Background:
The Ursuline Convent Thurles has a longstanding tradition of Hockey and have achieved great success in school competitions for many many years. The Ursuline is considered one of the strongest hockey schools in Munster and currently boasts 13 competitive hockey teams competing at the highest level in all age categories. Each year our teams compete in the Munster Schools (league and cup) competitions from September through to March/April. We are proud to say, we, at the Ursuline cater for a wide range of hockey abilities across 4 age categories. This year we have a Senior A, B, C, Junior A,B, C, Minor A,B,C and 1st year A,B,C,D teams entered in competition.
There are 4 dedicated coaches on the school staff who coach hockey on a daily basis, two of which are former Irish hockey Internationals and one is currently a selector for the Irish Senior women’s hockey team who recently competed in the Tokyo Olympics 2021 & the World Cup 2022. We are blessed to have 2 full sized hockey pitches on-site and training takes place every lunch time & after school.
Each student is afforded the opportunity to be a member of a hockey team as soon as they arrive in to first year. We have on average 80 first years signing up for hockey each year and all levels of ability from beginners to advanced are catered for. No experience is required prior to entering in first year. We feel that training together within a team environment is a valuable life long skill for all of our students and one that we support wholeheartedly. We encourage all students from 1st to 6th year to remain involved in our extra curricular sports programme.
Our most recent successes in hockey here at the Ursuline have been winning Munster Junior A cups in 2015, 2016 and in 2019 and we reached the final of the Munster Senior A cup in both 2013 and 2015. In 2017, we won the Munster Senior A schools cup after a 20 year gap beating Crescent College (Limerick) who, at that time were aiming for a 5th title in a row. That year the team went on to represent the school in the Kate Russell All Ireland tournament in Banbridge. A great achievement.
School Hockey Main Achievements:
Munster Senior A cup winners in 97
Kate Russell All Ireland winners in 97
Munster Senior A Cup finalists 2013 & 2015
Munster Junior A League and Cup winners 2015, 2016
Munster Junior B Cup winners 2017
Munster Senior A cup winners in 2017; Qualified for Kate Russell All Ireland 2017
Junior A Cup Winners 2019
Minor A Cup Finalists 2020
Junior A Cup Finalists 2020
Senior A League Runners up 2022
Junior A League Runners up 2022
Junior A Cup Finalists 2022
Junior B League Winners 2022
Minor B League Runners up 2022
Minor C League Winners (UCT 1)
Minor C League Runners Up (UCT 2)
Senior A Archer Shield Winners 2023
Junior C League Winners 2023
Minor B League Runners up
Minor C Cup Winners 2023 (UCT 1)
Minor C Cup Winners 2023 (UCT 2)
Minor C League Winners 2023
1st Year B League Winners 2023
1st Year C League Winners 2023
Several players past & present gaining representative honours:
Interprovincial Teams represented by the Ursuline on a yearly basis
- Munster u16
- South East u16
- Munster u18
- South East u18
- Irish u16
- Irish u18
Current Interprovincial players
Munster u16: Lily Kavanagh
Munster u18: Miah Bourke and Aoife Kavanagh
Past Irish underage Internationals
Edel Nyland
Susie Osborne
Brona Dowling
Caoimhe Perdue (Current Irish Senior International)
Kate Ryan
The most important thing about hockey in the Ursuline is that students participate in a team sport and most of all have fun.