Attendance Initiative Rewards
As part of the attendance initiative, First Year students and their Senior Mentors were rewarded with a pizza party on Friday, 31 January, due to their excellent attendance. As the whole year has over 92% attendance, each class received the pizza party. Well done to 1 Foyle with 93.45% attendance and 1 Slaney with 94.48%, the highest attendance on each side of the year.
Barista Workshop
Transition Year students took part in a Barista workshop on Monday and Tuesday, 20 & 21 January. They began by tasting different coffees. They also had the opportunity to learn how to make some of the different types of coffees, like lattes. The students thoroughly enjoyed this experience.
'InstaTours' Dublin Sightseeing Tour
On Thursday, 23 January, TY5 took part in the photography tour. The day began at the National Gallery of Ireland, where the students enjoyed a guided tour of the collection and admired famous artworks, including pieces by Vermeer. Later, they headed to St. Stephen's Green for the 'InstaTours' Dublin Sightseeing Tour. Led by Ana, a professional photographer, they visited popular spots like Temple Bar and St. Anne's Umbrella Street. Despite the rain, the students embraced the weather, capturing stunning photos that highlighted the city’s charm. Both tours were a great way to wrap up the photography module, combining creativity with hands-on experience.
First Year Girls’ GAA
On Tuesday, 21 January, our First Year Girls’ GAA team had their first Wicklow B football match against Avondale Community College. Our girls got off to a great start with Layla Judge making some excellent saves in the goals. Summer Fitzsimons made some brilliant breaks up the pitch with great teamwork from Kate Barcoe.
Big well done to all our girls in defence who made it very difficult for the strong Avondale forwards to get through. The girls fought hard in the second half but, unfortunately, Avondale ran out the winners.
Junior Girls League Match
On Tuesday, 21 January, our Junior girls faced St Mary's at home in their second league game with both teams having won their first games last week. Both sides had chances in the first half but St Mary's grew stronger and scored three great goals to lead at half-time. Robyn Loughran was denied on several occasions by the St Mary's goalkeeper and, in the end, they were too strong for CCM on the day and scored a few more goals late in the second half.
CCM will be looking forward to their final league game against Glenart but currently have five points from two games which should secure them progression from the group and a semi-final to come in a couple of weeks’ time.
East Leinster Cross Country
The East Leinster Cross Country took place on Wednesday, 22 January, in the Phoenix Park. In the Senior Girls’ race, Aoibhe Mitchell finished 16th - agonisingly just one spot off qualification for Leinsters. In the Junior Girls, Summer Fitzsimons claimed a brilliant bronze and qualifies for the Leinsters. The Junior Boys headed out with a full team of eight runners - their efforts rewarded with a fantastic 4th place team position. They were led home by Alex Mernagh who took 14th and a qualification for the Leinsters!
Well done to everyone who ran. We wish Summer and Alex the very best going forward to represent CCM in the next round!
Leinster Senior Boys' Ultimate Frisbee Championship
On Thursday, 23 January, four teams set out for the Leinster Senior Boys' Ultimate Frisbee Championship in the National Indoor arena against 17 other teams. Hopes were high as this event is the qualifier for the Schools All-Ireland Championship later in the spring, though we were missing a few key 6th Year players who are preparing for mocks.
The TY team, made up of predominately new players this year, struggled in their first two matches, going into the bottom four. They grew so much as a team, tightening up their defence and playing much more calm and sensible offence. They even managed to win a sudden death game to play for 13th place - with Eoin Mitchell taking down a very difficult disc after some incredible plays from Arro Thomson and John Lynch. They took 14th in the end, losing by one to a Sancta Sabina squad of all past Ireland U20 players.
The Fifth year team started off with one win and one loss, going into the middle bracket. They had an unlucky draw in their pool which saw a difficult match-up. They went into the 11-12 game though, focused on finishing off the day on a win. They played a tall, athletic Beneavin side but their quick offence saw them take the win and 11th place.
Then, the second team played well, putting in four wins out of six over the course of the day and beating John Scottus in the end to take 9th place overall.
The day started strong for the first team, taking two very decisive wins. They entered a winners' bracket, seeded 6th. They played off against eventual winners Fintan's W and a few mistakes and misses outside the endzone saw Fintan's take the win. They also played a strong Gonzaga side (who took 2nd on the day) and despite being up, an injury on the pitch saw the tides turn and another loss. They left a battle for themselves, needing to win both games to qualify for All Irelands. They came out against Beneavin's with a calm and comprehensive victory, resetting their pace and playing their own game. We knew what to expect coming out against another Fintan's team in the final round. We were largely able to shut down their movement through the middle of the pitch with tight man-defence and hard aggressive forces on the throwers. Fintan's scored on the buzzer, making it another sudden death game. A power line of Cameron Little, Cuan Beirne, Bhailie Thomson, Joel Manyara and Toby Keating came out on offence, quickly turning as a result of serious defensive pressure. Joel got an incredible d, despite having slipped and being on the floor. They picked up the disc, throwing in a blade for the win. The sheer joy of 45 CCM players celebrating this win will not soon be forgotten.Their coach for the last three years, Ms Hosp, is delighted with how hard they worked over the course of the day and we all look forward to seeing how they progress at the All-Ireland Championship.
Minor Soccer
CCM 2-3 Templecarrig, Greystones
On Monday, 27 January, the CCM Minor Boys’ team played the current Leinster finalists in a league final which was action packed with some extremely talented young players from both teams. The conditions proved to be difficult right from the start with Templecarrig scoring two early goals in the first half with the aid of a gale force wind behind them. However, it was CCM that scored the third goal of the game just before half-time when captain, Alex Mernagh, scored a smart free kick from 30 yards. CCM were the stronger of the teams in the second half, but Templecarrig held on to the end to take the crown - Wicklow/Wexford 'A' league champions.
First Year Soccer
CCM 3-3 St. David's, Greystones
CCM First Year Boys put in an outstanding performance in their final group game vs St. David's, Greystones on Monday, 27 January. Both teams now finish as the top two in the group and CCM will now play Wexford CBS in the semi-final of the Wicklow/Wexford League. It looked like CCM would be victorious after a clever finish by Rian Cahillane to make it 3-2, but St. David's struck a long-range strike in the last few minutes to draw the game. A fair result overall.
🏀First and Second Year Boys Basketball 🏀
Our First and Second year boys have now played two of their league matches against East Glendalough and Woodbrook. With three wins out of four, our lads are showing great potential in their group. They have three games left to play until the playoffs - so we wish them well in their next encounters.
South Leinster Second Year Hurling
CCM 2-7 Ramsgrange CS 4-11
CCM Second years made the 220 kilometre round trip to Ramsgrange to play a talented local CS side. Against the wind and the hill in the first half, CCM conceded a number of scores despite the best efforts of Sam Cwazlina in goals and Rory Grove at full back. A well-worked goal from Tommy Morrissey and excellent points from Rory on a foray into the forwards kept us in the game. The team were 9 points down at half time, however, but came out battling in the second half with the benefit of the wind. Alex McKenna took several very fine points and Jack Madden worked tirelessly to win possession. Unfortunately, goals win matches and on this occasion the lads were unable to find the necessary scores despite their best efforts. Overall a very good team performance in spite of the result.
The lads look forward to welcoming Kilkenny and Carlow opposition in their next two games at home. Thanks to Eoin Lawlor, Senan O’Donovan, Jack Neville, Nathan Duffy Gough, John Lynch, and Jack O’Leary for their help in looking after the lads on the day.