Congratulations to our boys and girls who made their Confirmation on Saturday.
All is not well in the castle as Christmas draws near. The queen is a diva who looks down on the king and is always giving out to her ladies-in-waiting. Sometimes she gets so angry that she loses her mind and feels the sky is falling in.
The king and his friends are unhappy as royals and much prefer the open road and performing in theatres around the kingdom. A reporter from the Daily Star is sent to investigate. Can anyone restore the Christmas spirit and transform the king and queen?
Some angels may be able to help.

On Wednesday last, September 28th, the girls’ football team won the South Mayo Mini-7 final for the first time as a stand-alone team. The competition was held in the dome at the Connacht Centre of Excellence and the teams taking part included Ballyhaunis, Gortskehy, Irishtown/Meelickmore (Group A); Bekan, Balla, Aghamore (Group B); Ballindine, Knock, Mayo Abbey, Gaelscoil Uileog de Búrca (Group C); Barnacarroll, Taugheen, Tooreen, Claremorris boys/girls (Group D).

Gortskehy overcame Ballyhaunis and Irishtown/Meelickmore to meet Balla, as the winners of Group B, in the semi-final. Barnacarroll and Knock faced off in the other semi-final with Gortskehy and Knock progressing to the final stage.
Grace played fantastic in goal, making a number of key saves at crucial times in the game. Aoife and Sorsha commanded the back line while Faye & Alaois were excellent in mid-field. Alaois fielded some superb high balls matched with fine scores while Faye’s relentless marking of Knock’s key player was instrumental in Gortskehy gaining the upper hand.
The movement of Holly H on the forward line left her marker struggling to keep up and unable to prevent Holly taking a number of excellent scores. Holly M gathered a number of key balls, laying them off to our runners, and taking some fine scores herself, rasping the crossbar on one occasion. Gortskehy ran out winners on a scoreline of 7-7 to 4-4. Niamh, Aoibhinn and Alisha completed the panel but, because of age limits in this competition, they couldn’t join the field of play on the day.
The girls will now represent South Mayo in the County Quarter Finals in November. The last time the school enjoyed such success at this level was in March 2012 when an amalgated team of Gortskehy/Meelickmore won the South Mayo Final. The Gortskehy panel at that time included, Nicola Hession, Diane Tierney, Orla Beddows, Marie Mulhern, Amy Frizzell, Rachel Hession and Rebecca Flanagan. A video of that presentation can be viewed here.
We cannot forget the boys who were also group winners, defeating Ballyhaunis and Irishtown/Meelickmore before meeting Balla and being beaten by the narrowest of margins in the semi-final (5-6 to 5-7). Following their win, Balla went on to overcome the Gaelscoil in the boys’ final. Our boys didn’t let their disappointment impact the joy and celebrations led by the girls. We are so proud of them all. It was a fantastic achievement and we look forward to the county finals in a few weeks’ time.
@Claremorris946 @jojo_hynes @creativeirl @artscouncil_ie
“For the next hour, we advise the whole country move to level Gortskehy”
As part of our Creative Schools initiative 3rd and 4th class were presented with the opportunity of creating a radio show. We worked very hard with Jojo Hynes, our creative associate and Claremorris Community Radio. We started by brainstorming ideas and began the creative process of putting radio pieces together. We learned how to make radio reports, how to present items for radio and how to structure an hour of radio. We covered everything from the news and weather to farming to the sports desk and everything else in between. We also included some seasonal pieces as it was being aired on Christmas Day 2020.
We would like to thank Jojo Hynes and Claremorris Community Radio for giving us the opportunity of a lifetime. We had great fun putting this together and we hope you enjoy ‘Gortskehy Radio’ as created by 3rd and 4th Class. We definitely have a few budding radio stars in our midst here in Gortskehy National School.

Gortskehy on Claremorris Community Radio 94.6 FM.