We have training every Thursday with Mr. Callan, Mr. Corrigan and Mr. McQuillan. So far we have played one blitz in Darver. Two teams were picked and both teams won their games. We have done 5 weeks of training so far. We are enjoying it!By Alex Matthews, Paul Murphy, James McGlew (IF)
1st Year Basketball
We play with the 1st year basketball team and we play in the A division. We have started a tournament with six other teams. This will start in January. We are training very hard now. Our coach, Coach Ciarán, is very good. We are having loads of fun and enjoying basketball so far! By Sean Kearney and Eoin Diskin (IF)
U16 Hurling
St. Joseph’s U16 hurling team won their match against Lusk Community College. This match was part of the Dublin Top Oil Junior League. At half time, Lusk C.C were leading by 1 point but St. Joseph’s had a very strong wind against them. In the second half we were able to turn the game around. Lusk had a player sent off. The final score was 3-8 to 1-6, to St. Joseph’s. Thanks to Ms. Bugler and Mr. O’Brien. Thanks also to Mr. Ryan and Mr. Stephenson for accompanying us to the match.By Shane Reilly (2F)
U14 Gaelic Football
We played St. Mary’s in the Wolftone’s pitch a few weeks ago. When we got off the bust we went to the dressing rooms to get ready. Mr. McCole and Mr. Mathews announced the starting teams. After this we went and completed a very intense warm up. The first half was a great display of strength and composure from St. Joseph’s. Going into half time the score was 2-3 to 2-3. At half time our coaches had a chat with us. We think both teams had the chance to take the lead but in the end the final score was 4-6 to 4-6. Hopefully if we play St. Mary’s again we will beat them! By Tadhg Martin and Conor McGuirk
Junior Rugby
Last week the Junior rugby team played Ardee Community School in Ardee. It was a close game. St. Joseph’s couldn’t come out with a victory as a missed tackle led to a last minute try to Ardee. We gave it our best shot and we are ready for the next game! Thanks to Ms. O’Rourke! - Jack Carley (2R)
Golf
I play golf with St. Joseph’s every year. Ms. Moore and Mr. Farrell run golf in the school. We meet during the year to play against each other. I have a handicap of 6 and I’m a member of Baltray Golf Club. I won golfer of the year with my club two years in a row. - James Fanning (5.1)
Senior Basketball
On Monday 22 nd October the U19 team played Dunboyne in the U19 Northeast A league. We won this match. The U16 team also played Dunboyne but unfortunately they lost. We train Monday, Wednesday and Friday afterschool with Coach Ciarán. We are looking forward to the year ahead!
Rugby Update
Rugby Update :
Our juniors won against Malahide CS in the final game of the pool 56 - 25
Try scorers were
Joe Agbeyomi 2 tries
Alex Hanratty 2 tries
Paddy McGeary try
Stan Goodwin 3 try "hatrick"
Ryan Delaney
Cons by Tadhg Martin and Ben Savage
The Juniors are proving their strength in depth with a comprehensive defeat of a strong Malahide side.
The seniors demolished Malahide 46 -0
Tadhg O'Reilly scored 3 tries
Sean Healy
Conan Carroll
Shane Hickey
Andrew Dalton
Emmanuel Nyarko
Cons by Nathan Sutherland and James Farrell
The seniors put on a fantastic display of sustained power and back line play. The forwards carried superbly and made the hard yards at every breakdown.
St Josephs Junior Rugby team take the Duff Shield !
The Junior Rugby team won the Duff Shield in Donnybrook on March 15th defeating Naas CBS 25 points to 11. Captain Harry Lipscomb seen here lifting the trophy.
Philipe Saint André joins students at training camp
Philipe Saint André recently joined students from St Josephs at a pre Alps training day at The Curragh. Saint André is a former rugby union footballer who earned 69 test caps for France. After retiring, Saint-André found success as a rugby coach in both England and France. He was serving as director of rugby at Toulon before being announced as the successful candidate for head coach of France from 2011 to 2015. 25 students will travel to Tignes in the Alps on Sep 6th for 6 days for some pre season training at the PSA academy. Pictured above are L-R: Evan McGinn, Conor Sweeney, Maeve Hackett, Philipe Saint André, Niall McDonnell and Aaron Kierans.
New Rugby Kit Revealed for St Josephs
The junior rugby panel and coach Ms Hackett have been presented with the brand new St Josephs rugby kit co-sponsored by CTI Business Solutions and G Morgan and Sons furniture company. Come on ye boys in Blue! Check out some more photos below of our slick new jerseys.
U 16 Gaelic Footballers win North Leinster Final
St Joseph’s recorded back to back North Leinster wins with a comprehensive victory over St. Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise. The Joe’s took the game to the Laois side early on and recorded points from Ross Nally, Sean Birch, Ben McKenna and Ciaran Downey but it was a goal expertly taken by Nally that put the Drogheda side in complete control. The Joe’s direct football and running were causing all sorts of problems and from a lovely team move. Gerard Harding had a shot brilliantly saved but Birch slammed home the rebound. Points from Bannon, Harding and Downey increased the Joe’s advantage by half time. The second half was a scrappy affair as Joe’s defence including Fergal O Donoghoe, Luke Cormican and Ian Connor dominated proceedings. The Joe’s upped the game in the last ten minutes and pulled further away with a hat trick of cool penalties taken by the excellent Emmet Carolan. The Joe’s had some excellent performances from Nally, Jamie Kelly and Paul Mathews but Conor Farrell was a real leader on the day and collected the man of the match award.
St Joseph’s winsU16 B Boys All Ireland Basketball Schools Cup Final 2014
St Joseph’s Drogheda 47 (17) – (R O’ Sullivan 18, L Cormican 11, I Connor 5)St Andrew’s, Dublin 33 (23) – (J Brown 10, A Lee 9, A Wilson Flynn 6) MVP – Robert O’Sullivan An outstanding third quarter performance saw St Joseph’s of Drogheda mount a miraculous comeback against their opponents which was more enough as they easily defeated St Andrew’s of Dublin by 47-33 to be crowned the U16 B Boys All Ireland Schools Cup Champions for 2014. A top quality attacking display from St Joseph’s forward Robert Sullivan, which saw him score an impressive 18 points and 6 rebounds, was more than enough for him to be named the games MVP. Excellent first quarter defensive displays from St Andrew’s Alex Wilson Flynn and James Brown prevented St Joseph’s from scoring heavily early on and forced the Drogheda side to focus their attack from the 3 point line. However, a standout performance from Sullivan made sure that the teams remained evenly matched at 13-13 at the end of the period. Sullivan easily dribbled past the St Andrew’s defence to convert 7 points in quick succession for his side, just after his captain Bobby Cudden had opened the scoring in the game. The second quarter saw St Andrew’s quickly break away from their opponents thanks mainly to some beautiful passing play between Brown and Mark O’ Meara that exposed the weaknesses in the St Joseph’s ranks. In a complete reversal of the first quarter, this time it was St. Joseph’s who were forced to find the basket from 3 point distance while their opponents moved freely in and around the basket, converting a high percentage of their opportunities that saw the Dublin side take a 6 point lead heading into halftime. Words were obviously said at the interval by St Joseph’s Coach Ciaran McGroggan to his players as his side looked like a brand new team after the beginning of the third quarter. Faster passing combined with much better retention of possession saw the Drogheda side force their opponents into committing a high number of fouls, resulting in a total of (10) free throws for St Joseph’s. Unfortunately they were unable to convert all but (4) of these opportunities but a fine attacking display from O’ Sullivan and Cudden more than made up for this as the pair were able to combine to score 4 unanswered baskets before Demi Awosikia was able to reply for St Andrew’s with a darting run that ended with him converting an inside lay up from under the basket. Unfortunately for him and St Andrew’s it wasn’t enough to stop St Joseph’s from turning the tide of play and finishing the quarter in the lead for the first time in the game by 5 points. Defence was the last thing on either teams mind in the final quarter as both sides went all out attack in a final attempt to break away from each other. Unfortunately for St Andrew’s it wasn’t to be their day as St Joseph’s managed to rack up a further 13 points which was more than enough to see them walk away with the victory and as champions.