St. Francis College Rochestown, sometimes known as Rochestown College or abbreviated as Roco, is an all-boys secondary school in Rochestown,

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Ireland. The school's foundation dates to 1884 when a friary was formed by the

Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

History

In the 1870s the Capuchin ( Franciscan) order of friars opened a church and monastery on the Rochestown-Monkstown road near Cork city. In the 1880s, a school for

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

s (those seeking to join the order) was opened on the site. While this novitiate school was moved to Kilkenny and elsewhere for some decades, in the 1930s the school returned to the Rochestown friary. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, coinciding with a move to free education in the state, the college expanded into the friary itself, and "dormitories were converted into classrooms". The school continues to operate as a voluntary secondary school under the trusteeship of the Capuchin Franciscan Order.

Extra-curricular activities

Sporting and extra-curricular activities in the school include debating,

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, basketball, badminton and chess.

Notable graduates

Alan Cadogan Alan Cadogan (born 17 May 1993) is an Irish Hurling, hurler who plays for Cork Senior Hurling Championship, Cork Senior Championship club Douglas GAA, Douglas and at inter-county level with the Cork senior hurling team. He usually lines out as a ...

- Cork GAA * John Cashman - Cork GAA *

Niall Cashman Niall Cashman (born 26 July 1995) is an Irish hurler who plays as a left wing-back for Cork Championship club Blackrock and at inter-county level with the Cork senior team. Playing career Blackrock Cashman joined Blackrock at a young age, ...

- Cork GAA * Alan Connolly - Cork GAA *

Edwin Fitzgibbon Edwin Fitzgibbon was a Capuchin friar and educator, after whom the intervarsity hurling competition, the Fitzgibbon Cup, is named. He was born Thomas Fitzgibbon on 26 January 1874, in Ballnona, between Castlemartyr and Dungourney, County Cork, to ...

- Capuchin priest and professor of psychology at UCC, who donated the Fitzgibbon Cup for inter-varsity hurling. *

John Kelly John or Jack Kelly may refer to: People Academics and scientists * John Kelly (engineer), Irish professor, former Registrar of University College Dublin *John Kelly (scholar) (1750–1809), at Douglas, Isle of Man *John Forrest Kelly (1859–1922) ...

- Rugby union player with Munster and Ireland *

Shane Kingston Shane Kingston (born 25 August 1997) is an Irish hurler who plays as a left wing-forward, full-forward and left corner-forward for club side Douglas and at inter-county level with the Cork senior hurling team. Early life Kingston was born in D ...

- Cork GAA *

Dominic MacHale Dominic MacHale is an Irish actor. He is best known for his role as Sergeant Healy in the 2016 comedy film '' The Young Offenders''. He went on to reprise his role in the 2018 television series of the same name, produced by the BBC. He start ...

- actor ( The Young Offenders) * Alex Murphy - actor ( The Young Offenders) *

Kilian O'Callaghan Kilian O'Callaghan (born 1963) is a male ballet dancer, choreographer and education administrator from Monkstown, County Cork, Monkstown, County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. One of the few Irish male students of the Royal Ballet Schoo ...

- ballet dancer and choreographer * Darragh O'Mahony - Rugby union player * Terry Shannon - Lord Mayor of Cork in 2011 * Paul Wallace - Rugby union player * Richard Wallace - Rugby union player * Niall O'Flaherty and Patrick O'Connell - members of The Sultans of Ping FC.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Francis College Rochestown Secondary schools in County Cork 1884 establishments in Ireland Educational institutions established in 1884