East Glendalough School

Boys Basketball News

U.19 BOYS BASKETBALL 2010

This year's senior team was captained by David Van Story and along with players like Scott McGinn, Kane D'Arcy and Calum Watson; the school has never before had such a dedicated and passionate squad of players. At the start of the season, we had high hopes of doing well but we knew that the league we were playing in was of a high standard.

Our first league match was against St. Mary's, Rathmines. In what was a typical start of season match, we struggled to hit any real form but still managed to win quite comfortably 42:22. Unfortunately, in the warm up for this match, our captain and best player, David Van Story, badly twisted his ankle and was ruled out of action until our very last league match. David's injury meant that other players would have to raise their game and Calum Watson and Matthew Binions did just that.

Our next match was a Cup game against Colaiste Phadraig, Lucan. This game ranks as one of best all time performances of an EGS school basketball team and we deservedly won 42:34. The whole team displayed great determination and we won because we wanted to win more than the other team. Kane D'Arcy gave a masterful shooting display, scoring a few crucial 3 pointers in the fourth quarter.

Next up was a league game against St. Andrews. This was an excellent game that either team could have won. Unfortunately for us, St. Andrews finished the game stronger to win by 5 points. We then played our second round Cup game against Rathangan and beat them quite comfortably 44:24 to set up a home encounter against St. Nathy's from Roscommon. We knew that St. Nathy's would be tough opponents and they showed their class in the first quarter by outscoring us 20:10. Our never say die attitude kept us in the game in the second quarter and we then dominated the third quarter to leave the scores tied going into the fourth. Despite our best efforts however, Nathy's were a little bit stronger and they went on to win 52:47 and thus qualify for the All-Ireland quarter finals. Despite the loss, this was another performance to be proud of. Calum Watson gave an awesome rebounding display. Matthew Binions was also brilliant under the boards and capped a fantastic individual performance with 20 points to his name. A special mention also for Tom McHugh who belied his young age to produce an outstanding ball handling display in the point guard position.

After receiving a walkover against OLM Drimnagh, we went into our last league match against Colaiste Eoin knowing that we had to win by at least 6 points in order to qualify from our group. Our team captain, David Van Story had by this stage recovered from his ankle injury and this was a great boost to the team. Unfortunately, Tom McHugh, who had been magnificent in our previous game, injured his ankle in a training session the day before. The pressure of knowing we had to win by 6 or more points seemed to have an adverse affect and we never really got going in this match. Defensively as always, we were strong and restricted strong opposition to just 32 points. Our offense however was badly misfiring and we only managed to score a paltry 24 points.

Never before did the saying "winning isn't everything" have such significance. Our displays against Colaiste Phadraig, St. Andrews and St. Nathys were amongst the best I've witnessed in 20 years coaching in the school. As the sixth years on the team leave us, I thank them and wish them all the best in the future.
2010/11 PANEL: David van Story (Captain), Scott McGinn, Calum Watson, Kane D'Arcy, Alex Ward, Eirik Tonnies, Max Matthews, Daniel Behan, Matthew Binions, Tom McHugh, Duane Topham.

WICKLOW SCHOOLS BADMINTON BLITZ

The first ever Wicklow schools badminton blitz was held recently in Shoreline Leisure Centre, Greystones. The blitz was organised by Badminton Ireland in conjunction with volunteers from some local clubs. The event proved to be a huge success and it is hoped that it can become an annual event, with winning teams progressing to Leinster Championships. Our thanks to Rachel Ormond (Badminton Ireland) and to all the other volunteers for a very enjoyable day.

The blitz consisted of boys and girls doubles competitions at U.14, U.16 and U.19 level. East Glendalough enjoyed a very successful day with our U.16 and U.19 girls and our U.19 boys winning their respective competitions and our U.14 boys and U.16 girls “B” team were beaten finalists. The teams that represented the school were as follows:

U.19 A BOYS U.19 A GIRLS
MATTHEW BINIONS ASHLEIGH CONWAY
NATHAN KERR AIMEE ROBERTS
DRUCE BYRNE SALLY SUTTON
GIDEON MARTIN AISLING ROWE

U.16 A GIRLS U.14 A BOYS
SALLY MCHUGH NATHANEAL MARTIN
KAYLEIGH CRAMMOND GORDON HIND
NIAMH MCGETTIGAN PATRICK OWENS
SHANNON KERR RUAIRI O’CALLAGHAN

U.16 A BOYS U.19 B BOYS
TOM MCHUGH KYLE BRADSHAW
ANDREW YAGUE JOSH RICE
LUKE DUANT SMITH SHANE CONROY
CESAR LA PLACA EIRIK TONNIES

U.19 B GIRLS U.16 B GIRLS
SOPHIE HIND EMILY TEBBITT
LAUREN O’CONNELL CHLOE RANKIN
TONIA JACKSON CLARE SAVAGE
JOSEPHINE DELAHOYDE LORNA CONWAY

U.14 B BOYS U.14 A GIRLS
JACOB MORAN BRASWELL SHANNON KERR
JOSH MOODY KATIE NOLAN
RUAIRI O’CALLAGHAN SARA HUDSON
PATRICK OWENS OLIVIA IRONS

U.14 B GIRLS
TIFFANY BYRNE
SADIE MOLD
SUSIE SUTTON

WICKLOW SCHOOLS TRACK & FIELD
GREYSTONES 13/4/10

East Glendalough was very well represented at the Wicklow Schools Track & Field Championships held recently in Greystones. Great credit is due to Noreen O’ Reilly and the other people involved in organising and running the event, which was held in glorious sunshine. Fifty seven students attended and competed in a range of events including 100m, 800m, 4 x 100m relay, shot putt, high jump, long jump, javelin and tug o’ war. There were several good individual performance and E.G.S. came third overall in the best boys category.

Well done to everyone who took part on the day.

Individual medal winners were:

Luke Duant Smith Gold U.15 High Jump
Nathan Condell Gold U.20 High Jump
Jamie Wheatley Silver U.20 Javelin
Grace O’ Regan Silver U.20 Javelin
Katie Nolan Silver U.14 Shot Putt
Bronze U.15 Javelin
Rachel Thompson Silver U.20 High Jump
Aisling Rowe Bronze U.20 High Jump
Ben Mangan Bronze U.17 800m
Holly Norman Bronze U.15 High Jump
Philip Snell Bronze U.14 Shot Putt

Reuben Kelly, Graeme Phillips, Stephen Marshall and Alex Gray also won silver medals in the U.20 4 x 100m relay.