Sam comes to Scoil Bhríde
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| Pic: Marguerite Power. |
Pupils of Scoil Bhríde enjoyed a special occasion earlier this week when the Sam Maguire Cup was brought to the school, writes Brian Byrne.
There was music and dancing for the event, during which the fabled trophy was carried through the school by relays of pupils.
In advance of Sam's arrival, the pupils and their teachers had set up a special popup GAA Museum display in the assembly hall, which was the focus of much interest through the rest of the week. The display included GAA shirts from around the country, old All-Ireland programmes and photographs, and visual presentations by many of the pupils relating the history of the GAA All-Ireland competitions and those counties whose teams had won the Sam Maguire.
"We asked teachers, and the students as well, to bring in any classic and replica GAA jerseys they might have," says Scoil Bhride teacher Odhran Lloyd. "We got jerseys from all 32 counties — college jerseys, club jerseys, commemorative jerseys, and we asked the children to do projects on Sam Maguire himself and the history of the Sam Maguire Cup." A roll of honour of All Ireland winners down the decades showed that just 17 counties have lifted Sam so far.
The collection also included programmes from different county GAA matches, magazines and journals, newspaper clippings.
Two special items on display were pairs of boots, one pair used by Odhran Lloyd's father in law Michael Ormond who played for Tipperary in the 1950s and the other used by the father of teacher Muiris Ó’Raoghaill who won an All-Ireland with Louth in 1957. "They are both collector's items now," Odhran Lloyd says, noting that his father in law had sold eggs and saved the money to buy his boots at the time.
On the day Sam came, pupil Sinead Howard wore a jersey which her Dad Niall Howard wore when playing with Kilcullen in an ÓgSpórt competition in 1983.
Teacher Marguerite Power made a video of the day which can be viewed on the school's Twitter feed here.
