Sports Section

Drim/Derrybrien Hurling Matches 2002.

My name is Eamon Riordan and I am twelve years old. I play for my school team which is called Drim/Derrybrien. Derrybrien is a school about five miles from our school. We join together for hurling because we are two small schools. I usually play in different positions on the field. My dad Leo is the manager of the team. We reached the Quarter Finals of the championship this year but that’s as far as we got. First of all we played Kiltullagh N.S. and we won. Next we played Attymon N.S. and the final score was 8 goals and 2 points for us and 4 goals and 2 points for the other team. Then we played Caltra/Castlefrench. These two small schools are near Mountbellew, Co. Galway. We had now qualified for the Quarter Finals which were held in Loughrea. We came to Loughrea hoping for a good result. In our final match, we played Raheen N.S. which is near Portumna. They were very good and they won. But at least we’ll go down in history for getting to the Quarter Finals! We can’t go on forever but we enjoyed meeting the other schools and getting as far as we did. We would like to say ‘thanks’ to Gerry Flynn who comes to our school and trains us every week.

Soccer

This year for the first time Drim N.S. entered the F.A.I.S (Football Association of Ireland Schools) competitions and our manager was my dad, Pat Kenny. We went to Mervue on Thursday 9th of May. We lost our first match 1-0 and we rested for a half-hour. Then it was our turn to play and I scored a goal. But we lost 2-1 at the end. We had an hours rest. We returned to the pitch and we were losing 1-0. But we came back and scored two goals and the score was 1-2 in our favour. We were now winning but the other team came back and made it 2-2. There were loads of supporters shouting. We came back and won the match. We were delighted ! Pat said that Aisling was ‘Woman of the Tournament’ and Paul Farrell and I were the top scorers. Even though we were knocked out in this round we enjoyed the excitement and playing against the other teams.
By Bryan Kenny.
10 years.

Chess

This year we signed up for the E.S.B. Schools Chess Tournament. We went to a workshop in Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh in Galway city. At this workshop a man called Michael Crowe showed us different moves and what the pieces could do. He also played against each one of us. We got three chess sets so we could play in school. Another school came to play against us during the year. The name of the school was Barnaderg N.S. but we lost. We also went to Oranmore Boys’ N.S. but I was unable to go because I was on my holidays in Croatia. Chess is a game for two people. Each person has an “army” of sixteen pieces and the object of the game is to trap your opponent’s King. Here’s some friendly advice for anyone interested in playing chess: The best way to improve your chess is to play as often as possible. If you play against someone slightly better than you, this will really improve your game, as you can learn from watching his or her moves. Do not be put off if you lose a lot of games at first, as you will probably learn from your mistakes!
By Carla Gaberscik
10 years

Clash of the Ash in Cappataggle.

It was a wet dreary evening in Cappataggle but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the Drim/Derrybrien supporters or the Attymon supporters. Drim/Derrybrien had come to play a hurling match against Attymon. The game commenced at twenty past seven. Drim/Derrybrien won the throw in. From there Eamon Riordan soloed the sliotar up the field for an easy goal. The goalie hit the sliotar up to the Attymon centrefield player who was stopped from scoring a goal. But he scored a point. Bryan Kenny hit the sliotar into the midfield but an Attymon midfielder intercepted it. He was about to hit the sliotar to one of the Attymon forwards but was blocked by Stephen Broderick. Justin Kelly grabbed it out of the air placed it on the hurl and soloed up the pitch. Two Attymon midfielders came at him. He hand passed the sliotar to Shane Casey who pucked it up to Eamon who scored another goal. One of the Attymon players hit Paul Farrell across the head in his anger. Drim/Derrybrien was awarded a free. Paul raised the sliotar and hit it into the back of the net. The commentator shouted out the score: two goals to one point. At that the referee blew the whistle for half time. Drim/Derrybrien formed a circle where the manager Leo Riordan said, “Play as well as you did in the last half and we’ve this one in the bag!”. Five minutes later the referee blew the whistle and all the players took their places. Drim/Derrybrien won the sliotar again. Paul soloed up the pitch and hand passed it to Eamon who scored another goal. During the next ten minutes Drim/Derrybrien scored three more goals. Attymon scored two goals and a point. Then it started to get rough. The Drim/Derrybrien team got five frees in ten minutes and Attymon got two in the same amount of time. Eamon hand passed the sliotar to Paul who soloed up to the goals and hit it into the back of the net. Drim/Derrybrien had won. The commentator was shouting the score in the background but it was drowned out by the cheers from the Drim/Derrybrien supporters. What a well-deserved victory for these two small two teacher schools who had joined forces to display some wonderful hurling talent.
By Rónán Cooney.
Aged 12 years.

Lakeside Celtic v.'s Mervue

Hello! Here we are with Lakeside Celtic and Mervue B at a soccer match in Loughrea on April 8th 2002. It’s kick off time now and Lakeside get the toss and they pick tip. Kelly passes it to Gavin back who passes it to Mc Ghee but he loses it to Murphy. He loses it again. Now it’s a corner. McGhee takes it. Kelly heads it and it’s a GOAL!! He celebrates! He’s wild with excitement. Mervue B take tip. Murphy to Tribeone and it goes for a throw. Emmet Mahony goes on for Darren Cravan. Lakeside Celtic have most possession. Hoban to McGhee to Kelly and it’s another goal for Gerard Kelly! That puts them 2-0 up at five minutes before half-time. The referee blows the whistle for half-time. We’re back again. P.Hooban goes on for Gary Madden. Hooban takes a shot but the goalie saves it once again. He kicks it out and the midfielder gets it and takes a shot but it goes wide. The defender takes the kick-out. They are tackling and another substitute goes on for Lakeside Celtic. It is Bryan Kenny for Gerard Kelly. It is a throw for Mervue B and they take it. Kenny gets it. He runs in and out of the defender and takes a shot, which deflects off the goalie, and he shoots again. It goes to the top corner and it’s a GOAL! The score is now 3-0 and it is nearly over. The ball is up the other side. The defender gives a stupid tackle and it is a free-kick. He goes for a goal but the goalie catches it and slams it out. The time is nearly up. The ball is going in the box. He passes the goalie and the defender behind gives a tackle. The referee gives a penalty. Murphy takes it and hits it wide. O’ Shea kicks it but the time is up. The players shake hands. Man of the Match is Gerard Kelly.

That’s it for today.
This is Thomas Hunter reporting for the 'Connacht Tribune'!