Last Wednesday, Newmarket B.N.S. contested the Duhallow schools final against Kanturk.

The game began in a welter of excitement. Two evenly-matched, determined teams were contesting every ball. Newmarket settled quickly and played some wonderful free flowing hurling.Consequently, they scored four quickfire goals.The second half was a titanic struggle. Kanturk began to dominate physically and scored some wonderful goals. The game was all square entering the final minute.The tension was palpable as Newmarket won a last minute free. Fortunately, we scored the last minute free and won the final.

In my opinion, it was a thrilling final with a very exciting finale and great credit was due to both teams for their dogged determination.

Recently, Raymond O’ Sullivan brought the senior classes of our school on a field trip to learn about local history.

Firstly, Raymond took us to the top of the Bocaura and the view was fantastic. It was tricky to climb but we made it. The Bocaura is 1,300 feet high and it only took us around 15 minutes to climb. A man named Carthach built a landmark on the mountain, a mound of stones which is known locally as the Cairn. He went to Killowen and afterwards he went to Ballyhooly. Carthach saw a woman with a withered hand carrying apples. The woman dropped the apples and Carthach touched her hand. Her hand healed and she was able to carry the apples easily. That is how Ballyhooly got its name”Baile na húlla”. Later on, Carthach went to Lismore and he built a monastery. It’s a big tourist attraction. On the top of the mountain you can see four separate counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary. Secondly, Raymond took us to the Limestone quarry and it had an unusual Kiln. The middle stone on the arch is called the Key stone. There are 9 stones on one side of the Key stone and 10 on the other which is unusual. The Kiln was used to burn Limestone and it was used for fertiliser, Mortar and painting. After the Kiln we ate our lunch. After our lunch, we went to The Blue Row. The stones were used for telling what season it was back then when they had no clocks or calendars. It worked in a similar way as the worldwide landmark “Newgrange”worked allowing the locals to determine which season was next. This was very important for farming reasons as they depended on this to feed themselves. Finally, Raymond took us to Trinity well and it is a lovely place. You take three sips of water and you walk around the well three times and make a wish. If there is a fish in the well, your wish has been answered. One story was about a man named Eddie Collins who couldn’t walk and his mother brought him to the well. After three days he walked home from Trinity Well.

In conclusion, it was a very interesting day and I look forward to our next History tour.

Book Review

The Rainbow Fish

by Marcus Pfister

The Rainbow Fish had beautiful scales. They sparkled and glowed. They were all different colours including purple, blue, red, orange and green.
The Rainbow Fish was the most gorgeous fish in the ocean. The Rainbow Fish would not share his scales with the other fish and they stopped playing with him.
One day, he was talking to a starfish and the starfish told him to go visit the wise old octopus who lived in a dark cave just after the coral reef.
The Wise old octopus told him to give one of his scales to every fish and he was blissful. He was surrounded by friends and their beautiful scales.
We learned that it is important to share with others. If you don’t share with your friends, they will reject you. Sharing makes other people feel better and the person who is sharing feels better.
We would give this book 5*out of 5*.
Remember it is nice to be nice.

By First and Second Class