ALLIANZ CUMANN Na mBUNSCOL – Primary Schools QUIZ: Tyrone Heats 2015

A great sense of anticipation and excitement was felt in our local primary schools last week, as Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Thír Eoghain organised a series of quiz heats across the county. Having already had very successful tournaments for Indoor Camogie, Hurling and Gaelic Football, these heats were designed to find Tyrone’s top brain boxes.
This year we had almost 50 schools competing against each other.
The format of the quiz saw 60 points up for grabs over 10 rounds. The pupils faced questions on an array of subjects – predominantly Irish based – including: Geography; History; Sport; Music and Famous Irish Faces.
A number of questions based on the school curriculum were also asked. Five of our local schools kindly agreed to act as host for the quiz competition, and they were as follows:
Primate Dixon PS, Coalisland; St Conor’s PS, Omagh; Edendork PS;
St. Colmcille’s PS, Carrickmore and St. Mary’s PS, Cabragh.
In order to qualify from the Tyrone heats to the Ulster Final, schools had to secure scores that would rank amongst the top four in the county (from all five heats). The level of scoring across the county was extremely high this year. The pupils showed a tremendous general knowledge about Ireland and all things Irish. Indeed, such was the extraordinary standard of correct answers, it soon became apparent that scores beyond 75% were required for teams to be successful.
As things transpired, four schools managed to produce teams who each scored 46/60. The teams who recorded this terrific total were:
St. Terasa’s PS, Loughmacrory; St. Mary’s PS, Cabragh; St. Colmcille’s PS, Carrickmore and Edendork PS. Omagh’s St. Conor’s PS won their heat but narrowly missed out – by one point – on qualification. Therefore, we had our four Tyrone qualifiers. Taking their schools to the Ulster Final in The Devenish, Belfast on Friday 27th March are Master McCullough (Loughmacrory), Master Kelly (Cabragh), Master Cush (Carrickmore) and Mrs Anne McAlinden (Edendork).
Everyone associated with Allianz Cumann na mBunscol wishes these four Tyrone schools all the very best in their dual quest for the Tyrone Shield – awarded to our county’s highest scoring team in Ulster Quiz Final (currently held by St. Patrick’s PS Roan, Eglish) and, of course, the Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Ulster Primary School Quiz Title 2015.
Ádh mór oraibh!