Trophies galore

For the first time ever, the Clongowes SCT won the Leinster Schools cup twice in a row, and did so with the second highest score ever recorded in a final (46-15 against Roscrea). For many years Clongowes held out against the allure of the Leinster Rugby Competitions. Inspired by the Ignatian prayer: Teach me to labour and not to seek reward, it saw competitions, cups and other trophies as a threat to the amateur spirit. But nowadays few sports survive on a diet of friendly matches. In all the Jesuit schools, games have become strikingly competitive, on a provincial or national level. One plays not just to win a match, but to win a trophy, a title, or even a reward. Their sideboards groan under quite an array of silver. Read more. Clongowes won the Leinster Schools Senior Rugby cup for the second year in a row, and reached the final of the Junior Rugby  Cup.  Belvedere squash teams won the Leinster League in both the Under 19 and Under 17 sections. Swimmer Brian O’Sullivan has won two medals at Provincial level, and three at national level, for freestyle and backstroke. Crescent boys’ soccer team returned victorious from a tour of Florida, USA. Crescent girls won the Munster Senior Hockey League and Hockey Cup. The girls’ Junior golf team  won the Munster title. Crescent athletes won three gold and one silver medal at the Munster Schools Sports. The boys’ Senior soccer team and Junior rugby team are in the finals of their respective Munster Schools  competitions this week. Colaiste Iognaid girls won the Connaught Hockey Cup; the boys won the Connaught rugby cup; and the school won the all-Ireland schools Intermediate Water-polo title. And their debaters won an all-Ireland championship. What about Gonzaga? They are the all-Ireland Chess champions, and in an internet chess competition against Seattle Prep, a Jesuit school in Washington State, USA, Gonzaga won by 10 games to 5.