Page 54 - Gonzaga at 60
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GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
many years, dropped in regularly on his lunch break to give us some coaching. We did not play in
any compeiions unil 1957-58 when we were defeated in the irst round of the Junior Schools
Cup by St Columba’s. Barry Bresnihan, desined to be Gonzaga’s irst internaional, was on our
team. The future UCD rugby skipper Peter Sutherland was some years younger. I have an abiding
picture of him standing four-square covered in mud. That one should remember over and above
others down the school may be tesimony to the powerful presence that has served him so well
in his illustrious career.
Unoicial games of soccer on Sunday mornings thrived for a ime, although there was some
disapproval; Father Richard Brenan (with one n) speaking at the Chomhdhail accused boys who
preferred soccer to rugby of cowardice; despite that there was only a slender majority for the
moion that rugby was a beter game than soccer. We had teams with names like Sandford Rovers
and Clonskeagh Dynamo. One year we got the use of Tolka Park for the inal of our tournament.
Cricket had become my favourite sport. At my insigaion
we entered the School’s Junior Cup in 1956. With Jerry Liston
as our captain we defeated St Patrick’s Grammar School
comfortably and then had a thrilling one run victory over
Sandford Park. Our star was opening batsman Raymond O’Kelly
who bated right through our innings. St Andrew’s defeated us
in the next round. In the following season we defeated King’s
Hospital but were knocked out by Blackrock. Two years later,
also playing Blackrock, Arthur Plunket took four wickets in four
balls. His classmate in the third most senior class Tim Webb
was also a bowler of astonishing accuracy. He won an entrance
scholarship in classics into Trinity in 1960, becoming one of
very few Gonzaga boys who went there in those McQuaidian
days. In the same year Tim’s classmate Francis Byrne won a
classics scholarship to UCD.
It may have been a relecion of the religious apartheid
1957 Sandford Rovers accompanying the Catholic triumphalism of the ime that in no sport did we play against
‘protestant’ schools, except in compeiions where we had no alternaive. The general climate of
Defeated Cup Finalists
and Shield Runners-Up. the school was far from ecumenical. Phrases such as ‘error has no rights’ echo in my ears down
1957 the years. I also recall being urged to buy our school books in Catholic bookshops. No chance was
lost to debunk Trinity and the Irish Times.
Religion was central to the school with prayers before each class and daily instrucion in
religious knowledge. There were annual overnight retreats at Milltown Park and Rathfarnham.
Fr Hutchinson ran a sodality. But I don’t recall any pressure to enter the priesthood.
Gonzaga did not match other Jesuit schools in the number who even tried their
vocation. From the early years only Brendan Kirby and the late David Murphy did so. John
Feighery was a late vocation to the Divine Word Missionaries. Terry Walsh, a champion
GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
many years, dropped in regularly on his lunch break to give us some coaching. We did not play in
any compeiions unil 1957-58 when we were defeated in the irst round of the Junior Schools
Cup by St Columba’s. Barry Bresnihan, desined to be Gonzaga’s irst internaional, was on our
team. The future UCD rugby skipper Peter Sutherland was some years younger. I have an abiding
picture of him standing four-square covered in mud. That one should remember over and above
others down the school may be tesimony to the powerful presence that has served him so well
in his illustrious career.
Unoicial games of soccer on Sunday mornings thrived for a ime, although there was some
disapproval; Father Richard Brenan (with one n) speaking at the Chomhdhail accused boys who
preferred soccer to rugby of cowardice; despite that there was only a slender majority for the
moion that rugby was a beter game than soccer. We had teams with names like Sandford Rovers
and Clonskeagh Dynamo. One year we got the use of Tolka Park for the inal of our tournament.
Cricket had become my favourite sport. At my insigaion
we entered the School’s Junior Cup in 1956. With Jerry Liston
as our captain we defeated St Patrick’s Grammar School
comfortably and then had a thrilling one run victory over
Sandford Park. Our star was opening batsman Raymond O’Kelly
who bated right through our innings. St Andrew’s defeated us
in the next round. In the following season we defeated King’s
Hospital but were knocked out by Blackrock. Two years later,
also playing Blackrock, Arthur Plunket took four wickets in four
balls. His classmate in the third most senior class Tim Webb
was also a bowler of astonishing accuracy. He won an entrance
scholarship in classics into Trinity in 1960, becoming one of
very few Gonzaga boys who went there in those McQuaidian
days. In the same year Tim’s classmate Francis Byrne won a
classics scholarship to UCD.
It may have been a relecion of the religious apartheid
1957 Sandford Rovers accompanying the Catholic triumphalism of the ime that in no sport did we play against
‘protestant’ schools, except in compeiions where we had no alternaive. The general climate of
Defeated Cup Finalists
and Shield Runners-Up. the school was far from ecumenical. Phrases such as ‘error has no rights’ echo in my ears down
1957 the years. I also recall being urged to buy our school books in Catholic bookshops. No chance was
lost to debunk Trinity and the Irish Times.
Religion was central to the school with prayers before each class and daily instrucion in
religious knowledge. There were annual overnight retreats at Milltown Park and Rathfarnham.
Fr Hutchinson ran a sodality. But I don’t recall any pressure to enter the priesthood.
Gonzaga did not match other Jesuit schools in the number who even tried their
vocation. From the early years only Brendan Kirby and the late David Murphy did so. John
Feighery was a late vocation to the Divine Word Missionaries. Terry Walsh, a champion
