS., Gael Scoil, O’Brennan NS. and KilmurryNS.. This was a hard fought group and after a titanic struggle O’ Brennan NS. earned the right to contest the final with Castleisland Boys .

This was a repeat of last year's Final which the town school won. However, from an early stage O’Brennan set out their intentions and a great first half goal saw them lead by 1-3 to 0-2. at half-time. A determined Castleisland Boys upped the tempo in the second half but try as they might O’Brennan were crowned worthy winners on a 1-6 to 0-4 scoreline.

Well known Ballymac GAA man and teacher Mike Sweeney was thrilled with his success as was his associate mentor former famous Kerry Ladies footballer, Bridget Leen.

Champions: Presentation Convent, Castleisland.

The Girls’ tournament was equally well contested. Group A was made up of Presentation Convent, Kilmurry, Knockagoshel and Scartaglin. Presentation Convent who are really beginning to make a name for themselves during the past few years in Kerry Girls football circles qualified from this group. Group B made up of Gael Scoil, Curranes and Currow saw Curranes qualify.

Runners-Up: Scoil Ide, Curranes

The Final was a very good contest between the holders, Presentation and the newcomers Curranes. After some great football the convent held on to their title on a 2-6 to 1-3 scoreline.

Both O’Brennabn and Presentation now move on to the next phase of the competition. This will involve teams from the 8 KerryDistrict Boards meeting in Tralee after the Easter holidays when the Kerry Champions Boys and Girls will be decided.

Castleisland Cumann na mBunscol would like to thank The Credit Union movement for the two lovely plaques donated for this highly successful competition.

The Castleisland Mini-Sevens will take place at Castleisland GAA Grounds on Wednesday next 1st April at 10:00am sharp.

Co-Ordinator Michael Herlihy, Principal at Loughfouder NS. announces a busy programme of matches.

Our group includes Knocknagoshel NS., Kilmurry NS., Gael Scoil Oilean Chiarrai and O'Brennan NS.

The Duhallow Football Blitz took place as planned at Knocknagree GAA Grounds on Wednesday last. Our group was made up of Tullylease NS., Freemount NS., Rathduane NS., and Hollymount NS. The blitz saw us win for the first time in our new jerseys. In fact we registered three victories making us group champions. All our players gave sterling displays led by School Captain, Patrick Collins. Our younger players showed great promise and enjoyed the occasion.

Special guest at the blitz was Star Cork Footballer Donncha O' Connor from nearby Ballydesmond.Donncha has strongly established himself on the Cork Senior Football Team during the past few years and is going from strength to strength. An outstanding role model for Duhallow's ambitious footballers.

Tadhg Kennelly gave his first coaching lesson to the pupils of Knockaclarig NS. on Friday afternoon last. Tadhg, son of the late and great legendary All-Ireland winning captain, Tim Kennelly and brother of All-Ireland winner Noel, is back from Australia where during the past decade he made a name for himself as a highly valued member of the famous Sydney Swans in the process propelling them to an Australian  title. Such is  his ability he successfully made the transition from Gaelic football to the Australian game with a resounding impact.

Tadhg had an instant rapport with the students and his well thought out and implemented drills and strategies got a ready and willing response. We shall be uploading video during the coming weeks.

On Sunday Tadhg was on the Kerry team travelling party to Derry for the National Football League game. Introduced in the final quarter of the game he contributed handsomely to a well earned Kerry victory.

Big talking event at the AGM, as already mentioned was the retiral of Paddy Keane as Runai. One of the founder members of the committee which revived Kerry Primary School football back in 1994 Paddy has given trojan service over the years. He is also Treasurer of Cumann na mBunscol Chuige Mumhan. Paddy is also secretary of the busy Feale Rangers District team as well as being an officer in his home club Duagh,a club that has been hitting the highlights in the past few years.

Paddy, is of course, Principal at Duagh National School and a member of the Board of Management of the Education Centre Tralee.

As well as that Paddy also holds  a Master of Science Degree in Computing and is an ICT course designer and tutor. His popular July computer course in Duagh NS. draws attendees from Kerry, West Limerick and North Cork.

We wish Paddy the best for the future and no doubt we have not seen the last of him on the Kerry GAA scene. 

A good attendance was present at the AGM of Cumann na mBunscol at The Meadowlands Hotel in Tralee. Most districts were represented. Proceedings were chaired by Tomas Hanafin, An Cathaoirleach. Runai,Paddy Keane gave a detailed account of the year's very busy calendar. He informed the AGM that after being secretary for the past 15 years he was now retiring from the position. Treasurer John Clifford gave a detailed account of the finances which were in good order. PRO Kevin Corkery also delivered a very comprehensive report. All districts present reported on the years activities in their own District Boards. Football standards were high throughout the county in the Primary Schools though Tralee CBS delegate,Pat Costello felt that some more positive initiatives should be undertaken in the Tralee Area in the promotion of primary school football in such a major urban zone.

Next big event will be the organisation of the INTO Mini-Sevens. It is hoped that all districts will have their schedules completed prior to the Easter Holidays. The Kerry grand final will be staged after the holidays. This year we won't have a Regional final. a quota system will be in place to allocate player places for the Croke Park games.

Mary Joe Coffey spoke of her plans and strategies for the Allianz Girls' Football leagues which will be staged during the last term.

A new initiative will be a Quiz which will be held in May. Each district will produce two teams This will culminate in a grand final involving our eight districts and sixteen teams.

Geraldine Behan is the new secretary and we wish her the very best for the future in this very busy position. 

We wish to let everybody know that we will be posting from now on.

The AGM of Cumann na mBunscol Chiarrai will take place in "The Meadowlands Hotel", Tralee on this very Thursday night 26th February 2009 at 20:00 hours.

We shall have news from the meeting.

To-day is the shortest day in the year in the Northern Hemisphere where we live and learn.To-morrow we close for holidays and so we now wish everybody a Happy Christmas in which ever hemisphere you may be. We hope to return on the 7th January 2009.

We entered this site in a European e-Learning competition in the Cultural  category. There were almost five hundred entries fom all across Europe and we were pleased to be awarded a Top 70 Label after less than 9 months work.

On a pedagogical front we also entered our Irish-Swedish e-Twinning project. This project which has already been awarded the European quality label in both Ireland and Sweden was an outright winner in its category claiming the Telefonica O2 award, a diploma, a substantial cash prize and an allocation of ICT equipment.

This project can be accessed by logging on to:

http://blog.eun.org/film2

You may also access the project from our school's website:

www.knockaclarig.com

and Log on the Blog

Read "The Kerryman " report on this event.

http://www.kerryman.ie/news/brosna-school-claims-eu-award-1587486.html

As our games programme is now over for 2008 we are engaging our academic skills. 

In the Junior section of the school we had tremendous success with one of our pupils, Josh getting his Hallowe'en Ghost Story published in "The Kerryman" and winning a major prize.

Another Junior pupil, Siobhan won outright "The Kerryman" sponsored Christmas Art Competition. "The Kerryman" presented her with a bicycle and she got a fantastic picture and write up in this very popular newspaper.

The Castleisland Allianz District league has now come to an end. We had a mixed campaign eventually surrendering our title to a very strong Loughfouder NS. team. We wish Loughfouder NS. the best as they progress to the quarter final stage.

Our other Brosna Parish school, Scoil Mhuire, Brosna won outright the Castleisland District Allianz Final for 3-Teacher schools. We also wish Scoil Mhuire the best as they also progress to the quarter final in their category.

We wish a restful and enjoyable Hallowe'en break to all fans and contributors to this blog. After the break we shall do a round up of the district's footballing activities.

Brid Stack stands in the shadow (excuse the glare) of our Interactive Whiteboard. The webpage, based on an extract from this year's All-Ireland programme profiles Brid's achievements as a Cork player.

The Brendan Martin Cup is the highest accolade in Ladies' Gaelic Football. On Monday last star Cork Footballer, Brid Stack from Rockchapel brought the trophy to our school.

Here two admiring pupils get a feel of the Brendan Martin Trophy.

Mr.Batt O'Keeffe TD, Minister of Education and Science presents a framed customised Knockaclarig NS. jersey to Mr. Fredrik Ollson, Swedish e-Twinning Co-ordinator in the Sweden-Ireland partnership. Minister O'Keeffe personally welcomed the Swedish delegation to Knockaclarig NS. The Minister also launched the mobility module of this highly successful project which was awarded an European Quality Label in September 2008. National sports in the respective countries are vital strands in these European projects and what better example than Gaelic games.

Minister O'Keeffe, of course is no stranger to Red and White jerseys having played with distinction in several grades for his native County Cork.

Fredrik Ollson e-Twinning Co-ordinator at Vindangen PS. and students Mathias and Gustav meet with Loughfouder NS. Principal and Secretary of Castleisland Cumann na mBunscol, the well known Michael Herlihy.

Loughfouder NS. avenged last year's defeat by Knockaclarig NS. with a very good victory on a scoreline of 4-11 to 1-8 on this occasion.

Knockaclarig NS.IRELAND Captain Patrick and Vindangen PS. SWEDEN Captain Mathias sort out the jerseys prior to their football match which was played at the Brosna GAA Grounds and caused great excitement. 

Global map in the background highlights the international importance of this event.

Today we make the short trip over to the Red and White side of the border to congratulate Brid Stack on her heroics with the Cork Ladies in Croke Park yesterday. Brid played a pivotal role in this super Cork team which has dominated ladies football during the past number of years. Yesterday she collected her fourth senior All-Ireland medal--an outstanding achievment. Brid's father Michael Stack is of course, Priomh-Oide at Rockchapel National School.

CORK  4-13      MONAGHAN  0-11

Picture courtesy of All-Ireland programme profiles.

From the Green and Gold Drum

Send your results to Michael Herlihy 068/465000

The following is a comment from pupils in Vindangen Primary School in Sweden who find Gaelic Games absorbing. Such was their enthusiasm that even in the depths of a Swedish winter they decided they would play a GAA match. They sent us a video to mark the occasion. They will visit Knockaclarig NS on the 9th October next and will attend our ALLIANZ league match with Loughfouder NS.

Gaelic Football at Vindängen             

Click on Paperclip for Video

In answer to a Scartaglin query we publish the Roll of Honour for the 2-Teacher ALLIANZ Leagues in the Castleisland District.

TIR EOGHAIN  1-15                     CIARRAI   0-14

Congratulations 

                          to Tir Eoghain on being crowned All-Ireland Champions for 2008. Commiserations to Ciarrai. On the day Tir Eoghain deserved it but once more we look forward to our heroes to rise Phoenix-like for the challenges of 2009.

.

Ballymacelligott GAA club is an affialiate club of St. Kieran's. Four National Schools feed into this club, Clogher NS., Flemby NS., Nohoval NS, and O'Brennan NS. Always a stronghold of Kerry football famous GAA promoting teachers in the parish are Tom O'Connor, Maurice Laide and Michael Sweeney.

Also famous for handballers it produced All-Ireland winners Roundy and Murty McEllistrim as well as the aforementioned Clogher Principal Tom O'Connor who is also a renowned golfer.

The ladies of Ballymac take the handball glory to-day. Ashley Prendiville and Maria Daly are the local heroes. Handball is very well promoted in Kerry By Cumann na mBunscol.

Seen under the the overhead railway bridge in Ballymac.

St. Kieran's Castleisland is our local county champioship team. Cumann na mBunscol is the supply line for St. Kieran's with the schools' players rising through the ranks of minor, under-21 senior and in the cases of Padraig Reidy and Seamus Scanlon all the way to the Green and Gold of The Kingdom.County Senior Selector, Sean Geaney teaches in Gaelscoil Aogan, Oilean Chiarrai having already this year as Bainisteoir of the Kerry Under 21 tasted All-Ireland success.

Green grass, green and white club colours it is 

GREEN and GOLD all the way.!!!!!!!!

Entering Tralee from Castleisland for a school's match a digitally alert full forward snapped this picture.

Integrating ICT agus an pheil.

Football fever spreading from the Capital Town.

Artistry and skill have always been associated with Cumann na mBunscol. Here is a chance for pupils to enter a brand new Euro-Dimensional competition. Schools should log on immediately to www.eurocompetition.net  register on the spot, express your ideas through the Visual Arts and upload using the simple procedures. Football and Art "Mens sana in Corpore sano" gan dabht !!!

We welcome everybody back to school. Let's hope we have a very active and fruitful academic and sporting year.

Look out for details of your school's fixtures in the

ALLIANZ LEAGUES

Make sure you send in any sporting photos or news. Just e-mail:  

knockans@hotmail.com

During this term I mean to identify a trusted poster in each school. I shall supply same with an unique password and user name and award permissions for commenting.

We thank the Kerry team for 4 action packed Sundays in August. It was delightful to see products of our Cumaan na mBunscol Oilean Chiarrai perform so well with their team mates from our other 7 Kerry divisions. Congratulations to the Kerry Seniors on making it to the Final once again. Our Kerry Minors after a great campaign eventually bowed out to Mayo in a replay. Commisserations to them. However, there is talent there and it will not be long before we shall see them on the Under-21 team and no doubt some will break through to the seniors in the years to come.

Further Pictures

True to her word, Roscommon Rose,Triona O'Connor launched the Knockaclarig School Jersey. Looking radiant with her Roscommon sash she exchanged the Primrose and Gold of her native Roscommon for the the sharp Red and White of Knockaclarig NS.

 Truly a lady for all seasons we wish her the best as she gets ready to take up her architectural studies next month.