Well, you can't win all the time .....

Sometimes in life, you have to accept that there will be losses, that defeats occur and you can't always win ..... but saying that to the NSLM's sister at the moment is not making much difference!

Hollypark, her school team were beaten by one point in the Cumann na mbunscol Final yesterday in Croke Park. With gaelic football, scores come so quickly that you can be two points up with a minute to go, and then suddenly the opposition score a goal - and you've lost by one point. A goal equals three points. With the last kick of the game - Mary Way of Christians National School from Cabra won.Teachers, parents, past pupils, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunties, cousins and friends all made the trip into Croke Park. There was a fantastic atmosphere and on a cold day it was very special to see all the support there for the girls. The cheer when they came out on the pitch was deafening.

Both schools played and fought hard, of course, we felt our school were the better team, we felt the referee should have blown for full-time several minutes before he did - but these are things we're always going to feel in defeat! A last minute goal, literally the last kick of the game .... meant Hollypark lost. For most of the girls, including Sorcha, this is their last year in Hollypark so there won't be the chance to compete in this competition next year.

At the moment, the girls at taking the loss so hard, are so disappointed and upset that its difficult to explain to them that "you can't win all the time but that it's a lesson well learnt for the rest of your lives". Sorcha and her fellow players leaving the pitch .. ..

There were tears and upset and no more so from the NSLM who couldn't cope with seeing his big sister and her friends so upset!

But the girls still went off and had a post match dinner together and most of all they know that all their teachers, parents, brothers and sisters and most especially canine supporters are proud of them!

To cheer the NSLM up this morning ... we went to post his and mine 'Santa' lists! His concentration was magnificent as he put the letters in the post box!

as for his sister, she was off at basketball training for a few hours! The basketball season begins in earnest now as gaelic football takes a rest until the end of January! The hurt of defeat may still be felt but a few hours running around on a basketball court did no harm at all!