Sport

Soccer is one of the most popular sports and interests among the boys in St Mary's BNS. Together with Gaelic football and hurling, it has grown in popularity in the last few years given the number of Irish international players playing for top teams like Liverpool and Manchester United in the Premiership in England.

A lot of the boys are members of Maynooth Town FC, which has grown rapidly in size in the last two years with teams at every underage level from Under 8's up to Under 18. They have recently opened a new clubhouse on their grounds on the Rathcoffey Road and the boys train and play matches in the Kildare and Dublin leagues every Saturday and Sunday during the season.

The school has entered the FAI schools five a-side competition in recent years with the boys in 6th classes taking part. The teams have to first play in the North Kildare section of the competition, which is staged in the five a-side all weather pitch in Celbridge. In 2007 our team played very well and won the North Kildare section, which meant we qualified for the Kildare Finals in Kilcullen. Neil Flynn, Patrick Kelliher and Neil Delaney in goals played particularly well. In the Kildare finals in May, the boys were unlucky in their games and came up against two very strong teams from Clane and Ballymany. Unfortunately, despite a brilliant effort from all the boys, we did not qualify for the Leinster finals.

This year's 6th class boys have been taking part in trials for the competition in recent weeks, with the North Kildare section getting underway on the 10th April.