As part of the European Heritage Open Days and North Belfast Heritage Cluster, the Harry Clarke Studio stained glass windows in the College Chapel and the recently refurbished O’Laverty Library can be viewed between 11:00-13:00.
Great to have our Class of 1969 reunion featured in this month's Ulster Tatler!
Sports
Finn Diver, Callum Morgan, Adam Ferris and Fionntan Campbell travelled to London to represent Northern Ireland in the Mini London Marathon.
Following on from their double Cup win in March, the College Senior football team beat local rivals, Edmund Rice College 3-0.
Year 9 Basketball team travelled to Limerick to compete in their first All-Ireland Championships. They won 3 group games, ¼ final against Castleknock College, ½ final against Templeogue College but came up short against winners, Colaiste Eanna, Dublin.
The College Under 16 Water Polo Team remain the undefeated Ulster Schools’ winners. Team member Fearghal Creagh has been selected for the Junior Irish Team and scored his first international goal against Belarus in the Czech Republic.
Individual and team titles highlight Ulster Schools’ Track & Field Championships. Six Gold and Two Silver medals led St. Malachy’s Senior Boys to retain their overall team title.
Gold
5000m - Adam Ferris
400m - Tim Scott
Long Jump and Triple Jump - Jai Benson
800m - Cormac O’Rourke
4 x 100m Relay - Joe McCartan
Cormac O’Rourke
Aidan McGeown
Jai Benson
Inter Boys 3000m – Callum Morgan
Silver
Hammer Throw – Aidan McGeown
4 x 400m Relay – Ruairi Gallagher
Conall Browne
Tim Scott
Cormac O’Rourke
Year 8 basketballers competed in the annual Vince Halloran tournament in May. Two College teams were entered into the Plate competition and one into the Cup.
St Columb’s College, Derry were defeated by St. Pat’s, Armagh in the Plate final and we were able to hold off Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College, Knock in the Cup final.
A ten point lead was established going into the last quarter against O.L.S.P.K but the College players were able to maintain their possession and go on to win the title 28-27.
Jai Benson claimed his fourth All Ireland title in five years at the All Ireland Schools’ Track & Field Championships – achieving two personal bests; 14.41m Triple Jump and 6.93m Long Jump. Other team members included:
Tim Scott – 400m hurdles – 5th (60.8s PB)
Cormac O’Rourke – 800m – 5th(1.57)
Adam Ferris – 5000m – 5th (15.49)
Aidan McGeown –Hammer Throw – 8th(30m)
4 x 100m Relay – 6th(46.03s)
4 x 400m Relay – 4th(4.43)
These contributed to a narrow joint second place finish for the Senior Boys, just failing to retain the title they won last year, however, we did have the consolation of collecting the Senior Boys Shield – a first in College history.
Fionntan Campbell and Callum Morgan obliterated their personal best to claim 2ndand 3rdrespectively in the Intermediate Boys 3000m. Fionntan took a huge 30s off his personal best to run 8.56 and Callum finishing second behind with 15s personal best and both winning their first Individual All-Ireland Schools medals.
Other News
The Artist, Robert Peters visited the Art Department on the 3rdMay to run a workshop with the Year 13 and 14 Art and Design students. He introduced them to a new Salt Etch printmaking process.
St. Malachy’s College Chess players have been taking part in the Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge. The initial stages were played during lunchtimes in the College, with players battling through seven rounds until eventually left with one winner. Patrick Maguire narrowly defeated Leon Johny in a tense final game, while Joseph Donnelly finished third runner up. Patrick and Joseph went to compete in the regional Megafinal where they faced opposition from top players from schools all over Northern Ireland. Patrick enjoyed further success as overall champion of his age group and will go on to compete in the Terafinal in Manchester in July.
St Malachy’s filmmaker and A Level Moving Image Arts student, Thomas Purdy got the opportunity to work with the stars in Cinemagic’s Los Angeles film festival. Thomas got to interview Colin Farrell and pick up film making tips from actor, writer and producer, Ross King.
Fundraising
Year 8 and SVP members handed over a cheque for £6789.00 to Trocaire.
Nine pupils along with their family, friends and staff took part in an abseil down the front of the Europa to raise funds for their trip in India with Saphara in October.
Trips
Year 14 History students visited Dublin as part of their study on Partition of Ireland. They visited Kilmainham Gaol and then witnessed a re-enactment of the graveside oration delivered by Patrick Pearse at Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa’s grave – Glasnevin Cemetery.
As part of the topic of Gaelic Games, Year 9 Irish students enjoyed an action packed trip to Croke Park. They learned about the history of the GAA and Croke Park as they toured the stadium.
Year 11 Art and Design students visited the End of Year Degree shows at the Art College to see the range of creative career opportunities on offer there. They visited Interactive Design, Animation, Architecture, Graphic Design/Illustration and Fine Art Painting shows.
Key Stage 3 pupils and five of the Year 13 Peer mentors enjoyed an overnight trip to Greenhill YMCA in Newcastle, Co. Down. This trip marked the culmination of months of dedicated hard work by Peer Mentors who have been fully trained to support their peers within the College.
The Year 8 Annual Retreats took place during the last week of term. The theme was “We are wonderfully made.” John Paul 2 Award students Niall O’Hare, Christopher Archer, Ruairi McAteer and Matthew McMahon ran the group sessions and shared their faith experiences.
A team of Year 8 Chemists came 2nd Place in the Salter’s Challenge at Queen’s University. They put their investigative skills to the test to solve a number of practical tasks.
Alumni Visits
John Finucane, Thomas Kane, Conor Caldwell alongside Mark McConnell spoke to students about their career pathways and provided an insight into various aspects of Law, Politics, Media, Sports and ICT.
Parking available at the front of the College.
Music Department
Musicians strike the right chord in Ballymena!
Four 1st places were awarded to College musicians at Ballymena Festival in the Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, String Orchestra and Woodwind Ensemble.
· The Chamber Choir competed in this year’s BBC Radio Ulster’s School Choir of the Year competition and reached the semi-finals. You can listen to their performance by clicking on the following link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/schoolchoiroftheyear
· Traditional musicians produce another Titanic performance. They were invited to perform at the British Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat St. Patrick’s Day Reception held in Titanic Belfast.
· The Annual Concert took place at Clonard Monastery on 7th April 2019. This was watched and enjoyed by a huge audience within the church and by countless viewers at home and abroad via the Clonard Webcam.
One audience member’s words sum up the evening perfectly:
"It was an uplifting and spiritual experience in every sense where something transcendent emerged from all the collective talents and cumulative input, practice and effort of all concerned. There was great 'soul' in the variety of music and great imagination and sensitivity in performance. The organisation, switch-overs between pieces, general demeanour and commitment of the boys were impeccable. The amount of willed effort, perseverance and attention to detail required over a long period to reach such standards on all fronts is extraordinary. Congratulations to all concerned and my thanks for a lovely evening in a superb setting."
Sports Department
Athletics/Cross Country
· Individual wins for Adam Ferris, Fionntan Campbell and Finn Diver lead St. Malachy’s to a sweep of all 5 team titles at the South Antrim District Cross Country.
· The College claimed ‘best overall school’ alongside two individual and two team wins at the Ulster Schools Cross Country. Please click on the following link for more information. https://www.stmalachyscollege.com/StMalachy'sclaimbestoverallschooltitle
· Successful day at the All Ireland Schools Cross Country Championship. Both Junior (Year 10) and Inter (Year 11 & 12) boys picked up team silver medals and came agonisingly close to the win.
· Callum Morgan, Fionntan Campbell and Matthew Lavery competed for Ireland in the schools’ international cross country against England, Scotland and Wales.
Gaelic Sports
· On a rain soaked Monday afternoon in January, current St. Enda’s players and past pupils of the College Ethan Gibson, Joe Maskey, Michael Morgan, James McAuley along with current pupil Neil Kelly took time out of their preparation for the All Ireland Intermediate Football Final against Kilcummin of Kerry to attend Year 9 training, where they took part in some training drills and imparted some of their expertise to the younger students.
· Niall O’Connor (Year 13) collected his Hurling All Star award at the Ulster Colleges dinner Friday 12th April 2019.
Soccer
· The College U18 won 5-1 against Trinity College in the Danske Bank NI Schools Cup Semi Final.
· The U18s then went on to win 3-1 against De La Salle held at Seaview 18thMarch 2019.
· Following on from their success, the College football team are through to the Belfast Cup Final which will take place after Easter.
· Paddy Burns and Lewis McGarvey will play as part of the NI U18 School Boys’ Squad. To date they have two wins against Scotland and Wales.
· Lewis McGarvey and Paddy Burns will play against Republic of Ireland in their final game of the Centenary Shield on Thursday 18thApril 2019.
Rugby
· The Year 8 Rugby team came painfully close to qualifying for the Ulster Schools’ finals. Despite beating both Boys’ Model and Larne High, they were narrowly beaten (3 tries to 2) in a playoff decider by Our Lady and St. Patrick’s, Knock.
· Year 8 rugby squad were invited by Irish Rugby to attend an open training session with their senior squad. The boys had a brilliant time, getting to see Irish stars like Johnny Sexton, Jacob Stockdale and Rory Best.
Basketball
· The College U19 basketball team secured their place in the All Ireland League final. They narrowly defeated St. Oliver’s Community College, Drogheda in the quarter final after overtime 65 – 61.
· The U19s defeated the Bish (St. Joseph’s, Galway) 52-43 to win the Basketball league final in Dublin.
· Year 9 and 10 Ulster Champions basketballers are to both travel to Limerick and Dublin to compete in the All Irelands.
· The U16 basketballers reached the All Ireland semi-finals, losing narrowly to Calasanctius College, Oranmore.
Languages
· The A Level Spanish debate team had a day of successes at today’s NICILT A Level Spanish debates held at Queen’s University. The team beat Rathmore in their debate and came second overall in the competition (in a competitive field of ten schools). As well as the team award, Patrick Burns won best speaker award.
· The Irish department had yet another successful year at Feis Bhéal Feirste. The boys had the opportunity to participate in poetry recital or conversation.
· A selection of Irish students represented the College at an event in the City Hall to celebrate Seachtain na Gaelige. The pupils spoke to a packed hall about their love for the Irish language.
The French and Spanish department brought a number of pupils to Paris and Barcelona. The boys were able to take in the historical sites, cultures and also some sunshine! A wonderful experience for the boys to use their language skills in an everyday setting.
Other news
· Luke Browne Murray attended the opening of the True Colours Exhibition at the Ulster Museum. His GCSE Art and Design Project was selected for the display that showcases some of the most talented artists in Northern Ireland. Luke’s Illustration project shows beautiful drawing and printmaking that develops to an illustration of the poem “The Raven”.
· In February, four of our senior pupils travelled to London to compete in the National Final of the UKMT (United Kingdom Mathematics Trust). This was the first time our pupils qualified at this stage.
· The Junior Maths Team competed in the Regional Final of the UKMT, held in the College Hall. Our team came 6thout of 23 teams!
· This years’ ski trip took place at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, USA during February mid-term break.
· Year 14 students, Oran McBrien, Conor Sweetnam, Thomas Cunningham, Joel Baxter and Daniel Brennan received their Pope John Paul II Awards from Bishop Treanor. Paddy Burns also achieved the Gold Award. Joel spoke about his experience of the Awards to an audience of 500 in St. Mary’s Church, Chapel Lane.
· Our SvP boys have been working tirelessly to raise money for Trocaire. On Friday 22ndMarch, they presented Hannah McKeown form Trocaire with a cheque for £1200. This money will be providing much needed help to those in both Palestine and Yemen.
· The A2 Drama students perfomed their A2 piece for family and friends. The audience was treated to three accomplished duologues from Our Country’s Good, Punk Rock and Quietly. The boys then went on to perform two original pieces of Devised Work inspired by innovative theatre company, Frantic Assembly.
· Alumnus, Kevin McMahon (Class of ‘81), Professor of Chemistry at Carroll University, Wisconsin visited the College with some of his University students as part a cultural exchange programme. They met with College Archivist, Mr Gerry McNamee who educated them on College history.
· Year 12 and 13 students attended a Bar Mock Trial workshop at Hillsborough Castle. They were given a famous case from the 1900s to run adopting roles such as prosecution, defence, witnesses and even the judge and jury.
Gloria Ab Intus!
C Block extension - Ground floor
Art & Design have now relocated from temporary classrooms to bright, spacious purpose-built rooms.
Technology classrooms have been refurbished with adjoining state-of-the-art workshops.
