Douglas Community School athletes continued their outstanding Cross-Country season with some great individual and team performances at the All-Ireland u12-u20 Cross-Country championships held at Kilbeggan Racecourse, Co. Westmeath. The course was mainly flat, but testing for the athletes with strong winds and some mud.  First into action was the u14 team racing over 1500m.  These newcomers, only competing for the previous two months, continue to impress.  Jack O’ Mahony led them home with a superb 36th place finish.  He was ably assisted by Alan Ring 55th, Liam Harris 59th and Alan Horgan 88th. The team finished a great eighth out of 16 teams. No doubt they will improve over the years.  In the u16 3000m Ian Tobin led the team home with an outstanding run for 13th place. This time last year they lost the All-Ireland team title on countback but were determined to change the result this time around. Other great runs came from Emmet Bracken 14th, Andrew O’ Keeffe 35th and Eoin Bourke 37th. The team easily won the All-Ireland team title. The boys’ u18 race over 5000m was to prove an historic one, with the school winning both the individual title and the team title.

Patrick Coleman produced his greatest ever running display by taking the All-Ireland title with a real gutsy run. Patrick sat in the main pack for much of the race before breaking clear with a Leinster athlete. Patrick went for home with 400m to go and went on to win his first ever All-Ireland title in style.  Peter Hanrahan also ran a superb race to finish ninth and with great runs from Brian Murray 24th and Mark Seacy 26th the team won the title here also. This is their third year winning the All-Ireland title in a row.  In the u20 men’s 6000m race two Douglas athletes helped the Cork team to a superb 3rd place finish.  Alan O’ Brien finished a great 43rd and Adam Kelleher 46th.

Steven Macklin

Douglas Community School would like to thank all local businesses who sponsored prizes for this year’s Christmas Raffle, the proceeds of which will be going to local charities.

Sponsored Prizes
Beauty Hamper (Sam McCauley)
No.7 Gift Box for women (Boots)
Remote Controlled Car (Arts and Hobbies)
Magic Set (Arts and Hobbies)
Cinema Passes (Gate Cinema)
Speedo Sports Bag (Cummins Sport)
€10 Voucher (Tesco)
Two wash and cut vouchers (Boyz to Men)
School Jumper Voucher (Laura’s School Wear)
Two books (Douglas Bookshop)
Spray-tan Voucher (Splash)
Two boxes of Chocolates (Scally’s Centra)
Two boxes of McVitie’s Biscuits (The Value Centre, Little Island)
Coffee and Scones for two (Puccino’s)
Voucher for Blow Dry (Salon Soriza)
€20 Voucher (Peter Marks Hair Salon)
Cuddly Teddy Bear (The Card Company)
€20 Meal Voucher (O’Sullivan’s Bar)
Tin of Roses (Donated by Stephen Murphy)
Bottle of Wine (Barry’s Bar)
€20 Voucher (O’Shea Coals)
Jacobs Afternoon Tea Biscuits (Spar Shop, Ardfallen)

Douglas Community School athletes continued their outstanding cross-country season with some great individual and team performances at the Munster u11-u19 Cross-Country Championships held at Tralee Racecourse. The muddy course was testing for the athletes, but was mainly flat. The u13 team was first up, racing 1200m. These students took up the sport only eight weeks ago and have already made a big impact.  Jack O’ Mahony led them home with a superb fifth place finish, ably assisted by Liam Harris 17^th, Rory Casey 41^st and Luke Varian 46^th. The team finished a great second, with the Cork team first. In the u15 2000m Eoin Bourke showed his class by powering his way to a second place finish. This was a superb run from him as he came so close to winning.  Billy Murphy continued his good form finishing 19^th, although he admitted afterwards to not feeling the best in the race.  Behind him the team packed really well, with John Durcan 21^st, Alan Ring 22^nd, Michael McLaughlin 27^th and Gary McCarthy 28^th. The team finished second, beaten by six points for the gold medals.  Others to run well were Cillian Crowley, Jamie O’ Connell and Brendan Couch. Patrick Coleman, the winner last year, came fourth in the u17 4000m.  Patrick was feeling a bit unwell throughout and will no doubt bounce back in the coming weeks.  Behind them the team was packing superbly, with Mark Seacy having a storming run for eighth, and Emmet Bracken continuing his outstanding season coming tenth racing out of his age.  Cullen Lynch was 15^th and other great runs came from Jamie Sullivan 24^th, Ian Tobin 25^th and Andrew O’ Keeffe 28^th.  The ‘A’ team easily won the team title with the ‘B’ team finishing fourth. The boy’s u19 5000m race turned into a three-man battle between Peter Hanrahan, Ennis’s Liam Markham and Limerick’s Cathal O’ Connor.  Liam and Cathal are two of Irelands finest young distance runners. Peter ran along side them throughout and finished strong to take second place, narrowly behind winner Cathal O’ Connor. Brian Murray was a great tenth, and with Alan O’ Brien eleventh and Adam Kelleher 15^th, the team easily won the team title.

Munster u11-u-19 Cross-Country Championships in Tralee, November 2009

Steven Macklin

A commanding display from the first year soccer team gave a comprehensive 7 – 0 victory over Nagle Community College. Douglas dominated from the start and were two goals up within five minutes because of striker Ryan McCarthy. The Douglas midfield of Barry O’Callaghan and Kevin Horan took control of the game and linked up well with the forward line, creating some excellent chances with further goals from Pierce O’Keeffe and a third from McCarthy giving Douglas a 4–0 lead at half-time. It was more of the same in the second half, with wingers Eric Fahy and Jamen O’Callaghan posing a constant threat to the opposition with their probing runs and creative passing. Defender Daire O’Shaughnessy added a fifth goal before a looping volley from captain Robert Coughlan lobbed the keeper to put Douglas 6–0 ahead. Full backs Alan Horgan and Seamus Hogan gave strong defensive display to ensure that keeper Andrew Forde kept a clean sheet. Ryan McCarthy added a fourth goal and picked up a well deserved man of the match for his efforts.

Mr Sean Fahy