St Mel's College is an all-boys secondary school in

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. In November 2024, plans were announced to merge the school with the local all-girls secondary school, Scoil Mhuire, Longford, to form a new co-educational school to be known as Coláiste Mel agus Mhuire.

History

The college opened in September 1865 with 48 boarders and 20 dayboys. The architect was Than Ourke with a total cost of 16,000 euro. In the beginning, it was actually a seminary, where students studied to become priests. Fr. James Reynolds was the first president. Previously he had been Superior of St Mel's Day School in the Market Square. The school shares its name with

St Mel's Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Mel is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, located in the town of Longford in Ireland. Built between 1840 and 1856, with the belfry and portico as later additions, it has b ...

in Longford and it is situated to the rear of the cathedral. The cathedral and the college are named after Saint

Mél of Ardagh Mél of Ardagh, also written Mel or Moel, was a 5th-century saint in Ireland who was a nephew of Saint Patrick. He was the son of Conis (or Chonis) and Patrick's sister, Darerca of Ireland, Darerca. Saint Darerca was known as the "mother of s ...

. St Mel's was originally a boarding school since its foundation, later becoming a day school. Due to financial implications and decreasing demand for boarding schools it stopped taking in boarders in the early 2000s.

Sports

St Mel's won its first All Ireland Senior Final, beating St Patrick's College,

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

in Croke Park by 4-7 to 3-3. The college has won the All Ireland Schools

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

championship the

Hogan Cup The Hogan Cup (), also known as the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Football Championship, is the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools (sometimes referred to as colleges) in Ireland. The competition itself is re ...

in 1948, 1962, 1963, and 1987 (they also were runners-up in 1961 and 1988). They hold the record for the most wins, 29, in the

Leinster Colleges Senior Football Championship The Leinster colleges senior football "A" championship, is the top level Gaelic football competition for secondary schools in Leinster. The winners receive the Brother Bosco (Mulhare) Cup and advance to the All-Ireland colleges "A" senior footba ...

. St Mel's have an all-weather pitch provided by PST Sport. In February 2020, it was announced that Longford Athletics Club and the College would build an Indoor facility on the college grounds.

Past pupils

Willie Browne William Browne (21 February 1936 – 14 October 2004) was an Irish soccer player during the 1960s. A Bohemians legend, he was the last amateur to have been capped for the full Republic of Ireland national team for 43 years until Joseph La ...

(1936–2004), Republic of Ireland international footballer * Micheál Carrigy, Senator elected 2020 * Conor Connelly (1975–2020),

er *

James Patrick Farrell James Patrick Farrell (13 May 1865 – 11 December 1921) was an Irish nationalist politician and Member of Parliament (MP) from 1895 to 1918, taking his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He was al ...

(1865–1921), Nationalist MP for Cavan 1895–1900 and North Longford 1900–1918 * Ray Flynn (b. 1957), athlete * Rev. Joseph Guinan (1863–1932), priest, teacher (at St Mel's) and novelist *

John Leydon John Leydon (17 January 1895 – 2 August 1979) was an Irish civil servant, who served in a number of significant roles in ministerial departments and was involved in the setting up and development of a number of semi-state organisations such ...

(1895–1979), civil servant, involved in setting up Aer Lingus, IMI and

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation ** International Phonetic Association, the organization behind the alphabet * India pale ale, a style of beer * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA ...

Pádraic McCormack Pádraic McCormack (born 15 May 1942) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Mayor of Galway from 1992 to 1993. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency from 1989 to 2011 and a Senator for the Agricultu ...

, former TD for Galway West and Senator * Bishop

James Moynagh Bishop James Moynagh S.P.S. (1903–1985), was an Irish-born Roman Catholic priest who served for the Saint Patrick’s Society for the Foreign Missions in Nigeria, and was ordained Bishop of Calabar. Life He was born on 25 April 1903 to Patrick ...

S.P.S. (1903–1985), missionary priest and bishop to NigeriaNew biography charts Irish priest’s role in Nigeria
By Sarah Mac Donald, www.catholicireland.net, 26 March 2015. * Liam Mulvihill, former director general of the GAA *

Declan Nerney Declan Nerney (born c. 1959) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Born in Drumlish, County Longford, he started at the age of 16 in a local band, "The Hi-Lows". His big break came with his autobiographical song "''The Marquee in Drumlish''". His e ...

, Irish country singer *

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (; born Peter Roger Casement Brady; 2 October 1932 – 5 June 2013) was an Irish republican political and military leader. He was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1958 to 1959 and again from 1960 to 196 ...

, Former TD (1957–1961), President of

Sinn Fein In the philosophy of language, the distinction between sense and reference was an idea of the German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege in 1892 (in his paper "On Sense and Reference"; German: "Über Sinn und Bedeutung"), reflecting the ...

(1970–1983), President of

Republican Sinn Féin Republican Sinn Féin or RSF () is an Irish republican political party in Ireland. RSF claims to be heirs of the Sinn Féin party founded in 1905; the party took its present form in 1986 following a split in Sinn Féin. RSF members take seats w ...

(1987–2009) * Bishop

Colm O'Reilly Colm O'Reilly (born 11 January 1935) is an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise from 1983 to 2013. Early life and education The youngest of seven children, O'Reilly was born to John and Alici ...

, Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise The Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise (; ) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Geography The diocese is entirely within the Republic of Ireland and contains most of counties Longford and Leitrim, with parts of counties ...

* John Wilson (1923–2007), TD for Cavan Monaghan and government minister

References

External links

St Mel's College website
1865 establishments in Ireland Educational institutions established in 1865 Longford (town) Secondary schools in County Longford {{Ireland-school-stub