It was a fine day as DCS played its first cricket match of the modern era against the best of the munster schools, Midleton College.  We played a 20 over a side fixture at their beautiful ground.  Mohammed Ali Syed, our first captain, won the toss and put them in (which means we bowled first).  Early overs went the way of the home side with their opening bat punishing our early fast bowlers. But then on came Ismail Khan to bowl.  His first over broke their opening partnership and then he took a wicket in his next two overs to finish with three for 35 – the best figures of the day.  The score was not helped by poor fielding, with two exceptions. Padraig McSweeney kept very well, despite it being his first time doing it, and Otto Cronje frankly should give us all a class in how it is done.  Mohammed , Azim and Abdullah all took a wicket each and the scoring slowed to leave them on 181 after 20 overs – a great score, but not a disaster.
Our turn to bat started with the Khan twins settling to a good rate of singles.  However with such a high total to reach we had to go for it and the wickets tumbled.  Akil and Azim, as well as Javed, all scored freely before losing their wickets while Ibrahim Khan (Ismail’s twin) held up the other end amassing runs and keeping us in the game.  Then in came Paudie Marum for his first match.  He battered the ball to all quarters but we left it too late and despite valliant atempt by Ram in the last over we got 124 Ibrahim on 50 not out and Paudie on 21.
We were very pleased and later found that was the best total any team had got against Midleton College this year.  The coaching staff of Sharuk Nawaz and Mr Bronks were very pleased. Bring on the next match.

Neil Bronks

Kevin Ronayne

At the South Munster Schools Track and Field Championships recently Douglas Community School had a great day with 20 individuals and one relay team qualifying for the Munster Schools Championships to be held on Saturday 22 May at Cork IT. Medal winners were as follows: David Kelly Intermediate 400m Hurdles gold, Jack O’ Mahony Minor 800m gold, Alan Ring Junior 800m bronze and 1200m Walk bronze, Ian Hartnett Intermediate 800m bronze and u16 Mile gold, Peter Hanrahan Senior 800m gold, Cullen Lynch Senior 800m silver and 1500m bronze, Patrick Coleman Senior 800m bronze and 2km S/C gold, Ian Tobin Intermediate 3km silver, Billy Murphy u16 Mile silver, Eoin Bourke u16 Mile bronze, Emmet Bracken Intermediate 1500m silver, Mark Seacy Intermediate 1500m S/C silver, Andrew O’ Keeffe Intermediate 1500m S/C bronze, Rob O’Neill Intermediate 2km Walk silver, Brendan Couch Junior 1200m Walk gold, Eric O’ Neill Junior 1200m Walk silver, Conor Foley Intermediate 400m silver, Minor 4×100m Relay (Jack O Mahony, Liam Harris, Luke Varian, Colm Daly) gold. Congratulations to all the athletes on some super performances and many personal bests.

Steven Macklin

Rosanne O’Callaghan

Douglas Community School’s successful World Schools Cross-Country Championship team were honoured recently at a civic reception in the City Hall with the Lord Mayor. This was in recognition of their fifth place finish in Slovakia in April. Congratulations again to them on a brilliant performance.

Steven Macklin

Seven young athletes representing Douglas Community School produced a spectacular performance at the World Schools Cross-Country Championships in Slovakia to finish in fifth place. It was a superb result for the team and coach Steven Macklin and Head of Delegation Mark Dineen. The team had to endure a 14-hour ferry journey to France followed by a 2,250km drive across Europe to reach Liptovsky Mikulas in Northern Slovakia for the championships. The boys event was won by Turkey followed by New Zealand in second and Australia third with the DCS boys representing Ireland a mere 4 points behind the fourth placed British team. This was an outstanding achievement in a field consisting of 23 teams from all over the world. Top finisher was Patrick Coleman in a superb 9th followed by his teammates Cullen Lynch (21st), Ian Tobin (22nd), Mark Seacy (36th), Andrew O’Keeffe (61st) and Jamie Sullivan (77th) with the team completed by sub Billy Murphy. Lots of friendships were made and the school has been invited to compete in England, Malta and New Zealand next year. The team should be very proud of their performance and we all look forward to watching their progress over the next few years.

Although Cobh settled quicker into the game, DCS started to impose their passing game and created a couple of good chances. An early cross was met by the head of Andy O’Connell, and his looping header found its way into the far corner.  Douglas Community School continued to push forward, and a long ball out of defence from Jack Buckley was met on the half-volley by Andy O’Connell for a sublime finish from outside the box.

In the second half Cobh again settled quickly into their rhythm, and a missed clearance from a corner reduced the lead to 2 – 1.  Cobh continued to push and got the equaliser 10 minutes into the second half. The DCS midfield again took hold of the game and started to dominate possession. A powerful run from winger Luke O’Sullivan, finished with an explosive shot into the roof of the net, put Douglas Community School back into the lead.  Cobh continued to push for the equaliser but the DCS defence held firm and an excellent recovery tackle from Jack Wilkins in the dying minutes ensured the victory.

Douglas Community School advance to a semi-final, with hopes high of a day out in Turners Cross before the year is finished.

Sean Fahy

Douglas Community School athletes and coach Steven Macklin travelled to Portugal over Easter for a warm weather training camp to prepare for the up coming track season and the World Schools Cross-Country championships. A group of 16 in total spent nine very enjoyable days in Monte Gordo in superb weather. The athletes trained very well and all really enjoyed the trip. A special thanks to all the younger athletes for their superb behaviour and their dedication to training. The group did some very beneficial training and all also enjoyed the barbeque on the last night. All the athletes will benefit from the trip and will no doubt produce many PBs  [personal bests] throughout the track season.

Steven Macklin

Douglas Community School athletes had an up and down day at the All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country Championships held at Cork Institute of Technology. The team won the silver medals in the u17 race and were joint third in the u20 race, losing out on the bronze medals on countback.  The course was flat and firm with ideal weather conditions.  Brendan Couch ran a great race in the u15 3500m to finish 35th.  In the u17 race the schools first finisher was Mark Seacy with a superb run for 21st and with other great runs by Ian Tobin 25th, Emmet Bracken 32nd and Andrew O’ Keeffe 45th, the Douglas Community School team took team silver.  Finally in the u20 race over 6000m, the DCS team under-performed and finished joint-third losing out on the bronze medals on countback.  Overall a day of varying fortunes, with plenty of lessons learnt.  No doubt the boys will bounce back stronger in the future and try to win that elusive All-Ireland Senior team title.

Steven Macklin

Douglas Community School athletes continued their outstanding Cross-Country season with some great individual and team performances at the Munster Schools Cross-Country Championships at Cork IT recently. The course proved to be a big hit with the athletes with plenty of fast running. First into action were the minor boys over 2000m where the DCS team had a superb team win with 29 points. The team had six athletes finish in the top 15 and easily won the team title. Jack O’ Mahony led the team home in a superb 3^rd with other great runs from Liam Harris 5^th, Kevin Horan 9^th, Alan Horgan 12^th, Jamie O’ Connell 13^th and Luke Varian 15^th. The junior boys raced over 3,500m and the race of the day came from Brendan Couch who eventually finished a superb 5^th. Brendan has come into great form in recent weeks and continues to get stronger. Behind him the team battled hard with Daniel Mason, Fintan Cadogan, Paul Lehane and Eric O’ Neill all having good runs to get the team into 6^th place. The intermediate boys team lined up in their 5000m with high hopes.  They produced the goods, winning the team title easily with 45 points.  The ‘B’ team came 3^rd with 93 points. Mark Seacy had his best race to date finishing a superb 5^th and with other great runs from Ian Tobin 12^th, Emmet Bracken 13^th, Andrew O’ Keeffe 15^th and Jamie Sullivan 16^th Douglas Community School had a great team win. Finally the senior boys’ race over 6000m proved to be a one-sided affair with Shane Quinn running away from the field. Patrick Coleman had a fine 2^nd place, running on his own for the whole race. With great runs by Cullen Lynch 7^th, Alan O’ Brien 11^th and Brian Murray 15^th DCS easily won this team title also. The team was without their 2^nd scorer in Peter Hanrahan, but will have him back in action in two weeks time. Douglas Community School also had the added bonus of winning the best overall school cup for the 5^th consecutive year.

Steven Macklin