50th Celebrations Match Report
St Aidan’s 50th Celebrations took to the School Gaelic Pitch on Saturday 15th October 2016. Our Saturday Celebrations started off with a Primary Schools Gaelic match featuring students from St Michaels National School and Latton National School. The match was a fiery affair showcasing the excellent talent in both the local primary schools from Cavan and Monaghan. There were fine displays from both sides with Latton NS coming out on top. Callum Mc Elroy was the captain of the team and came forward to receive the medals from Our PE teacher Owen Lennon, Previous Monaghan Intercountry Footballer, Captain and Ulster Winner. The ref was Kieran mc Carville and he was presented with a memento of the occasion also. As past students from Monaghan and Cavan Started to arrive at the school grounds, tensions between Mr Lynch (Manager of Cavan) and Mr McQuillan (Manager of Monaghan) started to hit boiling point. However, everyone joined in pride and solidarity as the pitch was dedicated to Pete Ward, a previous Teacher in the school who had dedicated so much of his time to extracurricular activities within the school. The Plaque dedicated to him mentioned one of his favourite sayings "let it go long and let the ball do the work" and Sean McCaffrey (MC) asked Laura Ward, a member of the Ward family to come forward and unveil the plaque in all its glory to the large warm crowd that had gathered to witness this moment in our school’s history. She spoke proudly and solemnly about her dad and what he had done for the school.
Next up was the match of the century, the past pupils of St Aidan’s from Monaghan and Cavan took to the pitch to do battle. These veterans wore the Cavan and Monaghan jerseys with pride and were about to fight tooth and nail for the winner’s trophy. First up, Aoife Shalvey sang Amhrain na bhiann to a largely excited crowd that dotted around St Aidan’s School Pitch. The match had its ups and downs, big hits, dives, and dodgy refereeing decisions, fabulous scores both goals and points were witnessed on the Cavan and the Monaghan side. At half time, the score was 1-7 to 6 points in favour of Cavan. Half time entertainment was provided by present students; Megan Moynagh, Ellen Gallagher, Hannah Martin, Kate Mc Caul and Ciara Shanley who danced beautifully mesmerising the crowd with some lovely jigs and reels. The second half started with lightning pace and Cavan quickly took hold of the game with a goal and 3 points in the first ten minutes. Liam Sherlock Gerard argue Philip mc Dermot Michael Ward John mc Cutcheon Paul mc Carney Glen Nulty Brian Sherlock all came to the fore while Ciaran Boyle pulled off some great great saves. Kenneth Connolly in the back Barry Mc Gahan were rock solid throughout.
However, Monaghan finished the stronger team and just edged it at the end and scored 2-05 with great performances from Sean Farmer, Ruairi Ward, Anthony Lynch, Brendan O Brien, Kevin Hughes, Mark Mullen, Damien Sherlock, Hugh mc Elroy and Aidan Farmer. Most importantly everybody left the Pete Ward pitch with a smile on their face and memories for life, just the way Pete would have wanted it. Both sets of players retired to our marquee after the match for some food and reminisced on the old school days.
It was a really enjoyable day out and all in St. Aidan's would like to thank all players who came in and played in this historical match, to Joe Mc Quillan for officiating the game, Thomas White for the video and Sean Mc Caffrey for his entertaining commentary.
Next up was the match of the century, the past pupils of St Aidan’s from Monaghan and Cavan took to the pitch to do battle. These veterans wore the Cavan and Monaghan jerseys with pride and were about to fight tooth and nail for the winner’s trophy. First up, Aoife Shalvey sang Amhrain na bhiann to a largely excited crowd that dotted around St Aidan’s School Pitch. The match had its ups and downs, big hits, dives, and dodgy refereeing decisions, fabulous scores both goals and points were witnessed on the Cavan and the Monaghan side. At half time, the score was 1-7 to 6 points in favour of Cavan. Half time entertainment was provided by present students; Megan Moynagh, Ellen Gallagher, Hannah Martin, Kate Mc Caul and Ciara Shanley who danced beautifully mesmerising the crowd with some lovely jigs and reels. The second half started with lightning pace and Cavan quickly took hold of the game with a goal and 3 points in the first ten minutes. Liam Sherlock Gerard argue Philip mc Dermot Michael Ward John mc Cutcheon Paul mc Carney Glen Nulty Brian Sherlock all came to the fore while Ciaran Boyle pulled off some great great saves. Kenneth Connolly in the back Barry Mc Gahan were rock solid throughout.
However, Monaghan finished the stronger team and just edged it at the end and scored 2-05 with great performances from Sean Farmer, Ruairi Ward, Anthony Lynch, Brendan O Brien, Kevin Hughes, Mark Mullen, Damien Sherlock, Hugh mc Elroy and Aidan Farmer. Most importantly everybody left the Pete Ward pitch with a smile on their face and memories for life, just the way Pete would have wanted it. Both sets of players retired to our marquee after the match for some food and reminisced on the old school days.
It was a really enjoyable day out and all in St. Aidan's would like to thank all players who came in and played in this historical match, to Joe Mc Quillan for officiating the game, Thomas White for the video and Sean Mc Caffrey for his entertaining commentary.