Top class skills on show as Scoil McAuley Rice and Mooncoin claim titles

There was great half-time entertainment for the crowds at the recent county senior semi-finals in UPMC Nowlan Park as they were treated to a display of skills from our primary school pupils as the girls’ and boys’ finals of the inaugural Tesco Primary Schools Skills Challenge were held.

Tesco, in conjunction with Kilkenny County Board and Cumann na mBunscol, Kilkenny have invested in schools’ GAA games with each school team in the county with 41 sets of jerseys from local manufacturers, Intosport, Castlecomer arriving in schools all over the county and their arrival coincided with finals of a new Hurling Skills Competition for girls and boys.

The competition incorporated three skill trials – ground striking, strike and catch and lift and score.

Children all over the county practiced their skills before attending four regional days in St James’s Park, Thomastown, Ballyragget and Mooncoin before reaching the finals in UPMC Nowlan Park.

The girls’ competition was held at half-time between O’Loughlin Gaels and Bennettsbridge and the boys’ final took place during the interval during the Thomastown/Mullinavat clash.

Unlike the regional days, the finals had to be completed in 10 minutes and great credit goes to the children who performed brilliantly under the watchful gaze of the large crowd.

Gaelscoil Osraí, Scoil McAuley Rice Callan, Paulstown NS and Mooncoin Schools qualified for the girls’ tests and a great final skill score from the Callan duo of Lainey Corcoran and Megan Bryan saw them claim the title.