The official High School G.A.A. jersey, which was designed by O'Neill's, exclusively for the school, can be purchased for 45 Euro by contacting Colm Keher or Liam Rice @ 052-24459. Made with the latest, top-quality materials; it would make an ideal gift for the High School student - past and present.

Matching Shorts, complete with the school crest, are also available. Panel members can purchase them for a special reduced price of 15 Euro; they are also available to non-panel members for 20 Euro

The Asian Gaelic Games were held in early October in Hong Kong, with the Korean team defeating Japan by 4-9 to 3-3 in the men's final after three days of celebration of Irish sport and culture. Among those taking part were some past pupils of the High School in Clonmel, including Patrick Tierney from Cahir and Brian Phelan of Clonmel who both represented Japan in the games. Others were Anthony Lonergan ( Taiwan ), David Slattery ( Singapore ) and Kieran Pollard ( Hong Kong ), all of whom are living and working in the far east and were only too happy to get the chance to play their native sports in such far-flung locations.

The Gaelic Games is a huge event on the social calendar and allows Irish people from all over Asia to meet up, socialise and play an entire weekend of Gaelic football. Amongst those in attendance at this year's games were the Irish Ambassador to Beijing , Declan Connolly, along with Minister of State Tom Kitt. Sent over by the GAA to officiate was referee John Bannon who took charge of the 2002 All- Ireland final.

Teams play for the Derek Brady Cup, known as the Oriental Sam Maguire. The Irish flavour at this year's event was unmistakable, with the Hong Kong Police Pipe Band belting out Amhrán na bhFiann.

Basketball Challenge Raises €1000 for Charity

A special thanks to the students in 1A2 and 1A1 who took part in the Kellogg’s Jump for Joy Basketball Challenge. This year the students raised C1000 for Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Dublin.
The funds are used to purchase vital equipment for the hospital as well as funding research projects.

Competitions:

1. Within the School
   1. First Year League (Before Christmas) 
   2. Second Year League (After Christmas)
2. Inter School Competitions: 
   1. U-19 -Bank of Ireland Cup. 
   2. U-14
   3. U-16 -Inter Schools in South East
   4. U-19

Kevin Fennessy a Leaving Cert student in the High School is continuing on his winning ways at the top level of his chosen sport. So far this year he has recorded 13 wins out of 15 fights. He has won County, Munster and All Ireland titles in 44Kg division.

On his way to All Ireland victory, he won the Quarter Final 12-8, the Semi-Final 18-8 and the Final 10-1 against B. Gallagher of Belfast .

Kevin has also this year represented his country in the Four Nations and European Championships. Kevin was also selected, with three other Clonmel Boxing Club members, for the Cidona Awards. To maintain this exceptionally high level of performance, Kevin has shown tremendous dedication and has earned his success not just by his undoubted talent, but also by hard work in the gym. He.is wished the best of luck for the rest of the season and beyond.

On Friday 26 th March in the National Stadium, two High School students won All-Ireland under age championships. Kevin Fennessy (6A), who is no stranger to victory at national and international level, again took the honours in the 45 Kilo division at Under 17 level, stopping his man in the third round of the semi- final and winning the final 14 -3.

Con Sheehan (3A) boxed tremendously well in the championships and in a nail biting final bout emerged victorious as All-Ireland Under 15 Champion in the U-15, 75 Kilo weight division. Both Con and Kevin now go forward to represent Ireland in the Four Nations Championships in Killarney and Liverpool in the coming weeks. Ethan Fahey (2 nd yr) and Ian Crotty, a classmate of Con's in 3A, also took part in the Munster and National

Championships respectively. Both of these boxers are expected to make the breakthrough to the national finals in the near future. All four are members of the very active and progressive Clonmel Boxing Club.

The Chess Club is once again back in action. In addition to the new contingent of First Year students, there are also many of the regulars from last year, who come on Wednesday afternoons for an hour after school. Students are not under any obligation to stay for the full hour. They are free to leave once they have finished their game.

School Chess competitions are currently underway. There are three different levels: advanced, intermediate and beginner levels. By participating in the Chess Club, students have an ideal opportunity to play chess against different opponents on a regular basis. Students will thereby further their knowledge and understanding of the game. It is nice to win but students should bear in mind that it is often only by playing against a stronger player than yourself that you will learn to improve your game. Practise is everything.

Last January, eleven students from the High School played challenge games against students from Carrick C.B.S. It is hoped something similar can be organised in the New Year.

Students attending the club include the following: Martin Collins, Alan Branigan, Alan Sutcliffe, Austin Gleeson, Jason Lyons, Shane Heffernan, Damian Walshe, Brian Heffernan, Brian Carroll, Craig Mullins, Gerard Condon, Frank 0' Mahoney, Alan 0' Meara, Gavin Power, Cormac Britton, Jake Walsh, Stephen Ruth, John Kelly, Karl Ryan, Colm Morris, Robert Hickey, James McGrath, Thomas Coffey, Plilip 0' Halloran, Niall Connolly, Kenny 0' Keeffe, Colin Fraher, Alan 0' Regan, Jamie Conroy, Omar Elnoursi, Catha! Shirran, William Cronin, Brian Carey, Robert Johnson, Kevin Pollard, Peter Quinn, Conor Lonergan, Keith Bates and Cian Hogan.

L-R: Rory Sheehan, Daniel Connolly, Colin O'Keefe and Jeoff O'Hanrahan

The Cidona Carrick Wheelers Mountain Bike League took place in Seskin Woods for 10 weeks before Christmas. The Wheelers have promoted their Mountain Bike League as a safe way of getting young cyclists from Carrick and surrounding areas involved in cycling and this years event was the most successful to date. A great crowd of family and friends were out every Sunday morning waiting for the competitors to battle it out on the three-mile forest track. Competitors in the Senior Two Lap Race were four High School students from third year. Over the previous nine weeks the competitors battled it out for the top position.

On top was Carrick's Sam Bennett with a comfortable lead in the points. Daniel Connelly and Colin O' Keefe were in contention for second place. As the competitors headed off, Sam Bennett arrived second over the line to secure the championship. Daniel Connelly finished third to take second place in the standing after Colin O' Keefe crashed out but managed to come home third in the standing. Jeff O'Hanrahan finished seventh overall after being last to leave the start line. Rory Sheehan finished ninth but only competed in nine of the events. With two out of the top three competitors from the High School it was a good result for the Clonmel cyclists

In a recent Cidona Carrick Wheelers mountain bike league race there was one
of the closest-ever finishes to a race when three riders came into the finishing straight together in the two-lap race. After four tough miles in Seskin Wood the three riders, all students in Clonmel High School , were neck-and-neck as the faced the long uphill finishing straight.

The much-improved Colin O¹Keeffe made a decisive surge on the steepest section and managed to hold off the fast-finishing Daniel Connolly by just one second, with the gallant Rory Sheehan in third place, a further three seconds behind. Another High School student, Geoff Hanrahan, followed close behind the top three in the same race.

A team from the High School participated in the Irish Schools' Championship on 13 th October. The venue was the testing and unfamiliar Limerick County G.C. (Ballyneety). Representing the school was the three-man team of Eoin Cass, P.J. Cass and Gavin Smyth.

Eoin and P.J. had the misfortune to find the water with a regularity that did not reflect their overall performance but damaged their cards somewhat. Gavin continued in the rich vein of form he displayed with Clonmel G.C. Junior Cup team in the All-Ireland series. His Gross 80 was a great return on such a challenging and unfamiliar golf course, played off the "back sticks".

The team came in 9 th place out of an entry of 26 teams. Overall, this was a very commendable performance and perhaps it can be built upon on our next outing in the Spring. This will be a four-man team and current form will be taken into account in deciding upon team selection!

Every year the High School fields a Golf team to compete in the Golf Foundation Championships for Schools.

Back row, L-R; Jason McNamara, Darren O'Donnell, Declan Rix, Jonathan Gibbons.
Front row, L-R; Patrick O'Dwyer, Shane Fagan, Derek Moore. 
Missing from photo is Kevin Fennessy.

On Wednesday Oct 8 th the Pitch 'n' Putt squad travelled to Larkspur Park , Cashel for the Munster Schools Championship.

Despite playing during the worst conditions of the day the squad coped very well. Declan Rix and Darren O'Donnell (a.k.a. Jimmy Grimble!), two players with oodles of talent, shot the best scores of the day. Declan shot a magnificent 93, 15 shots under par for the two rounds and 'Jimmy' coming in at 6 under.

However the Cashel team made the most of home advantage and shot very consistent scores to push High School into second place overall. Despite this being a very good result, this team does not like being beaten and are more determined than ever to take the premier prize next year.

First year students from the High School are making a big impression in the very competitive County and Munster and National Judo competitions. All are members of Fethard Judo Club, which for many years has been one of the more progressive and successful in the country, thanks to the dedication of its committed officers and coaches.

At the Munster Judo Championships held in Cork on 11 th January Jake Walsh (1A4) won Gold, Alan Sutcliffe (1A1) won Silver while Cormac Britton (1A1) and Alan Brannigan (1A4) took Bronze.

L-R: Cormac Britton, Alan Brannigan, James Fanning

Jake Walsh and Alan Sutcliffe At the Irish closed championships held in U.C.C. Cork on Sunday 1 st February Alan Brannigan won Gold while Jake Walsh and Alan Sutcliffe won Bronze.

On April 24 th they competed in the Tipperary Community Games qualifiers and Alan Sutcliffe, Cormac Britton and Jake Walsh won Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively, sweeping the board in the U-45Kg Class. At the venue Alan Brannigan took Gold in the U-50Kg Class and James Fanning (1A3) took the Silver medal in the Open Class.

The Gold medal winners now go forward to represent Tipperary in the Munster Finals to be held in July.

In The Galway Open Championships that were held on the weekend of 5 th to 7 th March, Alan Brannigan won a silver medal. Jake Walsh was very unlucky when competing for a bronze medal he injured his shoulder and had to retire.

High School students have had a busy year on the rivers and lakes of Ireland . As members of Clonmel Rowing Club they have competed at regattas throughout the country and have brought great success to The Island club.

The boys train three to four times each week for this most demanding of sports but have reaped the rewards at regattas in Dublin , Cork , Galway and Limerick .

They compete in Junior 15 Fours and Eights and have performed with distinction in both categories.

The young rowers who are adding to the list of sporting accomplishments of the High School are Lee Morrissey, Chris Gregory, Peter Heverin, Brian O'Sullivan, Kevin McClean, David Foley and Youcif Brahimi while new arrivals to the crew include Graham Farrell and Darragh Ryan.

Jimmy White and Kieran Ryan of 3rd Year in determined mood as they do battle in the High School Atrium.

The High School was selected as the venue for an exhibition match between Jimmy White and Ken Doherty that took place on Thursday evening, October 16th last. High School students competed in preliminary matches to gain the honour of taking on the two stars. The students, one from each year, who qualified were Brian O'Sullivan (6 th Yr), Chris Quinn (5thYr), Ciaran Ryan (3 rd Yr), Niall Mc Cormack (2ndYr) and Colm O'Mahony (1stYr). All the lads acquitted themselves well and received much support from an enthusiastic audience of 400 local aficionados of the sport.

Tipperary hurlers Brendan Cummins and Benny Dunne also played a game with Ken and Jimmy, before they took on each other in a best of seven match with Ken victorious on a 4-3 score line.

Congratulations to Stephen Phelan, Cillian Rouse, Donal Lynch, and Conor Walsh who took home gold recently in the intermediate 4 X 50m medley relay at the Munster Schools Swimming Championships in Cork . The boys also achieved silver in the freestyle relay, when they were narrowly beaten. Winning honours in the relay events shows the depth of quality amongst the swimmers in the High School.

Well done to Stephen Phelan and Tommy Butler who produced excellent swims to take silver in the intermediate 100m backstroke and junior 100m breaststroke events respectively. In addition, both swimmers qualified to compete at the National Schools Swimming Championships that will take place in Galway in February 2004. Good luck to them!

Well done to Darren Phelan, David Gleeson, Donnachadh Powell, Eoin Corby and William May who also did the Highschool proud with their fantastic swims. It was a marvellous competition with a very high standard of swimming, and we are all proud of the boys who competed.

Displaying the Munster U-15 Relay Cup are High School swimmers who competed throughout the year with the School. 

L -R: Cillian Rouse, Stephen Phelan, Conor Walsh, Eoin Corboy, Donnachadh Powell, William May, Tommy Butler, Donal Lynch with Mr Chris Twomey (School team manager)

Six High School students recently took part in the Munster Age Group Championships in Ennis over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Stephen Phelan (3A1) produced an excellent swim in his U-16 100m backstroke to take the 2004 Munster Title. Conor Walsh (3A1) and William May (3A4) were part of the U-15 relay team that struck Gold in both the freestyle and medley relay events. Donnachadh Powell (1A3) performed admirably to achieve Silver in his U-13 100m breaststroke event. Moreover, he took silver as part of the U-13 freestyle relay quartet. Eoin Corboy (1A4) and Tommy Butler also swam convincingly but narrowly missed out on Munster success. All the swimmers, their club coaches and school team manager, Mr Chris Twomey are to be congratulated for their dedication and achievements.