Congratulations: Jack and Cormac presented with top awards at Longford's St Mel's College

Congratulations to Jack Nertney who was honoured as Student of the Year Winner at St Mel's College and to Cormac Flynn who was the recipient of the Fr Manning Medal. 

The annual Awards Presentation took place on Wednesday, May 21. Thank you to Fr Tony (school chaplain) and Ms Martina McCormack (BOM representative) for joining our students and staff for the Awards Presentation. 

A huge thank you to all the guests who joined us to make presentations on the day namely Eoin McGuinness, Sean O’Sullivan, Mark Canty and Glenn Baskett. 

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Congratulations to all students who received awards in the areas of full attendance, school contribution, community involvement, academic achievement as well as sporting successes this calendar year.

Mr Flanagan presented the Fr Manning Medal to the very worthy recipient Cormac Flynn. 

The nominees for the Leaving Certificate ‘Student of the Year’ were announced at the Awards Presentation.

The nominees were Eanna Madden, Gerard Keogh and Jack Nertney. The winner was announced the following evening at the 6th year Graduation Mass which was held in St. Mel’s Cathedral. 

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Some sporting highlights of the year included the Senior Rugby team who won the Freddie Forde Perpetual Cup while the Junior Rugby team won the Hugh Connolly Cup.

There were lots of individual sporting achievements such as ‘Player of the Year’ awards and ‘Most Improved’ awards which also received recognition at the Awards Ceremony.

Graduation Mass 

Congratulations to the Leaving Certificate Class of 2025 on their graduation. We celebrated a final farewell with them at the Graduation Mass in the St. Mel's Cathedral on Thursday, May. 22 

The theme of their mass was 'Journey'. 

The staff at St Mel's College are very proud to have been part of our boys' journey. We have watched them grow from the 12-13 year old children who began their secondary school journey with us only a few short years ago and transform into the fine young men that are departing us now to begin the next stage in their journey through life. 

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We hope that we have taught them the knowledge, values, and skills that have shaped them and that they will use them to navigate the highs and lows of life along the way. 

Everybody in St Mel’s College wishes the 6th year students the best of luck in their upcoming Leaving Cert exams. Bishop Paul Connell, Chaplain Fr Tony, Principal Malachy Flanagan, and Yearhead Michael Galvin all shared the same message with our 6th year students during the mass. That message was that although the leaving cert exams are important and should be prioritised for the next few weeks, ultimately, the results do not define you as a person. What defines you as a person is your character, honesty, humility, and integrity. We hope that our 6th years have acquired these core values throughout their 5-6 years with us. 

One of our students quoted our school motto 'Aemula Virtus' during his speech, which means 'Strive for excellence'. We hope that our 6th years continue to live out this motto throughout their journey in whatever pathway they may choose. 

Well done to the Student of the Year Winner Jack Nertney, who was presented with the Mel Murtagh Cup by Mr. Gacquin. Well done to the other two Student of the Year nominees Eanna Madden and Gerard Keogh. 

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Well done to the Fr Manning Medal recipient Cormac Flynn, who was also presented with his medal on the night. 

Thank you to all of the students, their families, and friends for joining us in the crypt after the mass for a chat and some refreshments. 

Thank you to the St. Mel's College Parents Association for organising this and Reynolds Catering for providing the food. A very joyous night was had by all.

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