PJP School News

Welcome to all the readers of our most recent news letter! A sincere thank you to all the contributors staff and students alike and especially to Editor Mr Murphy for pulling it all together - once again this is a bumper newsletter as we have so many exciting things happening in school!

We have had some great sport successes for our school and a sincere thanks to the coaches who train the teams and the parents who have facilitated lifts all year! Well done to all the boys and girls who have represented the school so well. We are all so proud of you.

We look forward to an exciting last few weeks of this school year with school tours, local trips, the Mile Run as well as a few more matches and even the first ever PJP School Musical.

A big well done to the children from second class who made their first Holy Communion over the last few weeks and best of luck to our sixth class students who have their Confirmations last week. Thanks to the PA and the Parent Volunteers for arranging such lovely receptions afterwards in the Parish Centre.

I hope you enjoy catching up on all the news,

Enjoy the sunshine,

Ms. Markey

After narrowly losing by a point in their first game of the season, the boys were eager to claim a victory in Rolestown. Playing on a much smaller pitch than they are used to didn’t bother the boys as Lachlann Traynor instantly opened the scoring with a dummy on the left foot and firing the ball over the bar with the right. His midfield partner Conor Halpin followed suit with a commanding run up the pitch and popping off his shot to give us a two-point lead. Gavin Shanley and Joseph Noonan knocked over two more points with clinical finishing. Mr. Murphy and Mr. Freeman were shivering in the wind on the sideline, Mr. Freeman especially after leaving his jacket in school. The weather did not affect their tactical genius as within seconds of swapping Tomás Mylan into full-forward, he buried the ball into the back of the net. Gavin Shanley added his second point before playing a perfectly weighted weak foot pass to his classmate Tomás who grabbed his second goal in 2 minutes. The Rolestown backs were under immense pressure as those who already scored continued to increase their tally. Shay Gibney contributed a point before half time in a game where some of the PJP backs hadn’t seen the ball thanks to the work rate of their attacking teammates. Cian Power’s perfectly placed pass to Conor Halpin led to a third goal. The half-time score was 3-13 to no score. Despite the massive lead, the boys and their teachers took nothing for granted as we now would be battling our opposition and the wind in the second half.

Rolestown started the second half quickly with three points on the trot. Lachlann added another PJP point to keep the scoreboard ticking over as was the plan for the second half. Josh Dignam is beginning to make a name for himself as a very confident shot-stopper who bravely faced down the Rolestown full-forward in a 1-on-1 and kept the opposition scoreless with a courageous save. The ball travelled up the pitch where substitute Dylan Cramer latched onto Gavin’s shot and turned the ball past the keeper for his first goal. Rolestown replied with a point and a superbly taken goal before Dylan Cramer decided it was his time to shine smashing in three goals in a row. In his 19 or so minutes on the pitch, he had scored 4 goals in one of the finest goal-scoring displays the crowd had seen in some time. Josh Dignam’s cat-like reactions at the other end resembled a premier league goalkeeper as he once again shut out the Rolestown attack. One final PJP goal for Matthew Richmond and a goal for Rolestown ended the game with a scoreline of 8-14 to 2-6. As the boys shook hands with Rolestown at the end of the game, they reflected on their loss to Gaelscoil Brian Boroimhe and hoped to meet them again in later rounds of the competition to show them some real PJP spirit. The boys next face Rush NS where they hope to dominate again.

On April 18th, Camogie was played by a PJP team for the first time. Seventeen very enthusiastic girls were ready to take on St. Francis Xavier NS from Blanchardstown. The girls were quick off the blocks as Eva soloed straight through the middle and hit over for the opening point. In the blink of an eye, a goal was added by Rachel Cahill. Eva scored her second point just before Kaylin fired the ball into the net for her first goal. The scores started flowing at this point with points from Rachel and Eva and a barrage of goals from Isabelle Lennon, Sophie, and Eva who scored two. The half-time score was 8-4 to no score. The referee declared ‘Tuesday rules’ at halftime meaning the PJP girls were only allowed score points for the second half in a bid to let our opposition into the game. As the second half begun, the Blanchardstown team had all their subs playing, 21 players against the 15 of PJP. The girls held strong and conceded 1-5 in this time with the only PJP point coming from Milly. The final score was 8-5- to 1-5, a seven goal victory for PJP. A special shoutout goes to Amber Costello, Taja K and Tiffany who all joined the panel to ensure the girls had enough players on the team. The girls were very grateful to Ms McKenna, Mr Murphy, and Jackie Cahill for helping out with the team and organising matches. The girls next travel to Finglas to play Gaelscoil Ní Éarcáin on Thursday next week. If the girls can continue this form, they will be setting a day out in Croke Park firmly in their sights

One weekend in February, there was a team of girls selected from Malahide Basketball Club to go to a tournament in Kerry from the 13th to the 15th of April. On Thursday the 13th, we all left Malahide at 10am for a 3-and-a-half-hour journey to Kerry. About 2 hours into the journey, we stopped for food in the Barack Obama Plaza. Once we were done, we got back on the road. Once we arrived, we met our coach and got our gear.

We played our first 2 group stage matches and won them both. Our second match in which we played Wicklow resulted in a 54-6 win for us. We rushed back to the hotel to get to the swimming pool. After the pool, we found a McDonalds close to the hotel and had dinner.

The next day we had our last group stage match that we won pretty easily which put us through to the semifinal where we played Meath. There was a three-hour break between the matches, so we went to a hotel in Listowel for lunch. Then we went back to the tournament to get ready for the final against Tullamore from Offaly. It was a close game, and each team had only scored ten points by the start of the 4th quarter. In the last 10 seconds we scored a basket to make ot 12-10. Although we all thought the game was over, Tullamore had thrown the ball ahead to score. The game ended in a draw. Extra Time was coming up.

Extra Time finished 18-18 which meant we had to play an added period of Extra Time. Tullamore scored the first basket, but our coach told us not to panic. We managed to get another basket. There were 16 seconds left on the clock when Áine got fouled under the basket. She was given 2 free shots and scored them both despite the massive pressure. That made it 22-20 as the buzzer sounded 16 seconds later. We had won! We all sprinted onto the court to celebrate. We were awarded our medals and Áine was deservedly awarded MVP (Most Valuable Player) for her amazing game-winning contribution in the match!

Written by Jessica Ahern, Ellen McParland and Áine Sheerin

A double header in Rush would first see our Senior Hurlers in action for the first time ever on a glorious, sunny day in St. Maur’s GAA club. The hurling team were looking to lay down a marker in a competitive division and started the game perfectly. A monstrous Ben Walls puckout was claimed high from the air by full-forward Jamie Mooney who resembled an inter-county player as he rose off the ground to win the ball. He quickly turned his man and shot over from distance to score the game’s first point. Luke Ryan was powerful on the ball as he broke tackle after tackle before rifling the ball into the Rush goal twice in a row. Luke Whitney got in on the action with a goal just as Luke Ryan added another two goals. We’ve seen first half hattricks this year but 4 goals in a half is unheard of. Luke tapped over a point to increase his tally as Gavin Kelly also put one over giving us a commanding 5 – 3 to no score lead at half time. Attack can be the best form of defence at times in sport, but our defenders were resolute in shutting out the opponent with Captain Jake Norman leading at full back ensuring no Rush scores were conceded. The second half begun with substitute Christian O’Reilly raising the green flag after a strong solo through the middle. Gavin Kelly scored his second point of the game from Centre Back. Cormac O’Neill was unlucky not to score from a well struck free which appeared to be sailing over the bar before the Rush Goalkeeper raised the hurl in a fine save. Jake Norman who now found himself in the forwards, scored a goal, as did Rush NS leaving the game with a final score of 7-3 to 1-0. This was a dream start for the first ever PJP Hurling Team who great things may come to later on in the season.

The second match of the double header involved our junior footballers who also were taking on Rush NS. PJP got off to a super start with centre back Conor Halpin storming through the middle and taking a point from distance. Gavin Shanley’s hard work paid off as his block on the Rush defender allowed him to add his first point of the day. Tomás Mylan soon added the first PJP goal after latching on to a perfectly weighted pass from Gavin Shanley. Matthew Richmond continued to increase the points tally for PJP as did Lachlan Traynor who scored a point from play, a point from a free and a goal from a 45 which dropped perfectly in under the crossbar. A Dylan Cramer goal left PJP with a 3-5 to no score lead at half time. All too often, the scorers get all the plaudits but the PJP defenders were resolute in their hard work with Daniel Spillane, Tadhg Dunphy, Rian Gardiner, Evan Byrne and Stephen O’Connor ensuring the Rush attack was kept quiet.

The second half began with a Gavin Shanley goal followed soon after my Tomás Mylan’s second goal after a perfectly executed pass by Cormac O’Neill. Lachlann Traynor added his second goal before Rush started making their way back into the game racking up 2 goals and 2 points in a short space. PJP weathered the storm however, and Rush would have had more goals if not for some fine goalkeeping by Josh Dignam. PJP finished out the game with points from Dylan Cramer and Cian Power with a final score of 6-6 to 2-2. Every PJP player was excellent in the sunshine and left everything on the pitch in a display that would send a message to other teams in the division that we are a serious outfit and not to be written off.

The newly formed PJP camogie team were looking to continue their success from their last match as they headed to Finglas. Rachel Costello opened the scoring with a point from distance before Eva Healy-Dillon fired over 3 consecutive points. Rachel Costello’s shot on goal was deflected off the crossbar and over for a point. Kaelin Murphy scooped the ball over the bar soon after. Lauren Conway, one of only two fifth class girls on the team, stepped up with a goal and a point before half time. PJP had a commanding 1-8 to no score lead at the break.

Kaylin continued the scoring with a goal immediately after half time. Eva added another point from the puck out. Isobel Pollock scored a goal from distance as did Orlaith Reilly. Kaelin put her second point on the scoreboard before Milaina McDonald and Orlaith finished out the PJP scoring. Finglas scored a point from play and another from a 45 to end the match on a scoreline of 4-12 to 0-2.

Due to a refereeing mix up, the senior boy’s semi-final was postponed from Friday to after the weekend. The sun was beating down on a blustery day in Swords for the must win match against Donabate. The first few minutes made it clear that this was going to be a hard-hitting, physical game where the referee was not giving many fouls. PJP got off to the worst start possible with Donabate sending the ball in over our full back line leaving the forward unmarked to put Donabate a goal up. PJP would have some work to do to overturn this. The attitude of the PJP boys was impeccable and slowly but surely, the scoreline began to subside. Two Evan FitzPatrick points and a neatly taken Dylan Canny point on the turn would see the scores level. This game was incredibly competitive with every player having to step up and win their individual battles. The PJP boys had to be strong as our defenders were on the receiving end of some strong tackles. Matthew Curran, Robbie Webster and Ronan Brady all had to recover from some hard and dirty tackles but used this to inspire their teammates around them and celebrate every block, every tackle, and every free won in our defense. Max O’Brien led by example in sprinting from corner forward back to midfield to tackle one of Donabate’s strongest players and show his teammates not to be afraid and to play hard. Another Evan FitzPatrick point would see this game turned on its head as PJP took the lead for the first time. Dylan Canny added his second, this time off his left foot before Donabate fired back with another point. PJP didn’t have many goal opportunities in the first half. However, when the ball was turned over in midfield, Ethan Kelly only had eyes for full-forward Ben Walls who found himself isolated with the Donabate Full-Back. As the ball was coming in high, Ben got out in front of the defender and let the ball bounce in front of him. He caught it with his left hand as he simultaneously turned and shoved off the Donabate defender with his right. One bounce of the ball later and a thundering shot into the roof of the net left the Donabate goalkeeper hopeless and the PJP boys in fine form at half time with a lead of 1-5 to 1-1.

Mr. Murphy and Mr. Freeman knew that Donabate would come out with all guns blazing after half time. Some questionable refereeing decisions had at times left both sets of players, parents and teachers in full voice and riled up. This could potentially work against us as Donabate came out after half time with nothing to lose. Once again, Donabate opened the scoring for the half with a goal and followed it up with 2 points. Now leading 2-4 to 1-5, Donabate dug their heels in tried to shut out our attack. Donabate picked up three yellow cards in what was becoming an increasingly physical and volatile atmosphere on the pitch. Players for both teams were picking up injuries as the game descended out of the referee's control. A head injury for a Donabate player would pause the game for around 4 minutes toward the end of the half, with PJP still trailing by 2 points.

As full-time loomed, the game was more and more being played in the PJP half as Donabate kept the pressure on. A half of football is meant to be 25 minutes long, but with 29 and a half minutes played, Ethan Kelly intercepted a Donabate handpass at centre-back and launched a counterattack to the screams of run, carry and go go go from his onlooking teammates and the PJP contingent on the sidelines. Despite the best efforts of Donabate players to foul Ethan, he brushed off their tackles and continued to bounce and solo his way up the pitch. The Donabate attack had left them outnumbered in defence where we now had a 4 on 2 situation in our full-forward line. Ethan broke through the last tackle of the full-back and in what felt like slow motion for everyone watching, took one final bounce before side-stepping the goalkeeper and smashing the ball into the net. The referee blew his whistle. Full time. In the most dramatic ending, PJP’s only score of the second half would be the one to win it right at the end. Elation rung around the pitch as the PJP boys joined a huddle in the middle of the pitch celebrating in full volume. This one-point victory was possibly the sweetest margin of victory for us in the circumstances given the tightness and physicality of the game. The final in Parnell Park awaits the Senior Boys aiming to take home the Premier Fingal Lague title on Thursday 18th of May. The boys certainly are prepared for it after that gargantuan effort to get over the line and will without doubt be fired up for the clash with Gaelscoil Brian Boroimhe.

They say summer hurling is hard beat, but this was not the case for the PJP camogie team who travelled to Diswillstown for their 3rd camogie match. As the referee threw the ball in, the wind threw someone’s umbrella from the sideline in also as the conditions worsened. The slippery conditions did not affect Eva Healy-Dillon who quickly scored 2-1 in the opening minutes. Her midfield partner Rachel Costello added a goal and a point herself to keep Diswillstown out of the game despite managing one point from a free. The result seemed pre-determined at half time as PJP were miles ahead at this stage. Rachel scored a free at the beginning of the second half. Sophie Campbell and Isobel Pollock got onto the scoresheet with a point and a goal, respectively. Rachel Costello added another point. Lauren Conway scored a poacher's goal after excellently positioning herself at the goal mouth. Diswillstown finished the game with 2 goals from play to end the game with PJP winning 5-5 to 2-1. Everyone quickly headed for their cars and went home happy after another commanding performance in tough conditions.

After an excellent win in their first outing against Rush, the PJP hurlers lost out to a stronger Scoil Assaim side in St. Anne’s Park. This meant the boys badly needed a win to keep the Croke Park dream alive. Broomfield would be the venue for their next match against relatively local rivals St. Helen’s NS from Portmarnock. PJP did not start this game well as St. Helen’s dominated the possession and the scoreboard from the beginning racking up a 4 point to no score lead. Coach Marc Whitney substituted on Gavin Shanley just before half time and it didn’t take Gavin long to make an impact on the game as he latched on to a loose ball, soloed past his marker and buried the ball in the side netting. The whistle went for half time with PJP trailing this cagey match by 1 point. The boys knew they needed to step it up to win this game. Dylan Canny gave us the perfect second half start by firing over a point from distance to level the game for the first time. St. Helen’s fired back with a point of their own. PJP centre-back Gavin Kelly has found himself on free-taking duty this year. Having missed one chance already to level the game for a second time, Gavin expertly composed himself and found his shooting boots again and raised the white flag from distance. The resulting puckout was claimed by Ronan Brady who punished St. Helen’s by sending the ball straight back over the bar despite his marker’s best attempts to block him down. PJP finally had the lead and now needed to hold it. St. Helen’s weren’t going to let us have things easy in our home field and scored an excellent goal to disrupt our momentum. PJP centre forward Evan FitzPatrick had a quiet game by all accounts but was about to turn our tides as he soloed through the centre and fired the ball into the roof of the net from about 20 yards out. Not only was the goal enough, Evan scored a point from the following puck out and put us 2 points ahead with 4 minutes to go. 2 points is not a big margin in hurling terms, and we needed to see this game out. Our forwards were exemplary in holding the ball up in the dying minutes, winning 2 frees which were put over the bar by Gavin Kelly giving us a 4-point win, 2-6 to 1-5. The Croke Park dream was still alive and the boys march on to their next game against Bayside.

Our PJP basketball team claimed bronze in the National Basketball Arena in the Junior NBA Championship. They were led by the Amazing Fiona Daly’s Coaching and have worked so well together as a team this year. We are so lucky to have her coach and guide our Basketball teams and bring our boys on such a great day out. It was a fantastic experience for them all.

Team: Jamie Allen, Christian O’Reilly, Jamie Melin, Jake Norman, Cillian O’Reilly, Rory Higgins, Frank Behan, Nathan Sibley, Andy Lynam, Eoin Hendrick, Daniel Godden, Tristan Halpin, Eli Tobin

On the 9th of May this year our football team (soccer) had an important league match against second place Rush National School. Our team was top of the league, and we couldn’t afford to lose, all we needed was a draw. It was expected to be a very close match. We warmed up as usual and the whole entire team came down to Gannon Park to watch. Within ten minutes of the game kicking off, our top scorer Ethan Kelly opened up the scoring and after five more minutes Luka Whiting with a great assist from Evan Fitz, after the two smashing goals we really hit our stride. With a great goal from Luke Ryan and another goal from Ethan we were four goals up going into the half-time break. We got our amazing team talk from coach Mr. Whiting and Ms. Bradshaw and hit the second half running with Luke Ryan boasting another great header goal. With five minutes left we wrapped up the game with a nice tap-in from Gearóid Heery to seal the deal. We have ended this season on a high, all thanks to our great players and coaches, Mr. Whiting and Ms. Bradshaw.

By Liam Burke, Gearóid Heery and Robbie Webster in Ms Bradshaw’s class

The girls on the football team met at Londis at 10:00 to do braids in our hair and we put some face paint on. We were all talking about the game ahead and we were very excited, and some were a bit nervous. Our bus then arrived at 11:30 and we all picked up our gear bags and got on the bus. On the bus we listened to some music to take our minds off the game. When we arrived at Parnell Park, we were very early so we got a football out while waiting for Ms. McDaid, Ms. James and Ms. Conelly. Some of the girls looked in and watched the other teams playing for a bit to see what it would be like. When the teachers arrived, we all picked up our stuff and headed to the changing rooms, our changing room had some Dublin photos on the wall and some seats. We all got our boots on, took off our half zips and then the team was called out. For a few minutes we watched the other teams playing and when it was our time we headed for the pitch. The moment we stepped on the pitch the nerves left our body and we knew we were ready for the game ahead. We dropped our water and got into lines of 5 and started to do our warmup. Ms. McDaid, Ms. James and Ms. Conneelly then gave us instructions on what to do. More of our school started to arrive and we could hear them chanting for PJP in the crowd. When the match ahead of us was finished we could see the losing team drop to their knees and we just hoped that it wouldn't be us. The winning team then lined up for their medals and lifted their trophy and they all looked so proud. We then got a small drill going while Izzy was in the goals and saving some of the shots we took on her. The ref then blew his whistle for the captains and Aine went in for the coin toss. Unfortunately, she lost, but we still got the way we wanted. Everyone then got into position and got their game faces on. The ref asked if we were ready and then threw the ball up. Eva and Aine won the throw, and they passed the ball up the pitch and we managed to get the first score. We could hear the PJP crowd chanting for us and it made us all work even harder. By half time we were up by 2 points, and we thought it wasn’t much. We all had a chat about what we could improve on and what we should keep on doing. When the ref called us in for the 2nd half, Ms. McDaid, Ms., James and Ms. Conneely told us who was staying on and who was coming off. We all told ourselves to restart and play like we did in the first half. Their keeper was very strong and managed to pull off some great saves. They were getting a good few points but we would come back and score again. We never dropped our heads and we kept fighting till the final whistle and it all worked when the ref blew it up. We all couldn’t believe it. We went into a huddle and cheered so much, we were so happy with ourselves, and we could hear the crowd of PJP screaming in delight. The officials called both the teams over to line up and shake hands. They then brought the medals and trophy out. Portmarnock received theirs first and we were next. They gave us the trophy and we all cheered so much. We then got some pictures and headed back to our changing room to get our stuff. We then headed out to the stadium to watch our boys after who also managed to get a great win. We got lots of congratulations from the teachers, parents and students. It was one of the best days in the school year for the PJP girls' and boys' senior footballers and we will always remember it.

By Sophie Campbell and Eva Healy-Dillon

Parnell Park played host to this year’s Fingal League finals. With several finals already played on Tuesday, it was the turn of our girls’ and boys’ teams to take to the field a final time on Thursday. The stage was well and truly set as thousands of children filtered in and out of the stands throughout the day supporting their schools in several finals. The best was left to last as PJP teams would be taking to the pitch one after the other. The Girls put in an amazing performance to claim their Division 1 title as the Boys took to the pitch to warm up. Every team member was well and truly fired up and awaiting throw in. The focus and work rate in the warmup set the standards for the crunch match. PJP has history with Gaelscoil Brian Boroimhe with PJP still hurting over a narrow defeat a year earlier. The boys were out to make things right.

The referee started the game and GSB quickly settled in and built up a 2 point lead after some excellent passing play. PJP were unlucky not to score a goal early on as Ethan Kelly’s driven shot went narrowly wide. Moments later, a defensive mistake by the GSB defenders resulted in a goal mouth scramble where several PJP forwards took pop shots on goal. One shot rebounded off the post and fell to Luke Ryan who happily lashed the ball into the net. This was just the start for Luke Ryan who followed up with 2 points. One of these came from excellent defensive work by Cillian Geraghty who read a GSB pass, intercepted and sent the ball to Ethan Kelly. A handpass later to Jamie Mooney and a perfectly weighted pass to Luke allowed him to score. Just as it looked like we were settling into the game, GSB came back with another goal. This was to be the story of the first half as Dylan Canny instantly replied with a goal for PJP after Ben Walls tackled the goalkeeper and got the ball to Dylan who happily obliged. Luke Ryan and Ethan Kelly kept the score board ticking over with PJP points. Luke Ryan found himself in the right place at the right time for a second time soon after, as Eoin Hendrick’s rebounded shot came to Dylan Canny who rocketed the ball against the crossbar before Luke Ryan turned in his second goal of the day. GSB were not taking this lying down and returned with a point of their own. Jamie Mooney scored his first point of the day. Goalkeeper Matthew Curran made a phenomenal diving save to prevent a GSB goal and limit them to only a point. Ethan Kelly powered up the pitch and fired a rocket at the GSB keeper leaving him hopeless as the ball hit the back of the net. Harry Moore scored a point as did GSB before half time. At the referee’s whistle, the score was PJP 4-6 to GSB 1-6.

As the boys caught their breath at half-time, Mr. Freeman and Mr. Murphy were viewing the second half as starting scoreless again and reminding the boys that GSB would come out with nothing to lose after the break. PJP made several substitutes and returned to the pitch with a new look team and full of fresh legs.

The second half would turn out to be a much tighter affair with both goalkeepers keeping clean sheets. GSB and Luke Ryan exchanged points early on. Christian O’Reilly scored what was arguably score of the match, maybe even the season with an outside of the boot strike from a very tight angle in front of the stand. This gained rapturous applause from the onlooking PJP supporters who were led by Ms. Markey in their chants of PJP, PJP, PJP! Luke Ryan sensibly hand passed over the bar for another point. Ethan Kelly contributed another point soon after. Goalkeeper Matthew Curran kept the show on the road at the other end of the pitch with a commanding save in a 1-on-1 situation. GSB scored two more points before Luke Whitney finished the scoring with a well taken point from distance on his left foot.

As the full time whistle blew, the PJP boys were elated as was every child and staff member from PJP in Parnell Park. We had done the double winning the Boys and Girls Fingal League titles. Gaelscoil Brian Boroimhe were gracious in defeat as their 300 strong following in the stand raised the noise level in appreciation of their school mates who had put in an excellent performance against stronger opposition.

The excitement was palpable as the boys awaited collecting their medals. Captain of the team Ethan Kelly was at the back of the line to lift the trophy after his teammates received their medals. The trophy was presented to Ethan who made his way across the stand to the middle of his team before proudly raising the trophy above his head.

This was a deserved win and end to the season for the boys who only lost one match all year and have shown complete dedication throughout the year. We wish them all the best of luck as they move into secondary school next year and continue their sporting journey.

Panel: Matthew Curran, Ronan Brady, Gavin Kelly, Robbie Webster, Matthew McGovern, Cillian Geraghty, Harry Moore, Ethan Kelly, Evan FitzPatrick, Gearóid Heery, Luke Ryan, Jamie Mooney, Max O’Brien, Ben Walls, Dylan Canny, Cillian O’Reilly, Joseph Fallon, Dan Gutera, Conor Fullard, Peter Langton, Christian O’Reilly, Toby Brookes, Luke Cheevers, Luke Whitney, Eoin Hendrick

In a rather strange turn of events, a win today for the PJP hurling team would leave them joint 1st place in their group with not one, but two teams. This anomaly would happen as we beat St. Helens; St. Helen’s beat Scoil Assaim; and Scoil Assaim beat us. If we won today against Bayside, we all would have 3 wins and therefore be level on points and head-to-head. PJP settled into the game quickly against Bayside as Dylan Canny and Luke Ryan opened the scoring with 2 fine points. A luke Ryan handpass across the goal found Niall O'Donnell unmarked who tried to hit the ball on the volley but sensibly opted to hit it on the ground past the oncoming Bayside keeper and into the goal. A Gavin Kelly 45 saw out the low scoring half with PJP comfortably in the lead, despite the low score.

PJP upped the ante in the scend half with points flowing over the bar from Dylan Canny, Jamie Mooney, Gavin Kelly, Eoin Hendrick, Luke Whitney and Andy Lynam. These were complemented by goals from Luke Ryan, Donnacha Sheedy and Eoin Hendrick. PJP finished the game with a commanding 4-9 to 1-2 scoreline. We had gone top of the group. Things were now out of our control as we awaited a draw from Cumann na mBunscol who would pull a team out in first and second, and the third-place team would be out....

Or so we thought!

Having won their first 4 matches, the camogie team were guaranteed to top their Cumann na mBunscol group. A win today against Gaelscoil Olibhéir would be the cherry on top as they were eyeing up second place in the group. This year, there have been some outstanding individual performances. Eva Healy-Dillon was about to join this list as she scored a hattrick of goals to open the scoring blowing away our opposition. Rachel Costello and Orlaith Reilly added points to the board. GSO came back into the game momentarily before Eva added her 4th goal and 1st point of the match. At half time, we were leading 4-3 to 1-0. As GSO were short on players and had to call up girls from 4th and 5th class, we decided as a team that we would allow GSO to play with 15 players and that we would play with 12. The girls agreed that while winning is important to us, it is also important not to demoralize the other team. It also would give us a tough second half as we would have to work so much harder up and down the pitch. GSO predictably came back into the game scoring 3 points and a goal. It would have been 2 goals if not for an amazing Isobel pollock save in the PJP goal. Eva added 2 more points at the end to see out the game and the league phase with PJP breezing through another game. The girls were ecstatic as they learned topping the group would give us a home semi-final against a team from south Dublin and leave us one win away from playing in Croke Park.

Fingallians was the venue for the Junior Boys Fingal League semi-final against Rathoath. Our opposition had previously beaten us by 2 points in a tight clash in Broomfield so the boys knew they would be up against it. PJP were leading 1-4 to 1-3 at half time thanks to a Tomás Mylan goal and points from Conor Halpin, Lachlann Traynor and Dylan Cramer. A low scoring second half would be our demise ultimately as a Dylan Cramer goal and point and a Gavin Shanley point would not be enough to see out this match as Rathoath scored 4-4 in a second half blitz. Although the boys were upset after the match, they can hold their heads high losing to a very good team and can still look forward to another shot at Fingal League glory next year!

Panel: Evan Byrne, Dylan Cramer, Josh Dignam, Patrick Doorley, Seán Duffy, Tadhg Dunphy, Conor Early, Rian Gardiner, Shay Gibney, Conor Halpin, Max Murphy, Tomás Mylan, Joseph Noonan, Stephen O’Connor, Cormac O’Neill, Sean Osario Livingstone, Cian Power, Matthew Richmond, Gavin Shanley, Daniel Spillane, Lachlann Traynor

Having beaten Bayside in their last league match, the hurling team were in joint 1st and their fate rested in the hands of Cumann na mBunscol whose draw would either see us through to a semi final or not. We got the news that the draw had been conducted and that we had been put into a play-off against Scoil Assaim. We went into this play off believing a win would qualify us in 2nd place in our group and give us an away semi-final if we were successful. Croke Park has provided excellent motivation for the boys all year and they were quick to get off the mark today again. Evan FitzPatrick opened the scoring with a fine point from play and Gavin Kelly followed suit with a point from a 65. Scoil Assaim had dominated against us earlier in the year, in particular their midfielder who today was assigned to PJP midfielder Tomás Mylan to keep him out the game. Scoil Assaim were just as fired up for this game as PJP and replied with a goal to take the lead and lay down a marker against us once again. A Matthew Curran handpass would tee up Evan FitzPatrick for a PJP goal to nudge us back in front. Scoil Assaim scored a free from the wing before Evan added another point and Gavin Kelly tapped over too. At half time, PJP were leading 1-4 to 1-1, a 3 point lead.

The momentum would turn after half time as Scoil Assaim scored the first point of the half which was soon cancelled out by another Gavin Kelly 65. A dominant spell for Scoil Assaim would see them score 2-1 in the space of 4 minutes giving them a comfortable lead and leaving PJP in an uphill battle. Matthew Curran this time was scorer instead of provider as he smartly picked the ball on the turn and buried the ball in the Scoil Assaim net to put PJP back into a 1-point lead. Scoil Assaim replied with a point that would see the scores level as we approached the final few minutes, 3-4 each. Just as it was starting to look like we were heading to extra time, Evan FitzPatrick scored an excellent point to give us the narrowest of leads. From the following puckout, Evan won the ball, soloed down the middle of the pitch and lashed a shot into the Scoil Assaim net as screams of joy erupted out around Broomfield. PJP won on a scoreline of 4-6 to 3-4. As the boys celebrated after the final whistle, they received the best news possible – that Mr. Murphy had gotten the fixtures confused and this was actually a first-second place playoff and the boys had just topped the group by winning the match. The reward was a home semi-final where victory would see the boys in green and blue play in Croke Park in mid-June!

The sunshine from earlier in the week was tucked away behind the clouds on a blustery but warm day in Fingallians for the Junior Girls Football final. The girls wasted no time getting into a warm up as their bus load of PJP classmates and supporters arrived on the pitchside bank to cheer them on. The first few minutes was a sketchy affair as the ball was end to end but with no end result. Ellen Wallace was the first to score. She kicked the opening score from a free after being fouled near to the Rolestown goal. Kate Lawlor found the back of the net soon after as she scored a well taken goal. Olivia Morris followed suit and after receiving an Anna le Blanc handpass, she found the bottom corner of the Rolestown net, leaving the goal keeper with no chance of a save. A Rolestown point in the middle of the half left PJP with a 2-1 to 0-1 lead at half time.

Underdogs always come out fighting after half-time in sports, and Rolestown were no different as they dominated possession for the first few minutes of the half but could only score one point in that time. Ellen Wallace returned with another point to cancel out the Rolestown effort. Zoe Clohessy played an important role in the PJP goal as she made an excellent save to push a Rolestown shot onto the crossbar and keep them goalless. Anna le Blanc punished the lack of Rolestown goals by adding a second PJP goal after winning a high ball in the Rolestown box and clinically finishing into the net. Rolestown kept their morale high as they came back up the pitch and added another point to their tally. PJP capatin Leah Rochford was inspirational in the PJP backs as she skillfully dispossessed the Rolestown attacker. Leah won a free for her efforts which she quickly passed to Ellen Wallace who raised the white flag once again. Anna le Blanc and Olivia Morris ensured there was no way back for Rolestown adding a final point and goal respectively. A final two points for Rolestown were merely consolation scores as the referee blew for full time. PJP victorious in the Fingal League for the third time this year. The girls were over the moon as they received their medals in front of the PJP supporters and as captain Leah Rochford raised the cup above her head. The girls will look to win the Senior Fingal League title next year and definitely will be in the mix!

Panel: Zoe Clohessy, Megan Walsh-Bookey, Clara Morris, Abigail Lloyd, Izzy Gilmartin, Leah Rochford, Mia Steiniger, Sarah Farrell, Olivia Morris, Anna le Blanc, Kate Lawlor, Rebecca Kelly, Ellen Wallace, Abby Healy-Dillon, Eva Dolan, Anna Clare, Aoife Osborne, Leah Lamanciuc, Zoe Belle O’Connor, Kayla Burke, Abigail Breen, Grace Carolan,

You know it's Summer when the Markey Mile is back. A massive thank you to all the staff and children who took part in this year's first Markey Mile on the Sonesta Green!

Having both gone through as the first placed teams in their groups, the hurling and camogie teams get to enjoy home semifinals against south-Dublin opposition.

The boys’ hurling semi-final takes place at 2pm in Broomfield on Tuesday 6th June against Scoil Bhríde, Ranelagh.

The camogie semifinal takes place in Broomfield at 1.30pm on Wednesday 7th June against Scoil Maelruan, Old Bawn.

All are welcome to attend both matches. We will need as much support as possible!

We are very lucky in PJP to have talented children who excel in many areas outside of school. If your child achieves anything outside of school, please email s.murphy@pjp.ie for a feature in our next newsletter!

On May 7th, the Malahide United Under 12 Girls’ Team won the Dublin Metropolitan Girls League (MGL) cup. The team are made up of girls from Oliver Plunkett’s, St Andrews and Leah Lamanciuc is the only team member from Pope John Paul's school and has made us all immensely proud!

A huge PJP congrats to Jude Lantry and all his teammates who recently won the NDSL Cup. We are all very proud of you, Jude!

Huge congratulations to Máté Brezovich from Ms. MsDevitts’s Third Class on his recent swimming achievements. Maté finished 6th in the backstroke in the Leinster Minor Schools Championships 22-23 and qualified for the Swim Ireland Irish Minor Schools Championship 2023 where he achieved a top 20 finish in the freestyle and a 4th place finish in the backstroke with a very impressive time of 42.50 seconds. What an incredible achievement Máté! Wishing you continued success in your swimming journey from everyone in PJP!

Rachel Costello was delighted to be picked to play in Croke Park last week at half-time in the Galway vs Dublin Leinster Hurling Championship in GAA Headquarters. Over 40,000 were in the stands as Rachel and her team mates from schools across Dublin took on their counterparts from Galway. Rachel, a talented sports star excelled scoring 1-1 for Dublin commanding loud cheers and applause from the onllooking supporters in Hill16. I have no doubt that Rachel will be used to playing in Croke Park in the next few years!

Cormac O’Neill from Ms. McCarthy’s 5th class recently represented our school at the Cumann na mBunscol ‘Hooked on Hurling’ interactive challenge at the GAA Museum in Croke Park. Cormac registered the fastest puc on the day and the organisers were very impressed with his hurling skills and his obvious enthusiasm for the game. Congratulations and maith thú Cormac!

Here he is pictured with Cumann na mBunscol PRO and “the voice of Croke Park” Jerry Grogan:

Izzy Gilmartin in Mr. Murphy’s fifth class is no stranger to performing at high level. Izzy puts in a whopping 20 hours of training every week, all year long to master her gymnastics and the hard work and dedication is paying off.

Izzy recently took part in the Gymnastics Ireland National Series at the Sport Ireland complex in Blanchardstown on May 21st.

She competed in 4 disciplines: bars, beam, floor and vault, with places for each apparatus. All scores were combined for overall placement.

She won silver on bars and narrowly missed gold on vault by 0.04. She also won the overall silver medal in her age group and level bringing her tally to 3 silver medals.

Well done, Izzy, on your amazing performance and fantastic result!

On behalf of PJP Parents Association we are so excited for all the 6th class students who are taking part in this year's musical.

We know you all have worked so hard so make sure to sing your hearts out and enjoy every minute.

Best of luck from PJP PA.

The sound of Music

At the end of March, it was announced that the sixth class would be putting on a musical in June. The musical was to be The Sound of Music. In April, auditions were held, and parts were given out. As soon as the auditions ended, the art team was created. We are working with an artist, Myra. In the art team, we make the props and set for the musical. Recently, the entirety of the sixth has been splitting up every afternoon to go to different classrooms and work on different aspects of the musical, such as tickets, posters, a promotional video and more! Practice is also held every day.

The dates are June 20th,21st and 22nd. The cost of tickets is 10 Euro. We look forward to putting on a show!!!

The Coiste na Gaeilge and Ms Magner are thrilled to announce that we have successfully been awarded the teastas (certificate) for year 1 of the Gaelbhratach programme . Tá athas an domhain orainn!

The school will now progress to year 2 in September where we will be aiming to achieve the "Brat" or the Gaelbhratach flag.

A big "go raibh míle maith agat" to everyone that helped us to achieve this award. Keep following our journey and tips for parents/guardians on our school website

https://www.pjp.ie/gaelbhratach/

Congratulations to the Amber Flag committee who have successfully achieved in PJP receiving their second Amber Flag award. Over the past two years PJP have managed to set up and implement many activities to promote mental health in our school such as recording rainbow moments, poster competitions, friendship week introducing yard buddies where 6th class support 2nd classes with playing on the yard , odd sock day and inside out day to draw attention to mention health.

For we introduced the staff step challenge and you’ve been mugged initiative. We also organized a cyber bullying talk for 6th class and teachers in May as well as raising over €2000 for Pieta House.

We would like to say well done to everyone involved and hope to continue the great work next year.

The Amber Flag team

We arrived at the church at around 10 AM. Before mass stated Ms. Clinton’s class gathered outside the church to take pictures. Then mass began and everyone took their designated seats . The choir began to sing this is the day and Father Martin made his way onto the alter. Kai and Lennon did the first readings announcing the names of the five people bringing up the gifts. After that, Father Martin spoke about the importance of praying and going to mass. Emma did a reading reciting a piece from the bible. Georgia, Maria, Kyle, Sophie, Chloe and Isi did the prayers of the faithful. Quinn, Dylan, Noah, Georgia, Aylssa and Emily did the gifts. Fionn and Seamus did the reading as Naomi and Saoirse walked down the aisle with the bread and the wine. Then Father Martin did the breaking of the bread and blessed it as Ms. Clinton’s class lined up to receive the bread. The choir started to sing as the children started to receive the bread. After they received their bread, Ella, Lauren and Oliver did the prayer after communion. As they left the church the choir sang go in peace. After mass was over, they all took pictures outside and then went to the parish centre hall and chatted, had biscuits and fizzy drinks. They all enjoyed their special day.

Written by Sarah Farrell, Clara Morris in Mr. Murphy’s class and Georgia Gunning and Ella Murtagh

I first wanted to make a Dungeons and Dragons club because I thought it would be a fun way to spend an hour after school without screens. I wrote to Ms. Markey to get her permission and she agreed, as long as we found a teacher to supervise and a classroom to use. Once this was sorted I made posters to advertise the club and hung them around the school. I went around to all 5th and 6th classes to see if anybody would be interested in joining. There was a lot more interest shown than expected.

In Dungeons and Dragons, you and a bunch of your friends sit around a table and play. To play you will have to make a character. One of the people around the table will be the Dungeon Master. It’s the DM’s job to control the monsters, make sure everyone is obeying the rules and let everyone have a good time. The rest of the people are the players- they each have a character sheet with all the information they will need on it. It will be on Thursdays after school every week from 2.20-3.20, starting on March the 30th.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and to Ms Markey and Ms Ní Chonchubhair for making this possible.

By Ruairí O’ Gorman, Room 11

Every Wednesday at 2:30 the chess club meets in Ms. Bradshaw’s and Ms. Farrelly’s room. The teachers are Mr. Whiting and Ms. Lonergan. Mr. Whiting teaches the older kids (4th to 6th), and Ms. Lonergan takes 2nd and 3rd class. Every week, we’re taught new things about chess, like openings and endgames. Chess is a game of strategy and planning. It is played by two players, black and white. There are 16 pieces each. The king is the most important piece, as, if captured, is worth the whole game. When you put an attacking piece in range of the king, it must move. This is called check. When it has nowhere to move, it is called checkmate. After a game, you must shake hands. In March, we held a KitKat cup, which was a tournament in which an older kid was pared with a younger kid and played the games together. The winners got KitKats. In April, we held a Grandparents Day, in which grandparents, parents and siblings visited and played each other. We also have a tournament against Holy Family coming up in June.

By Sarah Breen and Luke Pender

PJP’s was delighted to recently welcome and host a group of Polish students and teachers from Słoneczna Szkola Podstawowaa as part of an Erasmus+ partnership project.

The focus of this visit was a collaborative coding project between the students in Ms. Bennett’s and Ms. McKenna’s 5th classes and our visiting Polish students.

A great week of fun and collaborative learning activities took place in the school and on various educational trips around Dublin.

We look forward to sharing our completed project with you in a later newsletter. We also look forward to our continued partnership with Słoneczna Szkola Podstawowaa.

Some of our 5th class students from Ms. Bennett and Ms. McKenna’s classes recently took part in an Introduction to Robotics Coding Workshop at Creative Hut’s Think Big Space in Tallaght as part of the Erasmus+ project with our visiting Polish students.

Students were introduced to the world of robotics by building and programming robots to complete various challenges using specialised Lego education resources.

Through the challenges they were set, the students had the opportunity to develop their problem-solving skills through the Engineering Design Process and develop their collaboration skills to solve these problems as part of a team.

As the students interacted with the robotic resources & coding language, they also had the opportunity to engage in key computational thinking concepts such as decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithms.

It was an incredible hands-on learning experience for the students and we look forward to exploring the world of robotics further at PJPs in the coming academic year.

A big thank to our school choir who sang so beautifully at our recent First Holy Communion ceremonies. We had over 150 children involved in the choir and it was wonderful to see so many children wanting to participate. The music really added to the occasion. Thank you to Jack our organist on the day. Next up , are the Confirmation ceremonies at the end of the month which the choir are already rehearsing for. Again, due to the large numbers , we will be dividing the choir into three smaller groups. Every child will have the opportunity to sing at one Confirmation ceremony.

Following lots of suggestions in the 'Student Council Suggestion Box' and on the application forms, we purchased new planters for the school garden. Different classes have been involved in planting in the garden and we are delighted to see that we have a lovely crop of lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, beetroot, strawberries, onions , garlic and Bok Choi( Chinese Cabbage) all appearing in the flower beds. Thank you to the children who have helped out watering and caring for the plants. We also have some lovely sunflowers starting to pop up

There was great excitement in PJP as we hosted a chess friendly competetion vs Holy Family NS. The PE hall was full of tables set up with chess boards as we took on the students from Holy Family NS!

Professional Drummer Eamonn Cagney recently visited the 6th classes in PJP. Eamonn came with over 40 drums of all different types and sizes. He received excellent reviews from the children who all had an amazing time.