The Comhairle na nÓg is like youth mixed with demoracy. It has expanded right across Ireland and has over 32 clubs. Comhairle na nÓg means Young Peoples Council. The first real meeting took place at the Council Chambers in Kilkenny city.There were eighteen people there.Part of the structure of Comhairle na nÓg is to create space for young people and local adult decision-makers to meet, interact and work together on issues that are of interest to their community. the five nominees will be going to Dublin. There will be other trips to adventure parks all of us will get to stay overnight. The whole program is free and we got pizza at the end of each meeting.
By Martin O Connor

Today one of our best school league final took place on our school pitch. We started in October and now it’s all over. A great win for Jody. Before the analysis here are the teams.

Jody(C)                                         Josh(C)

Grace                                            Jake

Tomas                                           Liam

Hollie                                              Shauna

Hannah                                          Nel

Josh was the favourite to win which meant Jody was the underdog. But he proved us all wrong by beating a very good side. The match got off to a slow start with Hollie getting the first score. Jody made some great saves in the first half by flicking the sliotar away on the goal line. At half time the score was split 0-2 to 0-1 to Josh’s team.

The second half got off to a great start as both of the captains came outfield. After a while Josh got tired and he went back on goal. But that never stopped him from scoring. He made a lovely shot as he hit the sliotar high in the sky and it lobbed over the goalkeeper, Hannah, and it went in the goal. At this point Jody was two points down and he needed some scores. And then his wish came true. Jody struck the ball and it sailed into the back of the net. And then he scored two great points which sealed the victory. A great all round performance by both teams. Jody and his team can celebrate that win as they get free homework tonight. I say the man of the match  would have to go to……………………….Jody because he gave a great performance after coming from two points down to three points up. And also dont forget all those maraculous saves he made.

I leave you with the scorers and the team lineouts.

Scores

Josh: 1-2                                                 Jody:1-5

Jake:0-1                                                  Hollie:0-1

Lineouts

Josh’s team

Goal:Josh

Backs: Shauna,Nel

Midfield:Liam

Forwards:Jake, Roseanne

Jody’s Team

Goal: Jody

Backs: Jodie, Hannah

Midfield: Grace

Forwards: Tomás, Hollie

This is Kieran Purcell reporting.

Photos by Edwin Cahill.

Action from today's game

Today we  started the school hurling league. The two teams playing  were Josh’s team and Edwin’s team. It was a real good game. At half time the score was level 1 goal each. In the end Josh’s team beat Edwin’s team 1-0 to 2-2. After the match Josh said “I thought Edwin was going to pull away at half time”. We are really looking foward to the rest of the games. Thanks for reading from all at Newmarket. This is Jody reporting.

Hi Kieran here!
We all had a great September here at Newmarket. Kilkenny recently won 4 consecutive All-Ireland titles on the 6/9/09. They were against Tippererary. It was a very good game. The score was Kilkenny 2-22 Tippererary 0-23. The Iverk show was postponed to the Saturday this year. It was really good. There were  lots of stalls. A good few from our school won prizes. I came first in the creative writing and Anne Marie won two prizes,  and our past pupil Conor Aylward came 3rd in the poetry competition. On the 22nd the National Ploughing Championship was held in Athy, County Kildare. It was opened by Ireland’s president Mary McAleese. It will be held in Athy next year in the same farm. The weather was great all through the month of September. We are all enjoying the Indian summer. Our swimming lessons begin tommorow in The Watershed. We are all looking forward to going there.

And that’s our September News.

Yesterday there was an unusual visitor to the school. A little fox cub!Her name is Minnie. She is about 3 weeks old and looks like a black kitten. She drinks milk from a baby bottle ( she won’t drink the milk unlesss it is heated ) and will sometimes eat some puppy food. She is not allowed cows milk so she is given SMA baby milk. She stays in a house with 2 terriers and in the wild the dogs would have killed her. My grandmother is rearing her as a pet and hopefully we can keep her if she doesn’t get vicious. She was an orphan and would have died unless she was found ( her mother was killed by hunters ). Minnie will turn orange as she gets older. She has little wisps of orange fur on her face.

By Katelynn Walsh

Today at lunchtime we had our last semi-final of our school league. Josh’s team played against Conor Aylward’s team. Josh was the favourite to win because he beat Conor’s team at the start of the league. Conor’s team had an early lead as I scored the opening goal. By half time the score was 2-2 to 0-2. The second half was more difficult as the teams were more eager to win. After 10 minutes into the second half Jody slid on the wet grass and he slid into the curb. Despite his injury he carried on in the match. Just before the match was over Luke McNamara scored the clinching goal when he pulled first time. The final score was 5-4 to 3-2. Conor Alyward and Darragh Brennan will be fighting for the title on Monday the 23-3-09.

                                      Reported by Kieran Purcell

Today in blazing sun we had an exciting semi-final in the Newmarket school hurling league. Conor D’s team and Darragh’s team were playing for a place in the final. It was a very tight game and any score made a difference. It went down to the very last puck of the ball. Darragh’s team won by two points in the end after a lot of good hurling. The final score was 3-2 to 0-9. Let’s hope tomorrow’s semi-final is just as good.

Reported by Conor A

Nativity Play '08

Today we  closed for Christmas holidays .  We performed our Nativity play for our parents last Friday night and everyone enjoyed it.  We also had a mad hair day last week and we raised € 234 for the Society of Missionary Children.

Pupils with Nelly Kelly Oct 08

Newmarket N.S. 1926

Castlemorres Co. Kilkenny

Nelly Kelly (nee Hearne) visited our school on the 24th of October. Nelly is 91 years old and is a former student of our school and of the old school in Newmarket. Our school was built in 1925 and all the students from the old school moved to the new school. She clearly remembers moving from the old school into the new school and how excited they all were.  Nelly told us all about her school days in Newmarket in the 1920’s.  There were 120 pupils in the school. The school only consisted of one classroom, which we’re in now,  but the partition divided it in two. Mr and Mrs O’Sullivan were the teachers. At lunch time they were allowed go to the shop in the village, and if you forgot your lunch you could get a slice of bread buttered for a penny. Water had to be carried from the well down the road because there was no tap. If the children were being bold they’d get smacked with the cane. When the inspector came the cane would be hidden. The boys used to play hurling in the field across the road called the Faiche. Once a boy got a belt in the eye and had to be brought to the hospital. That finished hurling for a while. There was a 7th and 8th class because there was no secondary school. The school was very cold in the winter because there was no heating. The original slates are still on the school to this day. The toilets were outside the school. Nelly’s dad Jack Hearne worked on the Castlemorres estate and Nelly helped him sometimes.  She said that she had been in every room of Castlemorres house. The house was knocked in 1979.  Some children came to school on a donkey cart. In the summer Nelly used to walk home in her bare feet. Nelly said that school days were the best days of her life. She loved school and she loved Irish. We all enjoyed listening to Nelly telling us about her school days in the 1920’s. Nelly has a remarkable memory of her school days. She was able to name all the people in the picture of the pupils in the school. She also told us that we are in Paradise now compared to school in her days.

Conor Aylward

6th class