Derry Vocational School Under 16 Semi Finals

On Monday 14^th December St. Colm’s Draperstown and St. Mary’s Clady went head to head in the first of the Derry Under 16 Vocational school football semi finals at Glen Maghera.

Conditions were surprisingly good if not a little cold but things warmed up once Barry Cassidy through the ball in between these two strong sides. After a close first half St. Mary’s Clady went in 2-01 to 0-04 getting crucial goals at the right time. St. Colm’s Draperstown came out desperate to make amends for a poor first half by their standards and managed to get in front with only minutes left of normal time went Clady finished a superb move with the ball in the back of the net to tie things up 3-01 to 1-07 at full time.
Extra time was played and it was to be St. Mary’s Clady who kept their composure slightly better to win the game on the narrowest of margins 3-04 to 1-09 and book their place in this year’s Under 16 Vocational Schools Finals.

Girls Year 8 Gaelic Football Blitz

Attached are pictures from the Girls Year 8 Derry City Gaelic Football blitz held in OLT on 26th October. Four school attended; St Cecilia's, St Mary's, Thornhill and Holy Cross, Strabane. A great day was had by all and all games were geared towards fun and no scores were kept although the schools had a fair idea who came out on top. Well done to Derry GPO Shauna McCallion for organising and coordinating the event

Year 8 Vocational School's Football League Final

Today in Owenbeg St. Paul's Kilrea and St. Patrick's & St. Brigid's Claudy competed in the Year 8 vocational schools football decider. The game was extremely entertaining with both teams playing an attacking brand of football. The boys from Claudy just done enough with a late goal to run out winners on a scoreline of 4-09 to 2-14.Well done to everyone involved!

Year 8 Gaelic Football @ Templemore, Derry

Today Paul Simpson organised year 8 Gaelic Football Blitz at Templemore sports complex. 4 schools / 6 teams played 16 games in the glorious weather.

Year 9 Football Coaching Day @ Owenbeg

On Tuesday 18th May 150 Year 9 Secondary School pupils enjoyed a Gaelic Football Coaching and blitz day organised by Chris Collins.

From 10am to 12.30pm the players were treated to a morning of coaching by Tony Scullion, Richard Ferris, Diarmuid Scullion, Ryan Mellon, Paul Rouse and Gary Mallon. The 20 minute sessions focused on SAQ, Core Strength and Conditioning, Kicking Scores, Frontal and Side tackle, The Block and Games to Retain Possession. The players all put in a big effort and got a lot out of the morning

After lunch they all had the chance to practice the skills in a 9 aside football blitz.

Thanks to all the Coaches, teachers and the players themselves for taking part.

Year 8 Gaelic Football @ Templemore, Derry

A Year 8 Gaelic Football Blitz took place on the 30th April 2010 at Templemore. 6 teams and 70 players took part. Thanks to Paul Simpson for organising the event and to the schools, players and teachers for taking part.

Year 9 Hurling Coaching Day @ Owenbeg

On Wednesday 5th May Kevin Hinphey organised a coaching and blitz day for all year 9 hurlers to attend at Owenbeg. 6 Schools and approx 130 players took part in what was an excellent day of coaching and games delivered by Kevin Kelly, Ruairi Convery, Francis Scullion and Kevin Hinphey. The lads gained a lot from it. Thanks to all the players for taking part and to the coaches for giving up their time to work with the lads.

Derry Vocational School's Cross County

Today Derry Vocational Schools had their annual Cross Country Competition at Derry's Centre of Excellence, Owenbeg. 220 pupils took part from 7 schools (St. Colm's Draperstown, St. Joseph's Coleraine, Garvagh High School, St. Paul's Kilrea, St. Mary's Clady, St. Patrick's and St. Brigid's Claudy and St. Mary's Limavady). There were races for Yr8 Boys and Girls to Year 12 Boys and Girls. Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to all those who came in 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their respective competitions. Credit must go to Miss Moore for organising a very successful day and to all the teachers for their help and support.

Year 8 Super Touch at RVLC

On Friday at Roe Valley Recreation Centre Limavady a Super Touch Year 8 indoor Gaelic Football Blitz took place coordinated by Richard Ferris, GPO for the area. This event proved to be very popular with all that participated, 9 teams took part from St Patrick’s Dungiven and St Mary’s Limavady. 45 boys enjoyed the day’s football immensely, with 40 games taking place across the two halls. Finish off with all the boys getting 45mins session in the pool. Obviously a day such as this doesn't happen without the help of the teachers, 4 of whom helped with the smooth running Mr. Mc Mullan Mr. Mackle, Mr. Mc Gilligan and Mrs. Mc Gee.
Six sixth form students from St. Mary's Limavady refereed the games. Finally a big thank you to all the players who took part from 10am to 2.45pm, it was plain to see how much craic they were having and some of the skill levels on show was exceptional.

St. Patrick's Dungiven After school Gaelic Football

St Patrick’s High School Dungiven have started their “Road to Croker” Programme in Dungiven Sports Center on Monday evenings, with their Year 8 Boys taking part. The Boys are split into 5 teams of 4-a-side and are really enjoying each evening’s football. This event is co-ordinated by Richard Ferris and help is provided from Mr. Mackle and Mr. McMullan, teachers from the school, which was greatly appreciated.

Year 8 Derry City Football Blitz

On Friday afternoon the first of this year's Yr. 8 Derry City blitzs took place in Templemore, only 2 were able to attend. Still we had 5 teams there and played 10 matches of Super 9's across the pitch, 56 players took part. There was 12 GAA clubs represented by the various teams. The weather was a bonus and both schools brought sixth form students to assist. Help was also provided from Sean Dolans coaches which was greatly appreciated.

St. Pius Year 8 Football Coaching

As part of our school programme for 2009/10 we have been able to increase our coaching assistance in the Secondary School sector. Throughout the County we are providing weekly coaching assistance to 18 second level schools.

On Friday 2nd October Diarmuid Scullion was in St. Pius Magherafelt. 50 players were put through a coaching session by Diarmuid asissted by 4 A-level pupils from the school. This Gaelic performance session focussed on improving the players 'Game Sense' by playing conditioned games focussing on possession retention, support play and decision making in attack. Having observed these players over the last number of years playing for their clubs at Go Games blitzes, it was great to see how well these players interacted together. Well done to all the local clubs for producing such quality players.

Year 8 Vocational Schools Football Competition

The Burn's cup and shield were played today at Owenbeg. 15 teams took part in the 9 aside Competition. The standard was excellent throughout the day and it all the teams left Derry's Centre of Excellence more than happy.

The Shield final was contested by St. Mary's Draperstown B and St. Brigid's Carnhill. The Derry City side came out on top in what was a close game.

St. Mary's Draperstown A team then played St. Paul's Kilrea A in the Burn's Cup final. The standard was extremely high and the competition with fierce, St. Mary's Draperstown came out the victors with a goal to spare.
Some pictures below from the Year 8 Vocational Schools Football Championship.