st. conleth¶s times. conleth s times june 2014 parting class wall of fame → of course, this being...
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With the rise of Buskers’ Corner, and the now
Glastonbury-like line-up of the annual School
Concert, it is clear that music is now at the heart
of what we do at St. Conleth’s, and it is fitting
that it plays such a significant role in our
Graduation Ceremony. Future graduates, howev-
er, will find it difficult to match the pure class of
2014: In both the religious ceremony and the
awards and speeches event that followed, music
was the perfect accompaniment for the prayers,
thoughts and memories, from Matthew Collins’
delicate opening piano piece through the rather
shockingly good, plaintive notes of the Backdoor
Boys to the whole class rendition of ‘Shine’. →
St. Conleth’s Times June 2014
Parting Class
→ Of course, this being St. Conleth’s, the musical challenge
was more than met on the rhetorical front by Captain James
Lardner, Girls’ Captain Aisling Foster, Principal Donal
ODulaing and PPU President Ronan ’3 Minutes’ O’Kelly. Their speeches
captured perfectly the bittersweet nature of the evening, and Sean Moriarty
and Will Hamilton’s picture-shows provided the perfect backdrop for their
musings. The serious business of awards also had to be decided, and this
year the usual painful decisions were compounded by the fact that there
were multiple contenders for each award, and some worthy students
finished second or third in several competitions. Alas, without a PR-STV
system in place, it is first past the post! Catherine Prasifka was honoured
with the Woods Bowl for her dark ‘closing chapter to an Irish novel’: late
Rowling in style, indeed! Robert Byrne earned some recompense for two
years of early morning Latin and scooped the John Kelly Award with a
exposé on the delightful personal lives of the Roman emperors; Alan King
confounded the stereotype of the anti-social lab rat Science ‘type’, winning
the Galileo Thermometer with good grace, as well as considerable
knowledge; and Matthew Collins spoke up against the ruling patriarchy in
Irish, French and Spanish and accepted the Linguist Award; Ross Duffy
took home the Geography Prize, as well as the respect of every teacher;
Jack Kirwan, whose brush-stroke is as sweet as his voice, won the Art
Prize; and David ‘101101’ Hassett took the Math Prize, having spent many
an English class in preparation! Our male sports captains Daniel Foreau,
David Macken and Robert Cahill were joined by Ariana Coyle, who cap-
tained girls’ basketball and golf, and added the Sports Award itself. And it
was rather appropriate that the biggest prize, the Bank of Ireland Pupil of
the Year Award, was won by musical maestro Evan Kennedy!
Wall of Fame
The variety contained in the following list of
awards is proof that St. Conleth’s recognizes
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences! (clockwise)
Students of the Year, who obviously put together
an impressive mix of said talents: 1: Aviral
Shukla, Tómas Clancy; 2: Harry Mansfield and
Gavin Nugent; 3: Ross Murphy and Ross Duffy;
5: Paul Mooney and Isabelle Connolly; Junior
Music Prize winner (over much competition, as
noted!): Cian O’Connor; Masters of Math (as rec-
ognized by the Irish Math Teachers’ Association
and the Kangaroo Competition): Oisín Carroll,
Alex Kennedy, Ralph Swords, Gavin Roche-
Griffin, Stephen Allen, Jacq Herbots, Michael
McKay and Brendan Connor (as well as Paul
Mooney); Junior Linguist Award (with a penchant
for comparative grammar): Harry Swords; Junior
Science Award (yet least likely to blow up lab):
Sean Keane; French Award (pour une meilleure
pronunciation): Rory Smyth and Simon Pettitt.
When Mr. McGrath was a young
man, and wandering the streets of
Greenwich Village in bellbot-
toms and lambchops, searching
for his lost shaker of salt and the
basement tapes, he endured two
seminal and controversial mo-
ments in musical history: Dylan
plugging in and the Beatles con-
sciously de-grouping. He now
must add a third: Evan Kennedy,
singer/strummer/picker/roadie/
rapper/drummer/guru supreme, is
leaving St. Conleth’s for a bigger
stage! There has not been an
event at the school in the last six
years which Evan has not brightened with his multi-facetted talent and his effort-
less cool. And this McCartney/Lennon hybrid had some pretty significant associ-
ates: From Jack Kirwan’s vocal purity through Robert Cahill’s growlsy crooning
to Jarlath Dolan’s matinee looks and moves, the Class of 2014 will be missed,
musically, indeed. All is not lost, however, as the Fay/Sheridan Hit Factory keeps
churning them out. Indeed, our concerts and Buskers’ Corners are standing room
only, on stage and in the audience: Fifth Years’ rock-band Side-
winder, with Theo Kelly, Daniel Barry, Conn O’Cléirigh, Sean
Allen and Megan Jones, are being pushed themselves by First
Years’ Unity, including
Charlie Downes, Harry
Rooney, Joe Gallagher,
Pierce Roberts and
Eoghan Fitzmaurice. →
(a young Evan Kenendy)
LET IT BE
→ Of course, there continue to be
more informal couplings and
groupings, often reflecting that
special Conlethian lack of bor-
ders: 1st Year Stephen being
backed by 6th Year Evan and 3rd
Year Daniel Barry while he sang
Don’t want to Miss a Thing is
just one such highlight. Other
memorable musical moments:
Robert Cahill and Sadbh Malin
duelling through a flawless Fairytale of New York ;
Second year talent such as John Moore, Edmund
Tucker, Jonathan O’Connell and Bernard McDonnell
becoming mainstays of the scene; the brothers Barry,
Tony and Johnny, bringing their roguish charm to the
stage; Daniel Barry accompanying anyone and every-
one and no-one on the piano; Matthew Collins and
Cian O’Connor keeping it classical on the strings;
and who can forget the undoubted rhythm of Oisín
Carroll’s juggling spectacular!
T(R)Y Experimentation is the name of Mr. Bolger’s TY game
and anyone who came to the grand finale performance
of The Mikado saw a group of boys who all were
willing to try something new. (We assume that the
cross-dressing was new…) Michael McKay, Rian
Boyle, Simon Ghose, Philip O’Hanrahan, Robert
Cripwell, Richard Hogan, Sean Frison-Roche, Noah
Brabazon and JP McGilligan Award-winner Daniel
Gilligan took the leads in Ms. Fay and Mr. Gallagher’s
hilarious production, but every lad and lass gave it
their all, and parents and teachers were well-
impressed, as they were with the presentation of the
array of accomplishments from this year: Build-A-
Bank National Finalists and Best Digital Bank Win-
ners; the Blue Shield ’Bully’ Programme, Mini-
companies galore, various work experiences from the
High to the Food Courts, Christmas Fair, Miki’s EU
junket, law seminar, photography, bridge, cooking…
Daniel was joined by Elliott Browne and Shane Mo-
lamphy in being singled out for special achievement,
with Elliott being honoured for his tireless efforts in
ICT and photography and generally keeping the school
running, and Shane showing the spirit and camaraderie
implied in an award named for Neill Quinlan. Daniel
himself scooped the big one for best TY student, but
all of the boys deserve accolades for a year well spent.
St. Conleth's brought the clash of the
native ash to Herbert Park, the very
heart of ascendancy culture. For once,
bowls, croquet and polo were not the
order of the day, as the Irish Depart-
ment of ODulaing, Fay and Ahern led
our annual Seachtain na Gaeilge occu-
pation of D4's undulating greens. A
great afternoon was had by all, and though the poitin was scarce, the craic, and lattes, were
flowing! Our Irish debaters, Aisling, Matthew and Luke Tuohy also did us proud, making it
into the second round of the Gael Linn debates. The French Department of Mr. Porzadny and
Ms. Cohen responded to this modern language challenge with typical Gallic flair: Les Jeunes
Professeurs are always at the cutting edge technologically, with their www/Skypebook/
Facetweeting activities, and it pays dividends: Débatteurs Français Daniel, Megan, Theo and
Conor made it to the Finals, with both Daniel and Conor winning best speaker awards along
the way. Mr. Porzadny also joined Mr. McGrath and Mr. Maguire on a little jaunt to the sunny
climes of southern France over Easter; along for the trip were fortysomething First and Second
Years, who enjoyed the cuisine, the culture and the outdoor adventure of the locale. Sadly,
Mr. Porzadny will have a new partner in French next year, as Ms. Cohen sets sail to exotic
ports. She will be missed sorely by students and staff alike. Au revoir!
Seachtain na Gaeilge:
L’année des Français
The exodus from one side of Dublin 4 to the other began at break-time, and though we lost a
few stragglers in the 'Ringer', most of the students eventually arrived at Irishtown Stadium,
ready to enthusiastically take part in one of our most eagerly anticipated yearly rituals:
St. Conleth's Senior School Sportsday. All the usual suspects were there: Mr. Keenan, our strong but silent Commander of All
Sports; Gavin 'Gav' Maguire, witty yet deadly efficient Master of Ceremonies; the Parents' Association, cooks and partisans su-
preme; various teachers, now old hands at their various athletic stations; and, of course, hordes of Tuck Shop-fuelled adoles-
cents, bouncing up-and-down with adrenalin and competitive zeal. This last group spent the day, or at least the mid-afternoon,
running, jumping and throwing things with glee and then cheering (and laughing) as others took their turns. The most important
competition was saved until last: We see above the once-again victorious Staff Soccer Team, having just vanquished a motley
group of callow Sixth Years. In the states, there is a saying: ‘”Gotta love a trier.” It sums up perfectly recent Sixth Year
performances. Highlights were Willie ‘Stonewall’ Malone bellowing out orders from between the sticks and Pierce
‘Any Body Part Will Do’ Aherne inheriting the scoring touch of Gerry Dunne and the subdued celebration of Alan
Shearer. And of course, our little known TY student, Mark, and Saturday morning French teacher dominating midfield.
Overall, A fitting flourishing finish for our retiring field general: The Great 'Ooh Ahh' Pat McGrath!
‘A’ for Effort!
The exodus from one side of Dublin 4 to the other began at break-time, and though we lost a
few stragglers in the 'Ringer', most of the students eventually arrived at Irishtown Stadium,
ready to enthusiastically take part in one of our most eagerly anticipated yearly rituals:
St. Conleth's Senior School Sportsday. All the usual suspects were there: Mr. Keenan, our strong but silent Commander of All
Sports; Gavin 'Gav' Maguire, witty yet deadly efficient Master of Ceremonies; the Parents' Association, cooks and partisans su-
preme; various teachers, now old hands at their various athletic stations; and, of course, hordes of Tuck Shop-fuelled adoles-
cents, bouncing up-and-down with adrenalin and competitive zeal. This last group spent the day, or at least the mid-afternoon,
running, jumping and throwing things with glee and then cheering (and laughing) as others took their turns. The most important
competition was saved until last: We see above the once-again victorious Staff Soccer Team, having just vanquished a motley
group of callow Sixth Years. In the states, there is a saying: ‘”Gotta love a trier.” It sums up perfectly recent Sixth Year
performances. Highlights were Willie ‘Stonewall’ Malone bellowing out orders from between the sticks and Pierce
‘Any Body Part Will Do’ Aherne inheriting the scoring touch of Gerry Dunne and the subdued celebration of Alan
Shearer. And of course, our little known TY student, Mark, and Saturday morning French teacher dominating midfield.
Overall, A fitting flourishing finish for our retiring field general: The Great 'Ooh Ahh' Pat McGrath!
Conlethians just do not stay put. Above we see Pro-Consul Peter
Gallagher with our Sixth Year Leaders at the opera, a much-
enjoyed tradition started by Mrs. Kelleher years ago. We also see, above and below, our Trini-
ty and UCD entrance scholars from the Class of 2013. Christopher Swords and James Clarke
are pursuing degrees in Maths and Psychology at Trinity. Not pictured is Conan Quinn, hon-
oured by the Faculty of Law. He was absent on the evening because he was involved in univer-
sity debating, a common Conlethian alumnus pursuit. Cillian Murphy and Paul O’Dwyer were
honoured similarly at UCD by the Schools of Business and Law. The story behind our certifi-
cate-wielders below? Well...they came! They spoke! They conquered! The St. Conleth's Clas-
sics and Latin students are like snow leopards: they are few; they lurk in the shadows of the
early morning; they are endangered; but when they decide to venture out of Room 2 and go on
the hunt... watch out! At the Annual Classics and Latin Teacher Speech Competition at Trinity
College, the motley gang of breakfast clubbers and ruin
enthusiasts smote some heavy competition from Gon-
zaga, Clongowes and John Scottus to walk away away
with the laurels and the lucre. Robert Byrne and Conor
White finished First and Second with their precise yet
passionate Virgil in Latin Recitation, and Christopher
Costigan stunned the audience with Jason's emotional
last plea from Medea, taking First Place and a cheque
for 50 euro, marking one of the few times that money
has actually come out of TCD! The phalanx followed
up by splitting into three and placing 3rd, 8th and 12th
out of 32 teams at the Ides of March Table Quiz. We
also see Andrew Wheeler of the Class of 2012 receiving
his rare Gold Gaisce from President Higgins and the
semi-finalists of Ms. NíAonghusa’s in-house Chess
Tournament: James Tempany, Miki and Mati Remi and
Phillip Carroll. Mati beat
Miki in the final, a gruelling
1 1/2 hour match. Mr. and
Mr. and Mrs. Remi must be
very proud! And (above)
Harry ‘Mr. Initiative’ Mans-
field congratulates Alex
Kennedy and Tony Barry
for winning his inspired
World Book Day ‘Spot the
Teacher’ competition.
Around Town
Yes, the only students scoring low numbers at St. Conleth’s are
the members of the golf team! Above we see Ariana Coyle tak-
ing a selfie with the winning Leinster Ladies’ Golf Team. Aria-
na has also golfed internationally for Ireland and is off on schol-
arship to join the Penn State Nittany Lions. The male support-
ing cast of our school golf team are also seen, displaying that
quintessential debonair flair in posture and attire, as well as
pitch and putt. Matthew McCormack has made the All-Ireland
Ski Racing Team and went off in January to compete very well at the European Lev-
el. Below you see Patrick Cahill tacking in the European Sailing Championships: he
and brother Cian have been competing at the top level for years. The
Cahills typify that well-mannered, successful yet modest type of Conlethian. Not
pictured, and hopefully not angry enough to make a point of it, is Phillip Cripwell,
steadily climbing the ranks in Junior, and now Senior, Irish Fencing. Athletics are a
recent field of endeavour for Conlethians, but judging by recent results at the East
Leinster’s, it is off and running. Below you see
our eager First Year participants but the real
stars were Mark Gilleran winning bronze in the
shot-put and Harry Morris and Tim Leary quali-
fying for the Leinster’s outright in Cross Coun-
try, and the latter following it up likewise in the
800m. Winning the ‘Eddie the Eagle’ Prize for
Effort and the Zelig Award for Ubiquity was
Tony Barry, who
entered no less than
seven events at the
competition, which
apparently has a
strict ‘three event
maximum’ policy.
And you thought
we were just a bas-
ketball school!
Well Below Par
After celebrating a Year
Mass with Fr. Michael, Mr.
Sheridan and Mr. Gal-
lagher showed their ecu-
menical spirit and led their
Religion classes on a trip to
the mosque in Clonskeagh
where they enjoyed a taste
of Islamic culture and prac-
tice. Their reception was
very warm and the experi-
ence was quite informative,
as the students learned that
there really is not that
much difference between
the two traditions. Both,
for example, obviously
value the educational and
moral development of
boys! Hopefully not plan-
ning for the next crusade,
First Years also took part
in the now legendary Cas-
tle Competition. Conor
Bourke won first prize
overall and Stephen Allen
took the Best Digital De-
sign. Now that will have
the Saracens shaking in
their boots!
That would be an ecumenical matter...
As Mr. ODulaing so elo-
quently said: there is no
teacher in the history of the school more
often and more warmly sought by re-
turning alumni than Pat McGrath. He is
also the most
photographed
teacher in the
annals of this
paper, such is his
dedication, en-
thusiasm and
sense of adven-
ture. He will be
dearly missed in
staffroom, class-
room...and
McCluskey’s!
...and where is Mr. McGrath?
Ho-um… wow!
Matthew Collins
and Christopher
Costigan opened
the year with victo-
ries in both the
UCD and the Trini-
ty Maces and one
could almost become overcome with the monotony of
such familiar results if it was not for the absolutely scin-
tillating oratory once again wielded by last year's Leinster
and All-Ireland Finalists. The rumour that Matthew
needs merely to arch an eyebrow and Christopher has only to display his trade-
mark smirk to win a debate is a slight exaggeration: The boys did actually need
to speak! And boy did they...just ask the 61other teams involved, who eventually
slumped into speechlessness themselves. The team that gave
them the toughest fight was St. Conleth's own Conor White
and Daniel Gilligan, and there-in lies the rub. Conleth’s de-
bating is ever-strong because it is ever-renewing. The news
that Matthew, Christopher and Daniel were to be three of the
five person Irish Team heading to the Worlds in Thailand was
thrilling, but we probably also had a case for the fourth spot!
At the less than global level, we have not done too shabbily
either: Our Junior team of Sean Pettit and Oisín Herbots
made it the Leinster Final and Harry Mansfield and Simon
Pettitt were not far behind. Back home, in the cauldron that
forged such rhetorical mettle, Matthew and Christopher brave-
ly split up to try something new and the team of Conor and
Daniel won both the Bouchier-Hayes Plate and the Gardner Cup. Matthew did, how-
ever, in our last glimpse of these greats at the school level, edge out Christopher for
the individual Kinlen Cup. Oisín Herbots showed a common touch and political cool
to win the O’Connor Cup, and appropriately received his trophy from that old
smoothie, Kevin Roach. First Year Alex Kennedy snatched the McCarthy Cup ahead
of strong competition, showing that the cavalcade of Conleth’s debating glory will
continue for some time yet, and received a handshake from a past Irish Team Cap-
tain, Paul O’Dwyer. Mr. Carvill even had time to host the Annual St. Conleth’s
Mace, which we had the
good grace to let some-
one else win! Where will
all these boys end up?
Well, two of our past
auditors, Barry Ward and
Frank Kennedy, were just
elected as councilors.
Watch this space!
W
O
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L
D
C
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A
S
S
How would you like this guy staring down at you at tip-off of an Under-15s
game? Well, pity the Scots then… Mark Gillleran scored 14 points for Ire-
land in an international match against our Celtic brothers, and blocked and
altered numerous shots en route to a 67-44 victory. Mark Ryan also made
news on other courts: playing at the top senior level for UCD-Marian and,
perhaps, about to ply his trade where it all began: the heartland of the good
old USA. Back home, things were tough in the B League, but Sixth Year
stalwarts David Macken, Oisín Carroll, Cian Cahill and Luke Tuohy never
gave up and fulfilled all our fixtures with plenty of pluck and a good bit of
style (Oisín’s famous trey!). MVP Shane Byrne led the U16s into battle, ably
backed by a small but dedicated group, including co-Most Improved Players
Christian Farrell and Sean Pettitt. Our Second Years suffered a bit from ‘big
man’ syndrome but MVP Harry Mansfield and MIP Luke Treacy never threw in the towel, and
importantly, showed up for training. The First Year team gave us great hope for the future:
MVP Eoghan Fitzmaurice was in a class by himself but MIP Pierce Roberts edged out a group
of four or five deserving players. They lost in the Dublin Plate Final, but for a team with no
club players, they did exception-
ally well. Let us see the great
enthusiasm and numbers for
training continue! Our girls
once again overcame the limita-
tions of our small selection pool
and made it to the Semi-finals of
their league. Great fun was had
on the various road-trips, includ-
ing a memorable flying column
trip to Finglas. Ariana Coyle led
as captain and was the jugger-
naut guard but everyone on the
small squad had to chip in and
did, from Chloe Stanley’s, Me-
gan Jones’s and Catherine Prasi-
fka’s tenacious ‘D’ to the silky
moves of the Spanish Duo of
Andrea and Carmen, to the lithe
movements of Ellen and Megan
all over the court.
Hoop du Jour
(→ from back) That remark isn’t
fair to the Second Years who have
stuck it out and taken their lumps,
knowing that their time will come.
MVP Aonghus Hegarty and MIP
Cian O’Mahony played for the JCT
but also led a small but dedicated
group of Second Years who made
some
bright sparks of their own in its shadow. Gav wants to
see the big numbers back on the pitch come Septem-
ber! Assistant coaches Shane ‘Big Daddy’ Robertson
and Buhli ‘Bush’ Mxunyelwa may be watching! Mr.
Sheridan and Mr. Kilcommons’s First Years showed
plenty of spirit and effort this year, with Tomás Clancy
and Hugh Downes earning notice, but with numerous
players in the running for the honours. And a very
young SCT, made up of mostly TYs, impressed Mr.
Trenier and Mr. Bolger with their ‘Doggettness’ under
adversity. The future looks bright for them, too.
Alumni let it be known: ‘Gotta love a trier” is no long-
er the motto of St. Conleth’s Rugby!
Back in the mists of time, when
Mr. Trenier was still a single lad,
buck-leppin’ over bales of hay in
pursuit of sheep, and Mr. Bolger
was taking his first tentative da-
ting steps at the Naas
Supermac’s, Gavin Maguire was
already holding a chunk of Lein-
ster metal. I remember it clearly:
my classmate, and rugby captain,
lying prone on a stretcher, like an
ailing Roman emperor on his litter, mustering the strength to
hold aloft the Leinster Shield in utter and spectacular triumph.
Years pass, photographs yellow and Donnybrook Fair be-
comes an empire, but finally we may have had a moment to
match that legendary afternoon. Gav’s JCT boys totally had
the best season ever (contemporary intonations) by a St. Con-
leth’s JC Team: They made no less than three
finals, losing very narrowly to Moyne and
Blackrock (Seconds!) and retaining the League
title by beating Gorey 17-7. MVP Nicholas
Foreau was helped mightily by MIP Colin Duffy
and a whole squad of dedicated and talented
players. Apparently, these mostly Third Years
are so fierce that some Second Years are waiting
till they get promoted to the SCT before they
venture onto the practice field! (over)→
C
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