Scoil Bhride commemorates Bloody Sunday
On Thursday the 19th of November last, Scoil Bhríde Primary School in Kilcullen, held a day of commemoration to remember those who died on Nov 21st 1920.
The events of this day occurred during the war of independence. A ruthless operation to assassinate members of British Intelligence was followed by a terrible act of retaliation carried out by Crown forces during a football match between Dublin and Tipperary in Croke Park. In total 31 people died that day.
While studying this period in our Country’s History, students from Scoil Bhríde learned not only about an important Kildare connection to Bloody Sunday but also to Kilcullen and a connection to their own school!
The Great Frank Burke from Carbury played his football with Dublin and lined out, at corner forward, on that fateful day. Frank survived but the young footballer who marked him that day did not. Michael Hogan was sadly one of the first to die that day, he was 26. The Hogan Stand is named in his honour.
The referee in Croke Park that day was Mick Sammon who was originally from Clane. Mick won an All-Ireland with Kildare the year before in 1919. Indeed Mick lived and worked in Kilcullen for a time, captaining The Rags to a county final.
The Scoil Bhride connection to this day is through Daniel Lynch from Sixth Class. Daniel’s Great Grand Uncle was Joseph Traynor, one of the 14 people killed in Croke Park that day. Dan, with the help of his Dad, Paddy, relayed Joe’s story to his teachers in Kilcullen. Daniel, with classmates, Aoibhe, Myles and Alannah and the help of some of their teachers decided to make a short commemorative programme about Bloody Sunday with the sad story of young Joe Traynor as it’s central focus. Volunteer Joe Traynor was 20 years of age and worked on a farm near Ballymount in Dublin. A keen footballer, he had captained the Young Emmets football team in Clondalkin and had cycled to Croke Park with friends that day to watch the big match.
Play was stopped about 10 minutes into the game when a unit of Black and Tans marched onto the field and opened fire. Joe Traynor was one of the first to be hit and died later that day in Jervis Street Hospital. Stories such as that of Joe Traynor, told so well by the sixth class students in their film, help to close the gap of one hundred years and made history come to life for all the students in Scoil Bhríde.
Another commemorative event held in Scoil Bhríde in memory of this day was a GAA Jersey Day. This was a Jersey Day with a twist as students were invited to wear in vintage, distinctive, unusual, rare or even homemade jerseys. This was a great success. Scoil Bhride was awash with colour with jerseys from Longford to Ballinaskelligs, from New York to New Ross and from The Heath in Co. Laois to Vintage ‘Rags’ jerseys in Kilcullen.
Along with the wonderful art works and history projects displayed that day, an Irish history and GAA quiz was also held in the afternoon. This was a great success. A hearty congratulations to the Decades of Centenaries Committee in Scoil Bhride. Keep up the good work!
(Article and video provided by Scoil Bhride.)
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