First and Second class had a fantastic time on their School Tour to Lough Key Forest Park. They took part in the “Boda Borg” quests.

On a mission to solve quests, the children were split up into groups. They chose the quest they wanted to solve and their aim was to work together as a team in the hope of getting a stamp at the end.  The quests were challenging both physically and mentally but not for the boys and girls of Gortskehy N.S!

Back in School first and second class did a fantastic job of writing up a recount all about their School Tour.

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The 2023 McCartan Cup kicked off with Gortskehy taking on the reigning champions Robeen. The game was competitive with some fabulous skills being showcased throughout the field. Gortskehy finished on top with a scoreline of 4 – 3 to 1 – 4.

The next preliminary game featured Gortskehy v Roundfort. The referee threw in the ball at 6.30pm and Roundfort opened the scoring with a fine point. The next score came from Eoin Hession, Gortskehy, who slotted over to level proceedings. This would prove to be Gortskehy’s only score of the half with Roundfort adding a point and finding the net towards the end of half-time (Gortskehy 0 – 1, Roundfort 1 – 2).

Gortskehy came more into the game in the second half with Jamie Delaney tapping over. He added to his tally shortly afterwards following a beautiful pass from Eoin Hession which found Jamie one-on-one with the goalie and making no mistake to leave the teams level. Roundfort responded with a goal and a point of their own to once again take control of the match. A fine goal by Cian Slattery left the bare minimum between the teams but Roundfort finished stronger scoring another two points to see out the game with a three-point win.

Next up was Robeen v Roundfort with the latter finishing stronger and setting up a final where they would once again face Gortskehy. The crowd roared as Mark Tuffy threw in the ball and Roundfort once again opened the scoring with a well-worked point following a lovely passing move. Gavin Murphy was quick to restore parity for Gortskehy who quickly got into their stride and knocked over a string of three unanswered points thanks to Cian Slattery (2) and Jamie Delaney (1). Roundfort continued to press and scored a fine goal on the stroke of half-time to leave the teams level on a scoreline of 0 – 4 to 1 – 1.

The excitement grew as the second half got underway with Eoin Hession blasting home a goal after three minutes of play. Roundfort responded with a point but Cian Slattery extended the lead with a great goal and cemented Gortskehy’s advantage with a great point shortly afterwards. Roundfort hit back with a point but this proved to be their final score as, arguably, the point of the game came from Corey Jennings who somehow managed to slot between the posts from a very tight angle.

Gortskehy ran out winners on a scoreline of 2 – 6 to 1 – 3. It’s the first time in twenty years that Gortskehy have won the competition on their own. The fine, open football and fantastic skills shown by all teams bode well for the future of our local clubs.

Our Junior room school tour 2023 was such fun! We started our day at the Galway Atlantaquaria in Salthill where we were given a guided tour of the National Aquarium of Ireland. Firstly we met the baby Sea Bream in the big splash tank. We counted how many seconds were between each splash which we now know is 45!

Upstairs we learnt all about Jellyfish and some freshwater fish. We saw a manmade weir for the trout. We also got to feed the Carp and Koi. In the Tropical fish section, we saw beautiful colourful fish and Piranhas. We fed lots of Mullet fish who splashed us all. We saw spider crabs and starfish in the rockpools. Lastly but not least the children got to meet our friends from ‘Sharing a Shell’ story the hermit crab and the sea anemone.

Back downstairs we learnt about some flat fish by the submarine! We saw the adult Sea Bream and some Rays and Sharks!!! This lead us onto the lovely Sea horses and Clown fish (We found Nemo and Dory!), Conger eels and large lobsters. The children also saw some larger sea creatures in the seawater tank, lots of Cod and then Mr. Octopus.

As the day was lovely we spent some time in the playground and had a walk on the Prom before going for lunch in Supermacs. Then thanks to Pádraig our bus driver we were all transported back home. We thoroughly enjoyed our day out, looking forward to the next trip already!! Please take a few minutes to watch a video of our day out, thanks.

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