School of excellence
ROLL past the roundabout that leads you onto College Road in Kilkenny and you’ll see it, the great grey building in lush green surroundings. St. Kieran’s College has changed: part of it is now colonised by NUI Maynooth and the fine sports hall and squash courts are a huge resource for the local community, with trampolining and indoor soccer on offer. There aren’t any boarders in the college any more, and like any modern school it offers a range of games: gaelic football, soccer, cross-country running and handball.
But hurling is synonymous with St Kieran’s. For generations, the school has supplied Kilkenny — and other counties — with star players, and that tradition endures. The Cats’ line-up on Sunday will feature 10 men who wore the white and black hoops of Kieran’s before graduating to black and amber stripes, and they all come back to the college afterwards in one way or another: quite apart from the traditional visit to the school with the Liam McCarthy Cup after an All-Ireland win — always on the Friday after the game — the Kilkenny senior hurling team use the big sports hall for winter conditioning.
