St Jarlath's College

St Jarlath's College (Irish: Coláiste Iarfhlatha) is a Catholic co-educational secondary school in Tuam, County Galway. The college was founded in 1800 and in 2009 absorbed St. Patrick's College, Tuam.[1] The College, which operates under patronage of the Archbishop of Tuam, is named after Jarlath, or Iarlaith, who founded a monastery in the town when, as legend has it, his chariot wheel broke. The enrolment numbers in 2022 are 595.[2]

St Jarlath's College
St Jarlath's College, founded in 1800
Location
Information
TypeSecondary school
MottoVeni lumen cordium
Religious affiliation(s)Christianity (Catholic)
Established1801 (1801)
(Amalgamated 2009)
PresidentJohn Kelly
Faculty43
Enrollmentapprox 530
Websitehttp://www.jarlaths.ie/

History

Pre-amalgamation crest of St Jarlath's College, in use until 2009

Foundation

The original St Jarlath's College was founded in 1800 by the Archbishop of Tuam Edward Dillon, with the aim of preparing young boys for seminars formation at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. Dr Dillon had to seek permission to establish the college from the Protestant Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Beresford. It began with two thatched cottages at the Mall, Tuam later moving to a new building in Bishop Street, now commonly known as "the Old College".[3]

Its first president was Rev Oliver Kelly, who later became Archbishop of Tuam. In 1824, the facilities of the College were enlarged by the erection of additional houses in Bishop Street and in 1856, the site of the present college and grounds was bought by Archbishop John McHale. This property was known as Keighrey's Park and a portion of it was used as the town's fair green. McHale continued to set it as a fair green to the town commissioners at a yearly rent of 30 until 1875 in which year the college was extensively enlarged by the addition of two wings to the first building which had been erected in 1858.[4]

In 1851, Archbishop John McHale invited the Congregation of Christian Brothers to Tuam. The invitation resulted in the birth of Tuam CBS, and later St Patrick's College, a Catholic day secondary school, which was to play a not insignificant role in the education of young men from the lower orders in Tuam.[5]

Amalgamation

St Jarlath's College (2008)

Plans to amalgamate St Patrick's And St Jarlath’s colleges had first been suggested in the late 1990s. At that time, a new school building had been promised by the Government. However, no such building materialised. The phasing out of boarding in St Jarlath's led to a reduced enrolment.

In March 2008, Archbishop Michael Neary (bishop), a trustee of both schools, announced to staff that the amalgamation would proceed in the absence of a new school building. The amalgamation process commenced in September 2008 with enrollment of all first year students in St Jarlath's. The process was completed in September 2009 when students from both schools amalgamated into the new school, in the old St Jarlath's building.

Opera

Starting with The Mikado in 1944, the college's Amateur Operatic Society has performed a yearly musical or opera for the local community. The 1969 production, The Quaker Girl was the first to be held in conjunction with Mercy Convent, Tuam. The 2008 Opera was also in conjunction with St Patrick's College, due to the amalgamation process in progress at the time.

The tradition of the annual Opera was continued following the amalgamation, the 2009 Opera being the first production of the newly amalgamated school. The Opera has been successful in recent years in the Connacht Tribune organised musical awards, winning a Best Overall and a Best Chorus award in 2008 for Hot Mikado.

Sport

The St Jarlath's College's senior football team hold the prestigious record of winning the Hogan Cup 12 times – the first time in 1947 [6] - more than any other school, and have also been runners-up on a further 14 occasions. The college also holds the record for winning the most Connacht Colleges Senior Football Championships, with an outstanding 49 wins.

Since amalgamation, the school has won three Connacht Senior titles, reaching the Hogan Cup Final in 2011. Under the management of Joe Burke, and captained by Ian Burke from Corofin, the school narrowly lost out to St Colman's College, Newry by just one point.

Sporting honours

Notable staff

Selected past pupils

Presidents

St. Jarlath's College

NameFromTo
Very Rev. Oliver Kelly (later Archbishop of Tuam)18001806
Very Rev. Paul McGreal18061817
Very Rev. James MacHale18171821
Very Rev. Thomas Feeney18211831
Very Rev. Martin Brown18311837
Very Rev. James Ronan18371838
Very Rev. William Cullinane18381842
Very Rev. John Flanelly18421845
Very Rev. Anthony Regan18451849
Very Rev. Peter Reynolds18491852
Very Rev. John McEvilly (later Archbishop of Tuam)18521857
Very Rev. Patrick O’Brien18571865
Very Rev. Ulick Bourke18651878
Very Rev. Patrick Kilkenny18781888
Very Rev. Michael O'Connell18881893
Very Rev. John Fallon18931898
Very Rev. Michael McHugh18981903
Very Rev. Michael Higgins19031910
Very Rev. Michael Conroy19101915
Very Rev. Alex Eaton19151923
Very Rev. Denis Ryder19231928
Very Rev. Joseph Walsh (later Archbishop of Tuam)19231940
Very Rev. Tim Gunnigan19401947
Very Rev. Conor Heaney19471961
Very Rev. Michael Mooney19611971
Very Rev. Michael Walsh19711977
Very Rev. Thomas Waldron19771986
Very Rev. Dermot Maloney19861994
Very Rev. Oliver Hughes19942003
Very Rev. Conal Eustace20032008

St Jarlath's College (post-amalgamation)

NameFromTo
Very Rev. Brendan Kilcoyne20082013
Mr. John Kelly2013-

References

  1. "St. Jarlath's history".
  2. "St. Jarlaths College".
  3. "St. Jarlath's history".
  4. "Tuam Schools in the Nineteenth Century". Places.galwaylibrary.ie. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  5. "St. Jarlaths College | Boys Secondary School, Tuam, Co. Galway". Jarlaths.ie. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  6. "Jarlaths Tuam County Galway St Jarlaths College Tuam Schools Tuam".
  7. Melvin, John (8 May 2020). "Death of former Mayo footballer Fr. J.J. Cribbin". The Connaught Telegraph. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  8. "elaine-feeney". RCW Literary Agency. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  9. "Some of the New Staff Members in SJC". 17 November 2011. Archived from the original on 8 February 2019.
  10. Donoghue, Eamon (23 January 2015). "Schools GAA: Michael Meehan sparking St Jarlath's revival as tradition dies hard". The Irish Times. Today Meehan is back where it all began, teaching, managing and helping St Jarlath's adapt to a very different Hogan Cup landscape, made all the harder for them since 2006 when they ended the option for pupils to board in the school... In his third year teaching maths in the school, Meehan is also managing the school's junior footballers, having moved up from managing the first years for the previous two years.
  11. "Mayo GAA mourn death of former footballer Fr JJ Cribbin". Hogan Stand. 10 May 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  12. Moran, Seán (11 April 2020). "Finishers: How the evolution of substitutes has changed Gaelic football". The Irish Times. Kevin McStay, former Roscommon manager and a football analyst with this newspaper, remembers the past when he began playing in the 1970s and things were simpler and more clear cut... 'when I was at school in St Jarlath's I was on a team that never played subs. It wasn't until the end of my time there in the late 1970s that Jarlath's started using subs.

Further reading

  • Cunningham, John (1999). St Jarlath's College, Tuam, 1800 - 2000. SJC Publications. ISBN 978-0-9536978-0-9.
  • Jordan Anthony, J. (2008). The Good Samaritans - Memoir of a Biographer. Westport Books. ISBN 978-0-9524447-5-6.

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