Crusheen players go back to the classroom

A NUMBER of Crusheen players emphasised the importance of the local national school in the development of the game in the parish after last Sunday’s victory and on Tuesday morning a large number of them were back in the classroom to show the children the Canon Hamilton Trophy.
The school has long been a hotbed of hurling and nearly all the panel learned the basics of the game there from former headmaster and current Crusheen senior selector, Gerry Kearney.
Therese O’Connell is now the school principal and she said there had been huge excitement among the pupils as they met the county champions.
“It was just fantastic, all the children were all dressed in red and white for the day. They had a song prepared that they called the Crusheen anthem and it was to the air of The Galway Girl and a lot of the players’ names were in it. Gerry O’Grady had the cup and he spoke to the children about his days in school and he said it was great to come back on such an occasion.”
She said the players had gone to the individual classes and had signed autographs and posed for pictures with the youngsters. Two of the children were particularly pleased to have their fathers visiting. “David Forde’s son, Aaron, is in third class and Paddy Meaney’s son, Matthew, is in first.”
Breda Galvin spent many years teaching in Crusheen and she visited the school on Tuesday, meeting several of her former pupils who were on Sunday’s winning team. There was another treat for the children as they were given a night free from homework, following the visit.
Gerry Kearney left the school a few years ago, having done a huge amount to promote hurling among the children of the parish over many years. Therese said that the game is still very important at the school.
“At the moment, parents come in on Tuesday and they do hurling with the smaller children. Then two of the teachers do after-school training with the older children so the tradition is continuing,” she concluded.