Pres College hold out to win TCH schools quiz final

IT was a knife-edge battle of wits when two schools went head-to-head in the Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH) All Ireland Schools Quiz yesterday.

Presentation College, Athenry, Co Galway, were just four points ahead of Hamilton High School, Bandon, Co Cork, at the end.

It is the second time that Athenry has won the top prize in the knock-out competition run in association with Co-operation Ireland and RTÉ.

The Galway school won the competition two years ago and for three of the four team members it was the second time they battled it out to the end.

This year 115 schools from 27 counties were involved in the contest that began last February.

Organiser Barry Woods ensured the TCH perpetual trophy was gleaming before it was presented to Presentation College’s team captain, Jason Browne.

The trophy is called the Andrew Quinlan Trophy. Andrew captained the Christian Brothers College, Cork, team that won the former Irish Examiner Munster Schools Quiz in 1996. He died in a car accident later that year.

Andrew’s parents Brendan and Mary have been at every national final of the reinvented TCH quiz to present the trophy.

Mr Woods pointed out that the quiz began eight years ago but staging it this year was a particular challenge because of the economic downturn, freezing weather and threat of industrial unrest.

More than 3,000 questions were asked during the competition but the finalists believed some of the toughest were posed yesterday by quizmaster RTÉ 2FM DJ Ruth Scott.

The competition that saw the Bandon students score 92 points, compared to Athenry’s 96, was not without controversy in a dispute over the correct pronunciation.

The Bandon students lost vital points when the adjudicator ruled that Granada was a city in Spain, while Grenada was an island in the Caribbean – the answer he was looking for.

Both teams received Hitachi Interactive Whiteboards for their schools. The team winners were presented with Nintendo Wii games while the runner-up team were presented with Nintendo DSI games.

Teacher Niall Duddy who travelled with students from Presentation College to RTÉ in Donnybrook where the finals were recorded for the digital radio station RTÉ Choice said the quiz team had a tough time making it to the finals.

“Connacht has a lot of good quiz schools so it is a real achievement for us,” he said.

Teachers Aidan O’Donoghue and Leona Foran who travelled with students from Hamilton High were disappointed that their school was pipped at the post but was glad, nevertheless, that they made it to the final.

TCH group marketing manager Colin Walsh, who presented the prizes, thanked the schools who took part and said the competition would not be possible without the tireless work from the TCH team led by Mr Woods.