Fencing
On Thursday the 12th of December the second class of Transition Year fencers in St Vincents Castleknock College and Mount Sackville Secondary School met their counterparts to test and hone their new skills against each other.
While the UK went to the polls to decide Brexit, four Referees from Mount Sackville with four time keepers from St Vincent's presided over 8 teams of randomly selected students from each school to decide who would win the day in Castleknock!
As with the last competition an Italian relay format was followed, where all 3 members of one team fence everyone in the opposing team with the scores accumulating until one side had 45 hits. Having teams created from both schools provides a balance of competition and socialising, given that none of the competitors had picked up a sword prior to their first lesson six weeks previously.
South Africa (Kate, Pearse & Jack) were leading Spain (Ella, Amelia and Adam) 35-27 when time was called. Jack had taken an early lead before Amelia and then Adam put in strong performances to leave Spain 25-23 ahead but Pearse and then Kate raised their game to leave their side leading 35-27. Highest point scorer across both teams was Jack with 15 and thanks to good scores by Kate (13) and Amelia (13) in the battle between boys and girls this match was tied.
Germany (Roisin, Leila and Mathew) fell to a resurgent France (Brooke, Dara & Jack) 32-43 in the second match up. Germany managed a small lead 15-13 after 3 bouts but then France put down the accelerator and eased away with wins by all team members to finish 11 hits in front when time ran out. Highest point scorer was Brooke with 16 hits, who also had the most hits by Mt Sackville on the day. As a result the boys only won by 1 hit vs the girls (38 to 37).
The third match featured Ireland and the USA and it would be another close game. Ireland (Sinead, Koby and Louis) won their first game when Louis bt Jake but the lead was to change 5 times over the match. The USA (Aoise, Grace and Jake) came back in the second match thanks to Aoise, before Sinead and then Louis won their matches to leave Ireland leading 20-18. Jake put the USA ahead again 25-21 before Koby put in a match turning performance for Ireland that Louis continued to leave Ireland winning 35-32 when time was called. That result gave the boys a lead over the girls by 6 hits.
The final match with England (Kate, Katie and Harry) vs Scotland (Charlotte, Killian and Lorcan) was also very tight. Scotland led from the start with wins by Lorcan, Killian and Charlotte creating a lead of 20-8 after 4 bouts. Harry stepped up for England and retook the lead by landing 17 hits to bring the score to 25-22 in England's favour. Scotland took up the challenge with 3 more strong results and to lead 40-30 before the final bout. Harry needed 15 hits to win while Killian only needed 5. A herculean effort from Harry resulted in the best personal score of the day (29 hits total) but was not enough to overcome Scotland who won the match 44-40.
Harry's haul of points also left the girls trailing 122 to 166.
Best fencers on the day from St Vincent's were Harry Webster (29) and Killian Stratford (17). Louis Foley, Lorcan Cranley and Jack Briody all had 15 hits.
Mount Sackville fencers deserving a mention in the dispatches are Brooke Bonnar (16), Amelia Claffey and Kate Heavy (13).
Thanks again to all our Transition Year students who have dived into a new sport and tested the waters of competition with such aplomb.