It was a long way to go for a game, admittedly, but what fun we had! Forty 4^th, 5^th and 6^th class students piled onto a bus at 8am on Thursday morning the 8^th of February to take part in an Olympic Handball tournament for the first time in the school’s history. The destination was Liam Mellows GAA Club in Castletown, County Wexford.

We arrived at around 9:30am and, rather worryingly, there were no other vehicles in the carpark! The two Mr Byrnes were worried that maybe we’d went to the wrong venue! Fortunately, after a quick check inside the vast complex, it was discovered that we were in the correct venue – we were just the first school to arrive!

When they did arrive, the other schools were Carlow Educate Together and St Joseph’s Primary School, Gorey.

We had 4 teams – Under 11 boys, Under 11 girls, Under 13 boys and Under 13 girls. All teams had great fun and learned loads on the day. It was certainly a learning curve for everyone – both students and teachers!

All teams put in notable performances. Our under 11 boys started with two straight wins and looked very impressive. Our under 13 boys and girls improved throughout. Our under 13 girls went 2-0 down in the final against Carlow ET before Ellie O’Toole pulled a goal back to make it 2-1. Try as they might though, they just couldn’t find the equaliser. Our Under 13 boys took a 2-0 lead in their final against Carlow ET before eventually succumbing to a 5-2 defeat. Mí-ádh oraibh!

It was left to our under 11 girls, then, to bring home the bacon and qualify for the Leinster Olympic Handball Finals! They beat Carlow ET in the final.

The final took place in Gormanstown College on March 4^th. This would mean an even earlier start for the cailíní!