The path to two finals
Our school hurlers were beaten in the 1997 schools final by Kilcooley. We started off the year by playing Newcastle in Killomordaly. The score was 6-9 to 1-3. Then we went on to play Castleblaakeny in Killmor. This was the only match we lost in 1998 after a mistake by the referee of playing ten minutes extra time. They beat us by four points. That did not matter to us, however. We went on to play our next match hoping that we would not get the same result as we did against Castleblakeny. We played Foghenagh in Clonfert. The team played very well and we won well. We went on to play the semi-final. We played Kiltartan in Kilconieran. It was a very close match, but we beat them by four points. We went on to play the final for the second year in a row.
A few weeks later we found out our opponents were Ballyturn. We were well into our school holidays before we played the final. We played the final in Loughrea. The score was 6-7 to 1-1.We had won the cup for the first time since 1989 and we will be back again.
1999
Gortanummera started off the year with a blitz. We were beaten by score difference. We were not really worried about this. We looked on to the '99 championship, and we hoped that we would be just as successful as we were in '98. We started off the '99 championship by beating Leitrim well. The score was 7-5 to 0-0. Then we played Moyglass. We beat them well. The score was 8-4 to 2-1.Then we played Derryoober . The score was 3-9 to 0-3. We went on to play the semi-final. We played Kilartan the score was 3-8 to 0-3.
Now we were in the final . We were playing Bullaun. The final was played in Loughrea. The score was 1-4 to 1-2 . We had won the final for the second year in a row. We thought that this was a great achievement for such a small school. We are looking forward to the championship in the year 2000.
By Ollie, John and Declan.
The trophy won in 1999 and drawn by Conor B.
We also play camogie in the school. Below is a picture of our school team in 1997 with their trainer Noeleen Cormican.
Throughout the ages, Gortanumera people have involved themselves in many and various sporting activities such as athletics, tug o’ war and rugby. The formation of the Gaelic Athletic Association in the second half of the 19th century gave rise to many hours of pleasure and involvement for a large number of its youths. In 1997, Portumna community school won the Connacht junior Hurling Final with a team, which included Keith and Damian Hayes, Michael Dolphin, Ivan Canning and Ivan Muldoon. Gortanumera won the Kilmacrud Crokes 7-a-side hurling final in September 1998, beating another Galway club, Athenry, in the final.
Declan.
Sport; Rugby.
Probably the greatest rugby success from a Gortanummera viewpoint came in 1997 when Ivan Muldoon from Gortnacooheen, captained the schools rugby team to win the Connacht junior cup for the first time in the schools history. The team also included John Muldoon and Damien Hayes who scored the winning try on the day. James Coughlan from Graigakilleen trained this successful team. Ivan Muldoon has since gone on to represent Connacht schoolboys at u-17 level and toured England with the squad in 1997. In 1998 he was a member of the Connacht school boys u-18 panel and has already had a trial for the Irish youths. He is a nephew of James Muldoon, the Olympic oarsman.
[Extract from Lickmolassy by the Shannon]
John K Leahy, Joseph Canning and Declan Madden.
Historical Background of the School
Staff page
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