Boys Football
The first match that Ballyduff played was against Glenbeg. We ran out convincing winners on a score line of 7-8 to 4-6.
Next up we played Ring in Ballyduff. Once again we came out winners 5-9 to 2-4. Our last match of the group stage
was against Tallow. We had a convincing win with a final score of 7-8 to 0-2. We had got through to the Western final
against Ring. On a cold Saturday morning we travelled to Dungarvan G.A.A. Grounds to take on Ring once again. We
started off well scoring a goal in the first 20 seconds from there on we never looked back winning 7-8 to 2-0 . We were
presented with the trophy and Tíreogháin Flynn accepted it on behalf of the school. County Final Day arrived finally
after it had been cancelled twice. It was on in Walsh Park, Waterford City. We were determined to win having lost 2
years in a row. The match started with us scoring a lovely goal through great team work. The next two scores were to go
Glór na Mara’s way with us up by a point 1-0 to 0-2. At half time we led 3-2 to 1-2. In the second half we played very
well. The first goal Glór na Mara got was an absolute beauty. If there was an award for goal of the year in Schools
Football this would win it easily. The second goal they scored brought it back to a point 3-3 to 3-2. Glór na Mara much
to the heartbreak of our boys scored a goal in the dying moments to clench the victory.
The team: Patrick McCarthy, Quentin Joyce, Fionán Walsh, Jason English, Cathal Murphy, Seán Hickey, Tíreogháin
Flynn, Daniel Kenneally, Paul Carroll, Billy Carroll, and Josh Ahern, Subs: Ryan Heise, James Flynn, Séamus Branagh,
Jack Keating, David Barry, Carthach Hickey, Matthew Bolger, Tony Browne. On behalf of the players we would like to
our manager Pat Murphy, teachers, parents and grandparents. By: Tíreogháin and Jason.
:
Junior Infants
Back row: Aislinn McCarthy, Caroline Kenny, Kyle
Creamer, Maeve Kearney, Callum Feeney,
Katie Kenny, Shane Daly and Rian Noonan
Front row: Pádraig Noonan, Ellen Beth Hayes, Ava Leamy,
John Morrisson, Matthew Gorman and Lily Kenneally.
Santa came to visit Junior and Seniors Infants.
Junior and Senior Infants performed their play “The Littlest Christmas Tree” for their families.
Girls Football
Western Final
Girls Ballyduff V.s Glenbeg
On the 8th of November the Ballyduff girls were triumphant in the Western Final played in Dungarvan G.A.A.
grounds also known as Dungarvan Business Park. The game started at 10 am and the final whistle went at
10:45am. The field was in atrocious condition so it was an awful game to play and a tiring one too. The Ballyduff
girls fought to the end and it paid off. The final score was 2-4 to 2-6. The captain was Aisling Noonan. A big
part of our team was our coach Gobnait Branagh. Thanks to the parents for transport and support and thanks to the
school. And happily we went through to the County final. By: Emily Casey & Sarah O’Brien.
County Final
The day of the County final against Kilmacthomas was nerve wrecking but exciting for the girls. The match was
played in Walsh Park. The match was very important for the girls especially for our fantastic coach Gobnait
Branagh.The match started at 2:45, 20 minutes a side. The two captains were Maeve Daly and Clodagh Bolger.
At half time we were level. It was very tense. The ref was kind to Kilmacthomas. In the end Ballyduff girls won
3-6 to 2-6. The girls were emotional but very happy with themselves and their performance. Maeve Daly the cocaptain gave the speech and took the plaque proudly. By: Maeve Daly & Ailsing Noonan.
Senior Infants & 1st Class
‘To Space and Beyond.’
In Senior Infants and First Class
we explored the Solar System like
astronauts, learning about the sun,
planets and space exploration. We
wrote lots of entertaining stories
about Space and read them out to
the class. As we were learning
about 2D shapes in mathematics
we integrated what we had learned
and used these shapes to make
rockets, space ships and alien
inspired pictures.
Senior Infants & 1st Class
Above right pupils during Halloween being creative.
More pictures from the Senior Infants& 1st class using shapes
to make rockets, space ships and alien inspired pictures.
2nd Class
As part of our History Programme this year, Rang a Dó were paid a visit by
Ben and Kate’s Granny. Abina was interviewed by all the class who were
fascinated by her account of her school days, no uniform, outside toilet and
bringing slices of bread and butter and jam for lunch! Albina’s mother
traded fresh eggs with the travelling shopkeeper who called in his van. She
especially liked to climb trees in Conna!!
We really enjoyed Albina’s informative visit and appreciate our school all
the more!
Tablets:
Enthusiastic pupils engaged in serious research projects.
The use of ‘tablets,’ brings a world of information straight
to our desks.
2nd Class and Santa
3rd & 4th Class
Danger, High Voltage
On Tuesday November 11th a science demonstration called: - Danger, High Voltage took place in Lismore Heritage
Centre. A lady from the London Science Museum presented the show. 4th, 5th & 6th classes from our school were
invited to enjoy the experience along with a few
other lucky schools. The show began by showing us how
important electricity is to us and how different
our lives would be without it. We learnt that Nikola Telsa was a
very important inventor who invented the
electrical system which we still use today. He was working on
the light bulb which took electricity to the
next level but of course there was a problem. These lights
were for outdoor use and the generator
was the size of an elephant and could only light a few lights.
Thomas Edison improved it and quite a
few wealthy people supported him and gave him a healthy
stream of money to work with. He
used it to make a huge lighting display in America. The
demonstration moved on to volts of
electricity. They were shown on a machine taking
static electricity out of the air and
measuring this in volts. We are then told about
another scientist and inventor
Benjamin Franklin. He believed that there was
electricity in lightning. He
demonstrated this by flying a kite during a
thunderstorm. The kite had a
metal key attached which was in a special jar
which could store electrical charges. He flew his kite just before a thunderstorm and collected enough charges from the
clouds to prove that there is electricity in lightning. We were told about the dangers of lighting. We were shown the
safest position to be in if you were caught out under a thunder and lightning storm, this was the “lighting crouch”. We
were also shown how electricity creates fire. When the show was over we were given pencils and rulers. We learnt a lot
about electricity and had a great day. By: Lily & Noelle 5th class.
Garda Valerie
Today Garda Valerie came to our school to talk to us about cyber bullying. She told us that people could be pretending
to be 10 years of age but they could actually be 60 years old, so we must be very careful about who we are talking to
online. Garda Valerie showed us a picture of a message; it said ‘everybody hates you’. She asked us, who you could tell
if you got that message? We told her that we should tell our parents or our teachers. After that she said if you got a lot
more messages you could ring the Gardaí. If the people sending such messages were found guilty the penalty is being
fined a lot of money or even up to seven years in gaol. We asked Garda Valerie lots of questions about cyber bullying.
Then she had to leave, we enjoyed her visit, it was very interesting. By: Mark Bourke
Santa and his elves came to visit
Seniors and 1st class. Santa and his
elves joined in with us singing Jingle
Bells and Santa Claus Coming to
Town.
Board of Management
The Board of Management, staff, pupils and broader school community would like to thank Our Parents Association for
their ongoing Support and fundraising. They have had a marathon autumn season which saw them ‘bag packing’
collecting clothes and old phones and printing school Christmas cards. They even had time to organise a Halloween
Disco ! The children are currently enjoying the use of “tablets,” which can be brought into the classroom. We thank the
Parents Association who contributed to their purchase. “ Ní neart go cur le chéile.”
Parents Association
The Parents Association would like to wish all the staff, pupils and parents of the school a Happy Christmas and a
prosperous New Year. We've had a busy year so far and we would like to extend our thanks for all the support we
received throughout 2014 and ask for your continued support in 2015.