Girls Seven-Aside Football Final 2025

On Wednesday the 19^th of March, the girls seven-aside football team travelled to Clarecastle Astro Turf for the final stage of the seven-aside football tournament. Twelve girls from fifth and sixth class attended on the day. Michelle and Louise were our coaches, and we had a lot of support from parents there also. Our first match got underway and we won this by a good margin. Then we progressed to our second match which we also won! At this stage we were delighted and we were proud of our playing so far. Our third match was against C.B.S. and we thankfully won this game as well. We then had a break to recover after our first three matches.

Our last match of the day was the ultimate final. This was against Kilbaha/Carrigaholt/Moveen. We were losing this match in the first half, but managed to bring our way back up to one point in the difference. We then tried our best to overcome the team, but they ended up scoring a goal in the last minute. We were disappointed to have lost this game, but we still received a medal and we got to go to the shop afterwards to celebrate our great work leading up to the final!

By Megan Downes and Orla Brooks.

Hurling Champions Visit 2024

On Monday the 30^th of September, Clare hurlers Cian Galvin and Davy Conroy came to the school to celebrate their victory in winning the All Ireland Hurling Championship this summer. They arrived at around 10 o’clock in the morning. We all gathered outside at the back of the school with our chairs. After a few minutes, we saw them coming and we gave them a big cheer when they arrived! Mr. Curran introduced them and they started talking about their victory. People then started asking them questions about their lives as hurlers. Some of the questions were ‘When did you start playing hurling?’ or ‘When did you play your first match?’ One person also asked what hurley they used when they won the final! Cian used a Clancy hurley and Davy used a Torpey hurley.

We spent a few more minutes asking them questions and then Mr. Curran told us about a challenge that Cian used to try to achieve when he was a pupil in Knockanean N.S. The challenge was to try to hit the ball from left to right, against the wall of the school, and to catch it again, and to see how many times he could do this in 30 seconds. When he was younger, his record was 17 times. Cian then tried to beat this challenge on the day and he got 25 so he beat his record! There was also another challenge where they had to hit the middle pole in the school shed. Both Davy and Cian tried this challenge as well on the day and were able to hit it once! After these challenges, we lined up in our class groups and took photos with the Liam McCarthy cup. We also got the chance to hold the very heavy cup! After that, we got signatures from Davy and Cian. Some people got their jerseys signed and some even got their shoes signed! It was great to get to see the hurlers in person and to hear about their busy lives and all the training that they have to do. We enjoyed the day and our favourite part was getting to lift the Liam McCarthy!

By Alex O’Donnell, Finn O’Dwyer and Dara O’Connor.

7 Aside Girls Football 2024

The girls seven aside football team travelled to Gurteen during the last week of February to play the first round of Mini 7’s Gaelic football matches. When we arrived we warmed up for a few minutes. We played against Holy Family first and we won this game. Then we watched a few matches where the other teams played. Our second match was against the Gaelscoil. We felt that we played very well in this game, and we came out with a victory which we were delighted with! Our final match of the day was against Barefield and we won this match as well. The top team after this day goes through to the next round, and we thankfully came out as the top team on the day, so we will be progressing to the next round which will be against other schools in Clare at a later date. Our coaches are Michelle, Colm and Mr. Curran. We are looking forward to the next round of matches which will take place soon.

By Ruby Courtney and Isabelle Mangan.

7 Aside Boys Football 2024

There are about twenty boys on the school’s seven aside football team. In February we travelled to the astro pitch in Gurteen to play a series of matches. Colm, Cillian and Mr. Curran accompanied us. There were five other schools there on the day. Firstly we played Barefield and we thankfully came out with a victory. After this we progressed to playing Doora in a semi-final, and we won this match also. The final then took place between us and Barefield and we won this match. The final score was 2.06 to 1.04. It was a tight match and we were delighted to come out with a win. We were the top team on the day and this means we will play more matches against other schools at a later date.

By Daire Cullinan and Orrin Woods.

Cumann na mBunscol Hurling 2024:

After Easter the boys hurling team had their first round of matches against Inagh N.S. in Inagh. The boys hurling team is made up of boys from fourth, fifth and sixth classes. There were about forty boys on the panel. Colm and Conor trained us for the matches. We had a tough first match against Inagh, and unfortunately we lost that match by a point. On another day we played Ruan/Toonagh in Ruan and we won this match by three points. On the third day out we played Killaloe Boys N.S. in Tulla and we won this game by two points! This lead us to the semi-final in Gurteen and we played Inagh N.S. again. We played great on the day, and won this match by eighteen points!

After this win, we qualified for the Division Two Hurling final in Cusack Park on Thursday the 13th of June. On the day of the final we travelled to Cusack Park and left school at one o’clock. Pupils from third to sixth classes came to support us on the day. We warmed up when we got there and watched some other teams as there were lots of games on that day. In the dressing rooms we had our pep talk and we decided the team for the match. The final got underway at around two o’clock. It began with Killaloe scoring a few points and then Milo came back with a point for our team. It was a competitive match and at half time the score was three points to one. In the second half we responded with a point and then Killaloe came back with a point. In the last few minutes of the game we were scoring well, and in the final moments it was six points to five points. We tried our very best to level the game, but in the end it wasn’t to be. The final score was six points to five points. We were disappointed, but we were happy with our performance overall as we scored a lot of our points from play. The captains on the day were Eoin McInerney and Michael Barry. After the game we got the bus back to the school and our parents collected us. We are proud of the team and all of our hard work which got us to the final.

By Jack O’Driscoll and Mark Reynolds.

Football Champions 2023

Cumann na mBunscol Football Champions

On Wednesday the 15th of November, the boys’ football team travelled to Cusack park for the football final against Lissycasey N.S. We left early at 9:10 for the match which started at 10. Classes from 3rd to 6th came to support us on the day. When we arrived we went into the dressing rooms and got changed, and then we made the team. After this we went out onto the pitch and did our warm up. We went back into the dressing rooms for a pep talk from Mr. Curran, Colm and Cillian. We then took the team photo before the match began. Our captains Daire and Conor went to the referee, along with the Lissycasey N.S. team captain. Then the match was finally underway. We scored the first two points and they came back and scored a point. After this they scored a goal and we knew we had to come back from this. We then scored two more points and the score stood at 1.1 to 0.4.

At half-time we went into the dressing room for a team talk and ran back out after. We got off to a good start by scoring the first point in the second half. The atmosphere was electric. We scored a few more points and a goal and then they managed to get a few more points and a goal. Towards the end of the match, there was some confusion with the scoreboard but we knew that we were ahead. In the final few minutes, we cleared the ball and scored a free to finish the game. The final score was 1.11 to 2.04. At the final whistle, all of the subs ran onto the pitch to celebrate and we were on top of the world. Daire and Conor went up into the stand to lift the trophy with the rest of the team. There was so much excitement. We took pictures outside the park at the end. On the way back to school, we stopped at the shop to get treats. When we got back to school, all of the classes had come outside to welcome us home and to celebrate. After school that day we went to the Grove for a meal to celebrate with the team. We are so proud of our team and it was a great day for all.

By Daire Cullinan, Tadhg Downes and Oscar Deegan.

Hurling Champions 2022

We won against Ruan-Toonagh on the 16th of June in Cusack Park, having defeated O’Callaghan Mills-Kilkishen in the semi-finals. It was a challenging game but we defeated Ruan-Toonagh by nine points. The end score was 4-13 to 2-9. It was such a fun day and we are especially proud because it has been seven years since Knockanean boys were last hurling champions.

By Micheál Kelly, Harry Leahy, Patrick McInerney & Liam Barry