Fantastic Four bring All Ireland glory to Coláiste Phobal RosCré
The 9th of March brought an early start for players and supporters of the colaiste U19 boy’s badminton team, despite the early start spirits were high in anticipation of what lay ahead. The two hour bus journey to Gormonston Co. Meath didn’t enthuse but the prospect of playing in an All-Ireland and possibly even winning made it a short trip.
There were representatives from all provinces except Connacht, the ulster team were RBAI from Belfast with Johnstown in Kilkenny flying the flag for Leinster and the later would be our first opponents. Johnstown were a very athletic side and had a never say die attitude, all of the four singles matches were tight with three of them going the way of Roscrea. Andrew Cullen and William Cummins showed patience and experience in waiting for the right opportunities in their games to come out on top. Evan hassett in the third game was unlucky to lose narrowly but this would serve as a source of determination for the rest of the day and in fourth and last singles Jack Finnegan saw off the Johnstown number four having to come from behind to take victory giving a great boost of confidence to him and his team. The Colaiste were 3-1 up going into the doubles, first up Andrew Cullen and Jack Finnegan who made no mistake seeing off the Johnstown pairing in a convincing victory. In the second doubles William Cummins and Evan Hassett played an intelligent game to also win in a commanding manner to win the match 5-1. This left the Colaiste in a good position with RBAI and Johnstown to play each other next.
RBAI and Johnstown played out a 3-3 draw, which ensured a 3-3 against the school from Belfast would see Roscrea over the line. As always Andrew Cullen played first singles, this time he had tougher competition and after some long rallies and fantastic badminton was unlucky to go down by two aces to the man from Belfast, the second singles would prove a similar result as always William Cummins left it all on the court but could not get the better of the Belfast No.2. It was down to Evan Hassett and Jack Finnegan to turn things around and they did not disappoint. Evan showed great character to bounce back from his earlier loss making no mistake winning convincingly, Jack followed suit holding his nerve to level the match up at 2-2 going into the doubles. Andrew and Jack were up first knowing one more game would make them champions but things did not go to plan, after a slow start they got in to the game but had left too big a mountain to climb and couldn’t close the gap to the men from Belfast. 3-2 down at this point it would be up to Evan and William to finish the job, both felt they had a point to prove after earlier losses bringing a level of determination into their game for which Belfast had no answer. This win levelled the game 3-3 which handed Colaiste Phobal Roscrea the all-Ireland title capping of a fantastic team performance that anybody would be proud of.
Team: Andrew Cullen, William Cummins, Evan Hassett, Jack Finnegan, Cian Cordial(sub)
PLC fundraising for suicide awareness at Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré
On Wednesday, 16 March the PLC Student Council in the College organised a fundraiser for suicide awareness and held an Easter Egg Raffle and gathering in their social area prior to their Easter holidays. They also plan to run a “Jersey Day” within the next few weeks – great credit is due to the PLC class representatives for their enthusiasm and efforts. The Suicide Awareness Cycle will be coming to Roscrea over the May bank holiday weekend and will be visiting the College.
The College is currently enrolling for its PLC courses for next September. First round interviews for places in Business and Tourism, Advanced Admin. with HR, Early Childhood Care and Education, Construction Technology, Social and Community Care, Healthcare and Nursing Studies will take place in late May. If interested, please contact the College at 0505 23939/ColaistePhobal@tipperaryetb.ie or apply on line through the website www.cpr.ie. Early application is advisable as there are often waiting lists for places.
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