​Scoil Ursula was honoured with a visit from the President of the GAA, Aogán Ó Fearghail. He was accompanied by County Board Chairman, Joe Taaffe, County Secretary, Gerry O’ Connor, our County GAA Games Manager, Liam Óg Gormley, our Football Coach, Ross Donovan and our hurling coach, Benny Kenny. Also in attendance were Marian Moore, Chairperson of our Board of Management, Gerry Moore representing our Parents and the link to St. Mary’s GAA Club and Pat Maquire from our local hurling club, Naomh Eoin. A very popular guest was past pupil and current county star, Kyle Cawley.
The President was in Sligo to mark two significant milestones in the journey of our school and of our local club St. Mary’s. This year, Scoil Ursula celebrates 50 years of teaching and learning on the Strandhill Road and St. Mary’s is celebrating its 40th anniversary of providing Gaelic games and other GAA activities in our locality.  Scoil Ursula has close links with our local club, St. Mary’s, and County Board Chairman, Joe Taaffe paid tribute to the work that the school and club are doing to promote Gaelic Games in the locality.
In his address, An t-Uachtarán emphasised the enjoyment of participation in all sports and encouraged the children to ‘Move more and eat less!!’  Our Chairperson, Marian Moore presented the President with Annie West’s “Yeats in Love”, which we hope will remind him of his visit here in the years to come. After a packed assembly in the school hall the President went outside to view the coaching schemes in the school and before he left, officially raised the Health Promoting School’s Flag recently received by Mrs Kernan and her hard-working committee.

There was heartbreak in Markievicz Park on Saturday as our Girls' and Boys’ Football Teams lost out in their respective finals to defending champions, Scoil Naomh Molaise, Grange. The margin of defeat in both matches was a mere two points but both teams gave it their absolute all and can be very proud of what they achieved on the sports fields this year. Scoil Ursula got to three finals including the one that yielded our first ever hurling title. Well done to our players for a fabulous year's sport and to our coaches Ms Munnelly & Mrs Robinson who had the teams in great shape for finals day.  We also thank our coach, Ross Donovan who worked with our senior pupils during the year and the IT coaches who worked with our future stars. Huge thanks to all our parents and supporters who came along on Saturday to cheer the teams on!! Hopefully we can build on this year’s campaign to go one better next year!!

There was some consolation, however, for the 6th Class players who played their last games for Scoil Ursula on Saturday. The Girls' GAAmigos team not only won a set of jerseys for the school, but also a trip for their classmates to the Connacht Centre of Excellence on Monday where they had a great day of activities courtesy of the Sligo Primary Schools Coaching Scheme. Congratulations also to girls' captain Eden, who came third in the place kicking competition and will also represent the school during the half time match at the eagerly awaited Connacht Championship match between Sligo and Roscommon in Markievicz Park on Saturday evening.

See pics of all the events below:

We are proud to announce that Scoil Ursula has been awarded its first Active Schools Flag!! This prestigious accolade is in recognition of the school's efforts to promote a culture of activity and health among its pupils. We are grateful to our ASF Co-ordinator, Mrs Eiméar Robinson and her hard-working committee who put so much work into getting all aspects of the project up-and-running. We are grateful to all of the staff and pupils who got on board with the many activities involved. We also thank the various clubs and agencies that liaised with the school in promoting sports here (click here). We look forward to continuing to promote sport and other healthy pursuits into the future. Well done everybody!!!

Well done to our girls and boys football teams who both qualified for the 2015 Cumann na mBunscoil Finals in Markievicz Park this coming Saturday. The girls had a hard-fought 2-point win over Ransboro NS in their semi final today in Scarden and hope to go one better in the final this year after the disappointment of last year's 1-point defeat. The boys built on a 3-point half time lead against Carraroe NS and pulled away in the second half to ensure a first final appearance since their only ever title in 2010. We wish both teams every success on Saturday and thank our coaches Ms Munnelly & Mrs Robinson for all the work they have put in this year. Our opponents in both games are the defending champions, Scoil Naomh Molaise, Grange. The girls final is first and will throw in at 12:40pm while the boys will be in action at 2:20pm. Come along to finals day in Markievicz Park in your purple & gold and cheer on our teams!!

Congratulations to Scoil Ursula Hurling Captain, Michael Morgan (pictured right), who has been selected to play at Croke Park later this Summer. Michael will represent his school during one of the INTO Cumann na mBunscoil half-time matches at either the All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final or final. This will be the first time that a player from the school was chosen for this honour and it is just reward for his role in captaining Scoil Ursula to their first ever Sligo Cumann na mBunscoil hurling title earlier this week.
Congratulations also to Finn Young and Fintan Campbell, who along with Michael, have been selected on the Sligo Primary Schools Hurling All-Stars Team who will play teams from Galway, Mayo, Roscommon and Leitrim at the Connacht Centre of Excellence on Thursday the 28th of May!! Well done to all!!

Scoil Ursula achieved an historic first Cumann na mBuscoil Hurling title yesterday evening in Markiewicz Park, with a nail-biting victory over worthy runners-up, St. Enda's of Carraroe. In only the school's first ever final, Scoil Ursula carried the game to their opponents with determination and vigour. It was a low-scoring game with both defences on top and the only score of the first half was a Michael Morgan point. Carraroe levelled soon into the second half and then got their noses in front with a pointed free. It was end to end stuff with Scoil Ursula getting back on terms and subsequently taking the lead with a lovely score on the turn from Fintan Campbell. However, straight from the puck-out Carraroe were awarded another free and the game was level again. Michael Morgan saw the last chance in normal time tail agonisingly wide and we were headed into extra time. Patryk Badowski emerged as the hero with two unanswered scores at the death to secure our first hurling championship. There were huge performances from all the team. Kacper Janowski, Eoghan Furey and Johnny Stewart defended bravely while Stephen Mahon kept out a number of goal bound efforts. Michael Morgan played a captain's role ably assisted in midfield by the free running Finn Young. Up front, Fintan Campbell got on a lot of ball while Ben Fahy pressurised the Carraroe defence to give his team mates some breathing space. But in the end, it was down to Patryk Badowski's strength around the goal that forced the crucial scores and sealed a sweet victory for the boys in purple & gold.
Well done to all the panel including Muna Islam, Conor Flynn and Eli Rooney for their efforts this year. To win the championship in only our third year competing at this level is a remarkable achievement and credit must go to our hurling coaches, Johnny Mullins originally and in latter years Benny Kenny, who played an invaluable role in promoting the game in our school. Scoil Ursula Abú!!!
Following on from the hurlers' success, our footballers have had a good start to their Cumann na mBunscoil campaign also. Today, the boys' team had two hard-earned victories over Grange NS and Rathcormack NS in Kent Park. Our girls' team are one from two. After an opening defeat to Rathcormack, they bounced back to save their season with a hard fought victory over defending champions, Grange NS. Both teams now have a good chance of progressing to the semi-finals and we wish them well.

Congratulations to our Girls’ Mini-7s Team who qualified for the next round of the competition with victories over St Brendan’s and the Mercy Primary. Well done also to Eden Rooney, who qualified for the next phase of the kicking competition. A big thank you to Mrs Robinson who took care of the girls on the day. Hard luck to the boys who bowed out of the competition with losses to a bigger and stronger St. John's team and also to a determined St. Brendan's. There was some consolation for the boys from a victory over Mercy Primary. Good luck to our girls in the next round!!