Loreto Sports Newsletter
Newsletter 2014
Co-ordinator’s Welcome
Golf
As the 2014/2015 school year draws to a close, I would
like to acknowledge the huge contribution of teachers,
sports co-ordinators, coaches, students and management
in the school nationwide. As we reflect on the past year I
feel there is huge cause for pride and celebration in term
of the achievements and memorable sporting occasions
that we enjoyed this year. Congratulations to you all on a
fantastic year. Without everyone’s generosity of time and
energy, we would not have the range of sporting activities
and the high level of competition both regionally and nationally. I wish you all a very enjoyable summer and thank
you most sincerely for your support of the network. Our
annual meeting will take place on Thursday 10th September. I look forward to working with you all again next year.
See you in September.
Elaine Dillon
The second Loreto Schools Golf Competition was held in
Wexford Golf Club on Friday 1st May. Again there was a
great turn out from seven Loreto schools including Bray,
Foxrock, Stephens
Green, Kilkenny,
Beaufort, Dalkey
and Wexford.
Basketball
The Beaufort Senior A Basketball team finished off a very successful six years of basketball with a comprehensive win over Loreto
Dalkey in the Oblate Hall Inchicore on the 14th of January.
Beaufort controlled the game from the tip off with quick baskets
from captain Aoife Hughes followed by some well placed 3 pointers from vice captain and game mvp Lauren Flynn. Some well taken fast break layups from Rachel Cleary and an excellent defensive
performance from Isabel Maguire proved crucial, all 4 girls were
all playing in their final game for the
school.
Beaufort went in at the half with a comfortable lead but Dalkey came back strong
in the 3rd quarter to cut the lead to 10.
Superb defensive plays from 5th years Sarah Staunton, Zoe Rodgers and Amy Doolan along with good scores from Laura
McCarthy and Ellen Hughes saw Beaufort
retain their title with a final score of 50-35.
We were unfortunate to lose Ellen Kirwan early in the season to
injury and we all wish you the best of luck and a speedy recovery
from your recent knee surgery.
This final win marks an impressive six Loreto league titles in six
years for this year’s departing 6th years, a great achievement and
congratulations girls and Mr Charles.
From the 4 6th year players we would like to thank Mr Charles for
all his hard work over the last 6 years and wish the team all the
best in the future.
Lauren Flynn. Loreto Beaufort.
38 players played
18 holes stableford competition
in dry conditions.
The scores on the
day were fantastic
with some of the competitors only playing the course for
the first time. Lady Captain Yvonne MacSweeney and
Vice Lady Captain Denise Dunne welcomed all visitors to
the club and presented the prizes.
Thanks again to Loreto Wexford and to Wexford Golf club
for hosting the event again this year.
Results:
1st: Caitlin Sherin (25) Foxrock, 40pts
2nd: Katie O’ Byrne (33) Dalkey, 39pts
3rd: Laura Mc Carthy (27) Foxrock, 38pts B9
4th: Laoise Horgan (28) Dalkey, 38pts.
Nearest the pin: Emma Walsh (26) Foxrock.
Tennis
Leopardstown Tennis Club was the venue for
this year’s tennis competitions from the 7th –
11th May.
There were four minor teams, seven junior
teams and five senior teams taking part. Well
done to everyone who took to the courts and for
the excellent displays on all days.
Dalkey won the minor and senior competitions
with Stephen’s Green as runners up in the minor
and Balbriggan won the junior event with Stephen’s Green in second place.
A big thank you to Dalkey for organising the
event.
Hockey
Athletics
On April 16th Loreto Kilkenny played host to the Loreto
Once again we had a record year for participation in the Loreto
Hockey Leagues, with over 73 teams playing at all levels from First Sports athletics competition for the second year running.
13 Loreto schools participated in the event which was
Years to Senior.
held at The Watershed Complex, Scanlon Park.
The Senior A final between Beaufort and Foxrock was played in
The glorious sunshine
the Irish Hockey Stadium in UCD. Both schools brought large
number of supporters who helped to make the atmosphere and highlighted the fantastic
the match electric. Beaufort won 2-1 on the day in a very evenly facilities and made the
day all the more enjoyacontested game with some fantastic hockey and young stars on
ble for athletes and supdisplay. Foxrock came out winners in the Senior 2 section also
against Beaufort and Beaufort went on to win the Senior 3 and 4 porters alike. The day
kicked off with the track
cups, showing their strength at this level.
The Junior Section was dominated by Foxrock, the A final was also heats, and as the sun
warmed up, so did the competition! There were some
played in UCD with mascots entertaining the crowd and the
great performances, with every school showcasing their
teams. The game was contested between Beaufort and Foxrock
with Foxrock winning, playing some fabulous hockey. Dalkey won wide variety of talent and determination. There were no
their Junior B trophy, the first of two for the seaside school. Jun- less than 300 competitors across three age groups, minor,
junior and senior.
ior C, D and E leagues were all won by Foxrock a fantastic
Loreto Kilkenny out in a stunning performance to win the
achievement.
event for an impressive consecutive sixth year. It was a
At minor level there were medals evenly spread between 3
schools with Foxrock winning well at Minor. Bray won one of their tremendous team effort, showing the benefits of hard
2 trophies at Minor B and winning again at Minor E. The minor C work and determination.
A tight fight for second place occurred between Foxrock
trophy was won by Foxrock and Dalkey went on to win more
and Loreto on the Green, who drew in the overall results,
medals at Minor D.
with Loreto Wexford in an impressive fourth place. Leah
Our first year leagues were played in a one day tournament format which proved very successful. There was some future hockey Curtain of Loreto Dalkey was deservedly awarded the
stars in the making on show. The A and B tournament hosted by Aine Dalton shield for Senior Discus. Congratulations to all
Dalkey and both were won by Foxrock. We played some fun tour- the athletes who participated, most of whom contributed
naments for the rest of the first years with teams from Mullingar to the team points and especially to those who were
and Balbriggan travelling to Dublin which provided a great experi- awarded medals.
Thanks are due to the PE Department at Loreto Kilkenny
ence for all those new to hockey.
Many thanks to all schools, coaches and players for their partici- and teachers Ms O’Hanlon, Ms Lanigan and Ms Holland. A
big word of thanks to Michael Hunt, President of ISAA and
pation and enthusiasm.
his team who, along with a group of 5th year volunteers
The Inaugural All Ireland Hockey Tournament.
Our first ever All Ireland Hockey Senior A tournament was played and P.E teachers of the Loreto schools, ensured that the
this season. The top two finalists in Dublin, Beaufort and Foxrock, event ran smoothly.
By Aisling Smith & Maeve Doheny
along with Kilkenny and Wexford played against each other in a
one day round robin tournament. The games were
played in Dalkey making
Loreto College Foxrock in conjunction with the Ladies Gaelfull use of their new state
ic Football Association held a very successful Ladies Footof the art Sports Hall.
ball TY/AS Programme recently. In total 20 TY students parThere was great exciteticipated in this very successful exciting two day proment at the chance to
gramme.Day one of the programme saw all participants
play some new opposition
develop their personal skills particularly in the areas of
and a brand new trophy
coaching and refereeing. Additionally, the students reup for grabs. Beaufort
ceived event management training which provided them
won all of their matches
with the necessary skills to organise an event for 200 first
finishing with a maximum 9 points to win the tournament with year students three weeks later.Day two saw 200 1st year
Foxrock coming second after a 1 v 1 shootout with Kilkenny. We students from Loreto schools from different parts of the
are looking forward to next season already and hope to have
country including Loreto College Foxrock, Loreto Dalkey,
some more schools involved,
Loreto Bray, Loreto Crumlin, Loreto Swords, Loreto Cavan,
Many thanks to Dalkey for hosting us all and to Wexford and
St. Michaels Navan and Loreto Stephen’s Green take part in
Kilkenny for travelling. It was a very worthwhile and enjoyable
a very successful blitz. The day saw everyone get an opporday for all teams.
tunity to experience ladies football in a safe and fun envi-
Gaelic Football
Joanne Brock. Hockey Co ordinator.
ronment. All participants thoroughly enjoyed the day and
went home with a goody bag and a smile.
Loreto Foxrock T.Y Students
Sailing
Swimming
Friday October 10th saw the inaugural Inter Loreto
Schools Sailing Regatta take place in Malahide Yacht Club.
Everyone arrived to near perfect sailing conditions. 34
girls from 7 different schools were entered. To make the
event as fair as possible we all sailed the same class of
boat, (Topaz’s). The girls from St. Stephen’s Green had all
the boats rigged and ready for us.
The annual Loreto Swimming Gala took place on the 20th of November in the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin. The impressive
venue alone made the Gala an exciting and much-anticipated event;
a huge number of students were competing from each school. From
Clonmel, we had girls from each year and for the first time were
able to fill three relay teams. All the girls put in an awful amount of
effort and practise for the day. Well done to everyone who took
part and congratulations to the girls who won their finals.
Having 12 boats for 34 girls was a problem so we were
split into 3 groups to compete in the qualifying series.
Thanks to our great race officer Ross Killian (2004 Olympian) 6 races, 2 per group, were
completed in no time. After a
quick break for lunch the top 4
from each fleet returned to the
water to compete in the finals.
The wind had picked up to a nice
breeze and racing was shortly
underway. After my performance in the qualifiers I knew I
had to achieve consistently good results to be in with a
chance of the overall title. After 4 races I won the title,
Nicole Hemeryck (St. Stephen’s Green) was in second
place and Erica Ruigork (Balbriggan) in third. It was very
close during the finals and some top quality racing was
had.
They were Amy Fitzpatrick who
won gold in the U14 backstroke;
Sarah Hickey who won bronze in
the U16 breaststroke; Hayley
Pleskach who won a bronze medal
in over 16 freestyle; Eibhín O'Brien won silver in over 16 freestyle;
and Niamh O'Sullivan who won a silver medal in the over 16 backstroke. An added achievement to our day was when we were presented with the spirit award for the most supportive and cheerful
Loreto at the Gala. This was achieved with the tremendous support
of the Transition year cheerleaders, the swimmers and Mr Kett for
helping to organise the
team.
We were very grateful to all
In the team competition we saw St. Stephens Green take those who were involved in
the title from Balbriggan, in second and Foxrock, in third. organising the event and to
the smooth running of eveSt. Stephen’s Green became the very first recipients of
ry aspect of it. The day
the Sr Hildergarde Trophy.
went off without a single
A great day was had by all and I would like to say a big
issue. Even when one or
thank you to Ciara Peelo for organising
two swimmers wanted to
the event and hope it will be just as successful in years to change from one stroke to
another before the race,
come.
there was no problem
Cara McDowell
whatsoever as we were accommodated to the fullest. There was
Portmarnock Community School
great sportsmanship on the day and despite being from different
schools, each student showed great respect for one another and
represented Loreto with pride by performing to the best of their
ability.
Our rugby blitz was a success with Loreto Dalkey and
Loreto Crumlin traveling to Cavan Rugby Club. Each team Faye Corbett, Sara Hogan and Sarah Hickey. Loreto Clonmel
played four games and there was a great display of tag
rugby. The final was played between Loreto Cavan and
Loreto Dalkey and after a tough game Loreto Cavan
came out on top. There was great sporting spirit shown
by all participants throughout the day and it was thoroughly enjoyed by both players and coaches. It was fantastic to see Loreto schools come together to have fun
and to show their sporting abilities. It’s clear to see that
there is a bright future for women’s rugby in Ireland and
Loreto schools will continue to
encourage their students to participate in this sport.
Tag Rugby
Piece by Aine Reilly (5th) , Sadie
Leddy (TY) and Ellie Galligan (TY)
Reminder Annual Sports Meeting
Thursday 10th September 2015
Orienteering
On 22th of April the Loreto schools of Crumlin, Bray, Balbriggan and
Cavan went to Tymon Park in Tallaght to take part in a fun day of orienteering. Our school was accompanied by two of our PE teachers,
Ms. Dillon and Mr. Quinn. Over 200 students took part and we were
split into juniors and seniors. From there we were split into groups of
six. There was a mixture of the four schools in each team. Each team
were given an electronic tag between two which we wrapped around
our fingers. We were also given name tags, maps and legends of the
grounds. Each team had to come up with a creative team name, e.g.
make up a word with everyone’s initials. Our team name was ‘Super
Six’.
The orienteering day consisted of each group inserting their electronic tags into an electronic box. The boxes were spread
out throughout the park and the aim of the game was to find, by aid of the map, the electronic boxes all around the park and
try to return to the finish line before the time limit. In total there was 30 electronic boxes to be tagged not including the
start/finish box.
The juniors began the course five minutes before the seniors. Each team had to wait approximately 2 minutes before the next team went to prevent each team from following
each other. On our team was Lauren Ellis, Aoife Ennis, Helen Nugent, Janine Satero and two
girls from Loreto Cavan, Niamh Bronsán and Roisin Lawlor. We came up with a strategy by
dividing the boxes up between each pair.
We found the game really fun, different and interesting. It was even more enjoyable as the
sun was shining and it was hitting twenty degrees. The fact that we had girls from another
Loreto school on our team gave us the chance to mix and gain new friends. We found it
hard because of how spaced out and hidden each control was around the park. They were
so dispersed that half of the controls were on the other side of the M50.
There was prizes for best team and best pair. When we returned to the finish line and
clocked in Lauren and I discovered through collecting our receipts from the game that we
tagged the most controls. Overall we found that it was a great experience with the sun
shining and that we got to interact with other Loreto schools. All of the students got along really well and all the teachers
were really supportive throughout the whole day.
A huge thank you to the P.E teachers and students of Loreto Balbriggan for organising such a great day.
By Lauren Ellis and Aoife Ennis. Loreto Crumlin.
Congratulations and well done to all students who participated in Loreto sporting events throughout
the year. Thanks to all those teachers who coached, trained, encouraged and gave of their time and
to principals and deputies who released students and teachers to take part. Have a wonderful summer.
Blathnaidh Colhoun, Loreto EDO.