KH Term Sports Round-Up: A Season of Passion, Pride, and Progress

  • April 11, 2025

As the term draws to a close, we look back with pride at a fantastic season of sport at KH. From thrilling finishes on the hockey pitch to personal triumphs in equestrian arenas, our students have represented the school with determination, skill, and heart. Here’s a snapshot of the highlights from an action-packed few months.

🏑 Hockey

It’s been a record-breaking hockey season with 8 Boys’ teams and 11 Girls’ teams competing in Leinster competitions and a staggering 170 matches played across the season.

  • Senior A Girls stole the spotlight, showing grit and composure to clinch the Claudia Tierney Cup, winning a dramatic final on sudden-death shuttles against St Gerard’s, having earlier edged past Loreto Foxrock.

  • Junior A Girls had a strong campaign, making it to the quarter-finals before a narrow loss to St Andrew’s.

  • On the boys’ side, Senior A Boys finished 3rd in the league, earning automatic qualification for next season’s All-Ireland Tournament, and wrapped up their season by hosting an invitational tournament, featuring Oxted Hockey Club—home to our Headmaster’s son, Rory.

  • Minor A Boys reached their Cup final, falling to Wesley College but earning a spot in the John Waring Trophy, held in Lisnagarvey this week.

This term also saw progress off the pitch:

  • We signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Weston Hockey Club, with exciting plans to share coaching resources and facilities.

  • 20 student coaches completed the Hockey Ireland Fundamentals course, and 14 students became certified Young Umpires. The future is bright!

🏉 Rugby

It’s been a term of near-misses and major milestones for our rugby squads:

  • Senior A Boys came agonisingly close in the Vinnie Murray Cup, losing by a single score to CBC Monkstown.

  • Junior Boys were edged out by 2 points in the Fr Godfrey Cup, but bounced back to take the Plate Final, beating CBS Naas.

  • Our Senior Development team showed resilience to get out of a tough group and beat Terenure College in the quarter-final of the Forster Cup, before falling to Blackrock in the semis.

March saw our Form 2 Boys host the inaugural Junior Rising Tournament, delivering strong performances against Newbridge and Kilkenny before winning the Bowl Final vs CUS.

We also launched our first-ever Caleb Powell Mini Rugby Festival, welcoming 150 young players from across the country. A great day of rugby and community spirit—we’re already looking forward to next year!

Special shoutout to Freddy Rust, selected for the Leinster U19 squad this summer, and to our Form 1 team, who hosted Dublin Oak Academy.

🏀 Basketball

This term saw two U14 teams and three U13 teams in Dublin league action.

  • The standout squad was our U13 A team, who were unbeaten en route to the semi-finals, where they narrowly lost to Firhouse in a tense encounter.

Congratulations to Senior Boys’ captain Robert Dunne, who earned a place on the Irish U20 team—a fantastic achievement!

🏸 Badminton

Following their gold-medal success in the Dublin Schools competition, our Senior A Boys’ team secured silver at the Leinster Finals in January.

Our U16 Boys narrowly missed out on the final, falling to St Benildus by just 2 points in the Dublin semis.

🐴 Equestrian

Our equestrian riders continue to shine on the national stage:

  • The team of Brooke Kenny (F2), Abigail Kenny (F4), Marina Bolton (F2), and Sasha Perrin (F1) placed 3rd at the Interschools Finals in Coilog, with Moritz Geoghegan (F2) also competing.

  • Marina Bolton qualified in first place for the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May—an incredible achievement on a prestigious international stage.

  • Maya von Moll and Brooke Kenny have both qualified for Balmoral, one of Ireland’s biggest horse and agricultural shows, held in Belfast. They will compete on Thursday, 15th May, in the highly competitive Connemara Working Hunter classes. We wish them the very best of luck as they represent KH at this iconic event.

🏃 Athletics

KH was the centre of the cross-country world in January, hosting over 700 runners for the Schools XC, with Hazel Lacey winning her race in style.

  • 24 students competed at West Leinster, with standout results including:

    • Alessandra Stanley (F1) – 1st place, later placing 10th at Leinster and 23rd at All-Irelands.

    • F2 Girls’ Team – 3rd overall, qualifying for Leinster.

    • Alessandra, Roslyn Foley, Leonie Quinn, and Lucy Cunningham – winners of the Blackrock College XC in March.

    • Our Form 3 team swept the podium, placing 1st and 2nd with strong performances across the board.

And huge congratulations to Abigail Farrell (F5) who placed 5th in the Athletics Ireland Senior sprint hurdles, and 2nd in both the U20 and U19 events.

🏊 Swimming

KH swimmers have had a splash of a season!

  • 33 students competed at the Leinster Senior Schools Swim Championships, with standout performances from our Intermediate Boys’ Relay team (Calum Swindell-Nolan, Ethan O’Sullivan, Henry Michael, and Sean Maguire), who took double silver, and Head Boy Antonio Cascante, who claimed bronze in the individual medley.

  • Our Junior Mixed Relay team of Leon Hurley, Sadhbh Curran, Aaliyah Downes, and Ruan Pansegrouw O’Carroll shone at the National Championships, winning gold and silver.

  • We closed the season in style with 16 medals from the Kildare Inter-Schools Gala!