St Mel's College

St Mel's College is an all-boys secondary school in Longford, Ireland.

St Mel's College
Coláiste Naomh Mel
Location
Longford, County Longford

Ireland
Information
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic
Established1865
PrincipalMalachy Flanagan
GenderBoys
TrusteeCatholic Education an Irish Schools Trust School
Websitehttp://www.stmelscollege.ie/

History

The college opened in September 1865 with 48 boarders and 20 dayboys. The architect was Than Ourke with a total cost of 16,000 euro. In the beginning, it was actually a seminary, where students studied to become priests. Fr. James Reynolds was the first president. Previously he had been Superior of St Mel's Day School in the Market Square. The school shares its name with St Mel's Cathedral in Longford and it is situated to the rear of the cathedral. The cathedral and the college are named after Saint Mél of Ardagh.

St Mel's was originally a boarding school since its foundation, later becoming a day school. Due to financial implications and decreasing demand for boarding schools it stopped taking in boarders in the early 2000s.[1]

Sports

St Mel's won its first All Ireland Senior Final, beating St Patrick's College, Cavan in Croke Park by 4-7 to 3-3. The college has won the All Ireland Schools Gaelic football championship the Hogan Cup in 1948, 1962, 1963, and 1987 (they also were runners-up in 1961 and 1988). They hold the record for the most wins, 29, in the Leinster Colleges Senior Football Championship. St Mel's have an all-weather pitch provided by PST Sport.[2] In February 2020, it was announced that Longford Athletics Club and the College would build an Indoor facility on the college grounds.[3]

Past pupils

References
  1. Cullen, Paul (10 October 1996). "Book on St Mel's published". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  2. St Mels College Longford What our clients say. PST Sport.
  3. Longford AC Indoor Facility Set For St Mels by David Hooper, Shannonside Radio, 16 February 2020.
  4. Joseph Guinan by Maurice Cronin, RIA/Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography
  5. New biography charts Irish priest’s role in Nigeria By Sarah Mac Donald, www.catholicireland.net, 26 March 2015.


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