Sports Round Up: Christmas 2009
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As usual things have been very busy for all our students in the sporting arena so far this year. September saw hockey commence on the new astro turf and, with the facility to train under lights, everyone is attending and enjoying training. Already we can see the benefits, as there have been a few notable successes. A round up of hockey, basketball, volleyball, Gaelic football and equestrian sports follows.
Congratulations to Aisling Conlon (6th Year) on her recent win for Ireland in Canoe Slalom. She is now in training for the World Championships and the European Championships as well as studying for her Leaving Certificate! We look forward to maybe having our first ever “World Champion” as a past pupil of Santa Sabina.
Hockey
With the new astro all ten teams are improving all the time. Seniors One and Two and Junior A and Minor A are all in the position of possible qualification for the knock out stages of the Leinster competitions. Senior 1 had a recent emphatic 4-0 victory over St. Wolstans (a team they could only draw with last year) and the Senior 2 are the top goal scorers in the school with Eimear Maloney top goal scorer for them.
Junior As recently had a notable 1-0 win over Mt. Anville and have yet to lose a match this season. Hope Blanford is their goal poacher!
Having had a slow start the Minor A team recently found form with a 3-2 win over Holy Child. After Christmas all teams will be competing in the Northside League and the knock out stages of the Leinster competitions will continue.
Welcome to our new coach Mr Gillette and good luck to all for the rest of the season.
Basketball
The basketball teams and their coaches have been busy with no less than 9 teams competing at various age levels and divisions. The Cadette and Senior teams have almost completed their group matches. Cadette Premier have won all their matches to date while the Senior B team must wait to see if they reach the Quarter Finals.
Senior Premier had a great win over Manor House and continue to do well in their section. Minor and Junior teams are only at the very early stages of their league campaigns.
Many thanks to the dedicated coaches and good luck to everyone for the rest of the season.
Volleyball
The Senior team have already completed their league and succeeded in coming in third place. All other competitions are still at the early stages so “watch this space” for more volleyball news in the coming months.
Gaelic Football
The team was strengthened this year by the introduction of some promising First Year players and hopes were high as the team went to their first league match against Holy Faith Clontarf, who had beaten us twice last season. After a very close match, where Santa Sabina missed numerous scoring chances, Holy Faith were up by a goal at the final whistle, but even they realised they were lucky on the day.
The next match was against Dominican Griffith Avenue and again we failed to take our chances and were unlucky to lose. There is just one more match before elimination so the team hope to take their chances and win their next match to progress a step further than last year.
Equestrian Sports
The season started with the first leg of the Hoofprints Inter-Schools League hosted by St. Gerard’s Bray on September 27th. This was followed by a series of five Inter-School’s competitions, hosted by Killossary Lodge Stud in Rolestown. Two of these will take place after Christmas and the final is on 28th February.
The team was placed in the competition on the 15th November and won an Individual Class outright and hope to keep up this performance in the New Year.
Ellen Overy, as Captain, has made great progress with her young horse Bambi this year, consistently jumping clear rounds. Ellen’s sister Sara, has a very steady partnership with her horse Jazz, as does Emma Farrelly with Taity. Emma recently won a Hunter Trial competition. The Keating sisters, Ellen and Olivia, share their horse, Alfie Romeo and are a great addition to the team, as is the youngest team member, First Year student Sara-Jane Flanagan, on her pony Bluestone. Sara-Jane has a lot of show jumping experience and this has helped the team record their good results.
Ms O’Dwyer recently organised training for all the team at Kilossary Lodge Stud under the guidance of Laura Glynn, a H.S.I. Level 2 coach. Many thanks to all parents for their support in transporting the horses to the events and to those also who act as chef d’equipe.
Congratulations to the Equestrian Team on their fantastic success in the Inter Schools Showjumping League held in Kilossory Lodge Stud on Sunday 6th December. They won both the team and individual competitions. The girls and their horses performed wonderfully well. A special congratultions to Sara-Jane Flanagan on winning the Individual Competition. We wish the team well for the New Year
Ms A. Woods |
