THE Skibbereen School League was started many years ago by the iconic principal of St Patrick’s Boys National School, Dermot O’Donovan, and ran for many years through the 1970s, 80s and 90s. However, like many things, it lost its appeal and eventually fell away.
In 2019, O’Donovan Rossa chairman James Fitzgerald approached the boys’ school again with a view to relaunching this great event. Four teams of ten took part in the 2019 tournament, including 36 boys from St Patrick’s and four boys from Abbeystrewery NS. It ran over four weeks on the pitch in Skibbereen Community School with Frank Hurley, current Cork U20 player, captaining the White team to win the cup final and Shaun Hodnett captaining the Blue team to the shield title.
The Red team that competed in the Cup final in Skibbereen.
While Covid saw the 2020 and 2021 leagues sidelined, the competition has gone from strength to strength in recent years with boys from the Gaelscoil, Abbeystrewery and St Patrick’s taking part. The numbers have grown so much that there have been six teams for the past two years of 13/14-players a side.
The Skibbereen School League is a unique model – the league is run completely by the players. Six captains from sixth class and six vice captains from fifth class are picked and paired together. They then hold a draft to pick their teams. They decide the rules to be played over the tournament and plan for all eventualities. One example of this is what do teams do if one team has 13 players available and their opposition only has ten? This was discussed at length by the boys. It was felt that it was unfair to have 13 against ten for a game but they also agreed that it would penalise the team with all players available to have three subs on the sideline. In the end, they agreed that the team with more players could play one more player than their opposition.
These talented footballers enjoyed competing in the Skibbereen School League.
Developing this leadership among young players is at the centre of the ethos behind the school league. Teachers don’t help on the sidelines during the games or in the build up to the games. The captains and vice captains give their players their positions, decide the tactics, make positional changes, etc.
The Blue team that took part in the Trophy final.
This year saw 78 players from the three schools take the field over the four weeks. After three weeks of very competitive games, the line ups for the three finals were decided. The top two teams – the Green team and the Red team qualified for the Cup final. The next two teams, the Yellow team and Orange 2 team, were in the Shield final and the Blue team and the Orange 1 team were in the Trophy final. These matches were played recently before a big crowd of family and friends, as the Green team won the cup, the Orange 2 team took home the Shield and the Orange 1 team won the trophy.
These talented young footballers enjoyed playing in the school league.
‘The school league is just a massive success,’ says St Patrick’s BNS Principal Alan Foley. ‘The support we get from everyone is incredible. James Fitzgerald and Liam Hurley of O’Donovan Rossa have the pitches set up for us each week and organise our young referees. Damien Long buses the boys from school to the pitch each week. Our sponsors Ger Carey, Owen Leonard and Lidl ensure funding for the trophies, medals and goodies.
The Skibbereen School League held its finals night at O'Donovan Rossa GAA Club.
‘There is great cooperation between the three local schools and our parents have been fantastic also both in supporting each week and providing the refreshments for the finals night. It’s a real community event.’
At the finals’ night presentation, it was O’Donovan Rossa U21 captain Ciarán Coombes, and Frank Hurley, who played the night before for the Cork U20s, who presented the trophies and medals to the players – the same Frank Hurley who captained his team to win the school league cup final back in 2019.
