On the 29th of May 2025 our 5th and 6th class team played in the Wicklow Cumann na mBunscol. We won all our matches including the final by 8 points to 3. We all had an amazing day.

On the bus we were singing songs and we had great craic. The bus ride was forty-five minutes long. After a long bus ride, we were hungry to play. When we arrived, we saw Ballinakill’s outstanding facilities. In the dressing room we got our jerseys on. Then we attempted to leave the club house. When we were on the way out of the clubhouse we got lost since it was very spacious. When we finally left the clubhouse, we had no time to do a warm-up. We were straight on the pitch. Then we learnt goals were only counted as one point so we would be better off going for points as they would not be able to save it.

In the first match we played against Aughrim 1. We were enthusiastic as our team had improved a lot and had gotten to the final last year but lost by 2 points against Aughrim so we really wanted to win the cup.

In the second match we were still going strong and confident. We played against Avoca. We won again! We were very proud of ourselves and so were the parents and coaches on the sidelines.

For the third match we found out we were playing Aughrim again but this time it was Aughrim 2.

While most teams played their fourth match, we had a break for 15 minutes to eat and have a kick around. For our fifth match we played against Coolfancy; we won by a good bit again.

For our fifth match, we played Kilcommon. We won by a lot! In the sixth match, by full time it was a draw. The ball was kept in play until we managed to turn it over and we got the final score through Madisyn Doyle. Then the final whistle blew.

The ball was thrown up. The final against Aughrim had begun. Aughrim were a good team - they beat us in the final last year. They had some great players - we saw that when we played them earlier in the day. By the time we got to half time we were winning but we’d have to keep going the way we were going to win it. We knew that we couldn’t get ahead of ourselves. In the second half things got rougher but we kept going. The final whistle blew. We had won, we beat Aughrim! We won the 2025 Wicklow Cumann na mBunscol! We grabbed our drinks and listened to the speech before we were presented with the trophy. Emma gave a speech thanking the referee, coaches (teachers), Aughrim NS for a great game and their coaches. We were delighted with our performance. We sang after the presentation of the trophy. We got our picture taken and headed to the dressing rooms and sang Freed from Desire yet again. On the way out to the bus we got lost, we missed the door twice. We got on the bus to go home; we were buzzing. The atmosphere was amazing - besides the lads they lost the final to Aughrim - but still the bus home was great fun!

I hope you enjoyed our inside victory as much as we did. It we very enjoyable as we lost the final the last time and it was also one of the last times we ever played together as a team. Hopefully we will do as well as we did in primary school in secondary school and good luck to next year’s team. Bye!

Emma, Ellie and Ella – Captaein na Foirne 2025