Agfdhyk

St Jarlath's College
St Jarlath's College, founded in 1800
Location
Tuam, County Galway
Information
Type	Secondary school
Motto	Veni lumen cordium
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1801 (Amalgamated 2009)
President	Mr John Kelly
Faculty	43
Enrollment	approx 530
Website	http://www.jarlaths.ie/

St Jarlath's College (Coláiste Iarfhlatha in Irish) is a Roman Catholic secondary school for boys in Tuam, County Galway. It is an amalgamation of the former St. Jarlath's College and St. Patrick's College, Tuam both diocesan colleges of the Archdiocese of Tuam. The College was named after Jarlath, or Iarlaith, who founded a monastery in the town when, as legend has it, his chariot wheel broke.

History

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

Former St Jarlath's College

The original St Jarlath's College was founded in 1801 by then-Archbishop of Tuam, Edward Dillon, with the aim of preparing young boys for entry into Maynooth Roman Catholic Seminary. 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".

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 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.^[1]

Former St Patrick's College

In 1851, Archbishop John McHale had invited the Christian Brothers to Tuam. This Catholic organisation was to play a large part in the development of an educated Catholic middle class in Ireland. The invitation resulted in the birth of Tuam CBS, and later St Patrick's College, a Catholic day secondary school, which was to play an enormous role in the development of the town of Tuam.^[2]

Amalgamation

St Jarlath's College (2008)

Plans to amalgamate St Jarlath's and St Patrick'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. Enrollment numbers began to drop in St Patrick's and the phasing out of boarding in St Jarlath's led to a reduced enrollment.

In March 2008, Archbishop Michael Neary, as 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 Connaught Tribune organised musical awards, winning a Best Overall and a Best Chorus award in 2008 for Hot Mikado.

Sport

The former St Jarlath's College's senior football team won the Hogan Cup a record 12 times and were runners-up 14 times.

The amalgamated school reached the Hogan Cup Final for the first time in 2011, under the management of Joe Burke, and captained by Ian Burke from Corofin, losing out to St Colman's College, Newry by just one point .

Sporting honours

Former St Jarlath's College

• 
  Hogan Cup : 12

1947, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1984, 1994, 2002

• • Runners-Up : 14

1946, 1949, 1962, 1967, 1973, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2001, 2003

• 
  Connacht Colleges Senior Football Championship : 46

1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008

• All-Ireland Colleges Senior 'B' Hurling Championship : 1

New St Jarlath's College

• 
  Connacht Colleges Senior Football Championship : 2

2011, 2012

• 
  Hogan Cup Runners-Up : 1

2011

Selected past pupils

• 
  John Birmingham — well known amateur geologist and astronomer


• 
  John Blowick — co-founder of the Missionary Society of St. Columban
  


• 
  Thomas Carr — former Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia


• 
  Enda Colleran — former Gaelic footballer for, and later manager of, Galway
  


• 
  Damien Comer — Gaelic footballer for Galway
  


• 
  Michael Donnellan — former Gaelic footballer for Galway
  


• 
  Patrick Duggan — former Bishop of Clonfert


• 
  Peter Fallon — Columban priest kidnapped and killed by Japanese forces in 1945 in the Philippines


• 
  Seán Flanagan — senior Fianna Fáil politician and Gaelic footballer


• 
  John Heneghan — Columban priest kidnapped and killed by Japanese forces in 1945, in the Philippines, alongside Peter Fallon


• 
  Jim Higgins — Member of the European Parliament for the North–West constituency of Ireland


• 
  Monsignor James Horan — Parish Priest of Knock, responsible for the building of Ireland West Airport


• 
  Colm Keaveney — TD, Labour Party and Fianna Fáil


• 
  Thomas J. Kelly — Irish Nationalist and former leader of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
  


• 
  Mark Killilea — politician, former Member of the European Parliament for the North–West Constituency


• 
  Michael P. Kitt — Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway East constituency


• 
  Tom Kitt — Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South constituency


• 
  Seamus Leydon — former Gaelic footballer for Galway
  


• 
  Patrick Anthony Ludden — first Bishop of Syracuse, New York


• 
  Michael Lyster — former RTÉ presenter


• 
  Michael Meehan — former Gaelic footballer for Galway
  


• 
  Michael Neary — current Archbishop of Tuam


• 
  John O'Connor Power — M.P. for Mayo (1874-1885), Orator


• 
  John O'Donohoe QC — Senator for Ontario, Canada (1882-1902)


• 
  Seán Purcell — Gaelic footballer for County Galway


• 
  John Sheehy — former British colonial official


• 
  Kevin Steede — the Countdown octochamp (who appeared in Series 72 which aired on Britain's Channel 4 in 2015) was working as an occupational therapist in Plymouth at the time, having earlier attended school at St Jarlath's College (between 2002 and 2007), before studying for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Literature and French at NUI Galway (between 2007 and 2011 - with a year spent abroad through the Erasmus Programme at the Université de Poitiers). He then completed a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Occupational Therapy at the University of Plymouth and, since appearing on the series, has completed a Master of Science (MSc) in Advanced Occupational Therapy at the University of Salford.^[3][4]
  


• 
  Tomás Tierney — former Gaelic footballer for Galway and Mayo
  

Presidents

Old St. Jarlath's College

St Jarlath's College (post-amalgamation)

References

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.

External links

• Tuam Guide