Sport

1^st year soccer on an excellent performance:

 2-1 win 

Well done to the 1^st year soccer on an excellent performance and 2-1 win against Coláiste Chroabh Ábhann, Kilcoole on Tuesday Nov 24^th. Disciplined defensive display, led by a mature performance by Enda Douglas, was the basis of skilful attacking play helped the team to secure their victory. Goals from Enda Douglas and Amer Boulbassir helped St. Brendan’s College go 2-0 up. But CCA battled to score a goal with 10 minutes remaining that led to a nervy finish but Marcus White remained resolute in goal making some significant saves to ensure Brendan’s qualify for the next round. Next round will be against the winner of Enniscorthy VC or Arklow CBS.

1^st year soccer match report

Well done to the 1^st year soccer on their performance and 2-2 draw against Arklow CBS on Thursday Nov 19^th. Skilful attacking play helped the team to score with goals from David Power and Amer Boulbassir. An improved and disciplined defence limited the number of chances conceded to Arklow. There were noteworthy defensive performances by Enda Douglas, Clayton Somers and Leslin Vinod. A win against St. David’s, Greystones in the final group game should ensure progress to the semi-finals of the Wicklow-Wexford league. Next match is against Coláiste Chroabh Abhann, Kilcoole in the first round of the Leinster cup on Tuesday Nov 24^th.   

U-19 Basketball

By Kasper Gutowski (5^th Year)

It was another successful year for the St. Brendan’s under-19 basketball team. The team were in a very demanding group this season. We had a tough schedule of training sessions as this was the year to prove to everyone that we were worthy champions.

From the beginning we wanted to show that this year was our time as we stormed through the season. Throughout our journey to the final we confronted teams including Stratford College and Greenhills College. Both of these proved to be challenging teams to beat but we won both of these games.

We made it to the final against a tough opponent Colaiste Cois Life. We were all excited to be back and we had devised a plan to stop their main player. From the beginning we executed the plan perfectly but after half time our team felt too comfortable and we started to make simple mistakes. We also let frustrations get to us and we started to fight amongst ourselves which didn’t help. In addition to this we lost one of our core players, Jaime Lazaro, before the game. Even though we lost the final we were in good spirits as we still had one more year to prove ourselves.

Playing for the under 19’s team was great and a fun experience for the entire team. The team and I would like to thank Mr. Fitzpatrick for his time and knowledge of the game. We want to wish him luck as he retires from basketball. I would like to wish the teams of the future all the best and lots of success.

Photo

Back row, left to right:

Alex Votolomei, Nikita Polakovs, Alex Flynn, Kasper Gutowski, Nathan Clucas, Liam Prenter Morris

Front row, left to right:

Jaime Lazaro, Conor May, Ceejay Alvarico

Junior Table Tennis

By Ralph Lecap

This year we had a good experience playing in Division 2 of the Leinster Schools Table Tennis League. Last year, St. Brendan’s were champions of Division 3 but unfortunately we did not claim the title again this year. The team included Ralph Lecap, Artur Vadaniuc, Kevin Bushe, Luke Murray and Sean McGovern. Even though we didn’t win, we had a great experience playing in a higher division.

The Senior Table Tennis team had some success this year taking points off most of their opponents. The team was made up of Alex Vortolomei, Adam Rohlik, David Rohlik, Nikita Polokovs, Ian Kirwan and Aidan Maguire. Hopefully next year the seniors will be able to make more of an impact in Division 2.

Huge thanks to Ms. Marschner for organising all the table tennis matches and to Mr. Taylor for giving us permission to go to other schools to play. It has been an exciting year of table tennis and hopefully next year we can be champions again!

Table tennis photo names:

Alex Votolomei, Adam Rohlík, David Rohlík, Nikita Polakovs 

U17's season

After a strong squad was rounded up, w+96e prepared for a tough competition ahead.

Our first game was in the group stages of the Wicklow/Wexford league when we faced Presentation College Bray. A local derby is never easy but when Alex Vortolomei is on form, anything can happen. The game finished 5-2 with Alex scoring all five for Brendan's in an outstanding performance.

Our next challenge was against St.David’s Greystones. It was a comfortable win with Adam Rolik, Denis Lazerenco and Adam O'Brien getting on the scoresheet.

The last game of the group stage was a must win. Colaiste Craoibh Ann who are known as the underdogs presented an obstacle which we needed to overcome. Fortunately we did in an emphatic style. Final score: 7-1.

Victory in this game saw us through to the semi-final where we faced Carnew. It was a slow game, but thanks to a slick finish in a 1 on 1 situation from Adam Rolik, we were sent through to the final.

Against our toughest opponents yet, Wexford CBS, this was going to be an interesting final. Wexford drew first and second blood going 2-0 up after two silly goals to give away early in the match. Brendan's had to pick up their game to have a chance. With 15 minutes to play, a corner was awarded. A quality delivery from Jack Conroy met the head of Adam O'Brien which hit the back of the net,2-1, game on! For the last 10 minutes, Brendan's piled massive pressure on Wexford's defence eventually winning another corner. This corner was again taken by Jack Conroy who whipped the ball in perfectly, the Beckham-like delivery fell to the left foot of James Hanway who had made a darting run into the box. The ball smashed in to the back of the net and Brendan's were back on equal terms. 2-2 at full-time meant the game went to extra-time but extra-time did not bring much with no further goals at the end. Penalties. Wexford stepped up first and sent Ian Kirwan the wrong way. Alex Vortolomei then neatly slotted it into the bottom corner. Wexford missed and the pressure was on Jack Conroy who had the chance to take advantage…GOAL! Back to Wexford, who failed to hit the target but unfortunately we did too (Adam Rolik). With Wexford scoring their next penalty, Ian Kirwan had the chance to win it for Brendan's. He perfectly put it into the bottom corner and the crowd went wild. St. Brendan's were crowned Wicklow/Wexford champions.

It's not the end though, we qualified for the Leinster Schools tournament where we faced Declan's College in the quarter-final. Well prepared and full of confidence, we started the game strongly having lots of chances. Dominating possession didn't win us the game though because it finished 1-0 to Declan's. Our path came to an end after having come a very long way.

Thanks to Mr.Meyler and Mr.Finn for leading us to victory.