St Colman's College is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

English-medium grammar school for boys, situated in

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. The college was founded in 1823 as the Dromore

Diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

by Father J. S. Keenan and placed under the patronage of

Colmán of Dromore Saint Colmán of Dromore, also known by the pet form Mocholmóc, was a 6th-century Irish saint. Life Colman was a native of Dalriada, born roughly a generation after Patrick's apostolate to Ireland, and was baptized by a bishop, bearing his ...

. The College stands on Violet Hill, the same 60 acre (243,000 m²) site it has occupied since 1829, next to the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Dromore's residence, and the school itself is often referred to colloquially as Violet Hill.

Motto

The school motto is ''Bonitas, Disciplina, Scientia'' which can be translated as ''Kindness, Discipline and Knowledge''.

College buildings

In the 1930s one of the most iconic buildings in the College complex was completed: the Chapel of Mary, the Immaculate Mother of God, constructed at the western end of the present frontage was solemnly consecrated by Bishop Edward Mulhern on 26 October 1938. Further work continued in the post-war era as new science rooms, a dedicated design and technology block were all added to the college estate. In January 2008, 15 new classrooms and a multi-purpose hall became available for student use. A refurbishment of the existing College building and classrooms was completed in 2009, with all classrooms now equipped with

interactive whiteboard An interactive whiteboard (IWB), also known as interactive board, interactive display, interactive digital board or smart board, is a large interactive display board in the form factor of a whiteboard. It can either be a standalone touchscre ...

s. In addition to this, the grounds were developed with two

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

courts, 60 additional car parking spaces for students and teachers.

Enrolment

As a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

, St Colman's selects on the basis of academic ability, primarily through the GL examination; it currently has 860 students attending. Enniskillen-born Cormac McKinney was appointed the first lay principal of the College in 2010.

Academic results

In 2020, all of its 129 students who entered five or more GCSEs passed with grades A* to C including the core subjects English and Maths. Of the 109 students who entered A-level exams, 105 obtained at least 3 A-C* grades.

Sports

Gaelic football

Aside from its academic work, St. Colman's is known as a nursery for Gaelic footballers for the senior men's teams of both Down and

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

. The school is the most successful

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

team in schools' Gaelic Football. In 2011 the College's senior

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 ...

team was Ulster and All-Ireland champions. The College has a distinguished history in

winning the premier colleges' trophy, 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 ...

, eight times in 1967, 1975, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2010 and 2011. Only St Jarlath's College, Tuam has won the All-Ireland competition on more occasions. The college remains the most successful

college winning the

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The winn ...

for the 19th time in 2011.

Other sports

Other sports offered at the College include, but are not limited to: *

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

– St Colman's were Irish & Ulster Schools Champions in 1992 and former past pupil's Rory Leonard & Hilary Armstrong are current and former Irish Internationals. In 2017 St Colman's reached the

Darren Clarke Darren Christopher Clarke (born 14 August 1968) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions and has previously played on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He has won 21 tournaments worldwide on ...

School Golf League Final in Lisburn Golf Club. They won on the day 3.5-3.5, winning by holes won. *

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

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

Music

Orchestra

The school has a large

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, run by the Head of Music and with the help of additional instrumental tuition from local musicians. The school also has a concert band and a big band. St Colman's won the 2005, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024 Newry Feis Cup.

Choir

The school choir has worked with St George's Singers, Belfast and the

Ulster Orchestra The Ulster Orchestra is a full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. Based in Belfast, the orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Kingdom ...

, the

Irish College in Paris The Irish College in Paris (, , ) was for three centuries a major Roman Catholic educational establishment for Irish students. It was founded in the late 16th century, and closed down by the French government in the early 20th century. From 1945 t ...

and

Le Bec-Hellouin Le Bec-Hellouin () is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Eure in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region in northern France. It is best known for Bec Abbey and has recently ...

, mother house of the

Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

of Holy Cross Abbey,

Rostrevor Rostrevor () is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the foot of Slieve Martin on the coast of Carlingford Lough, near Warrenpoint. The Kilbroney River flows through the village and Rostrevor Forest is nearb ...

. The choir has taken part in six editions of ''Morning Service'' for

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster is a Northern Ireland, Northern Irish national radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. Acc ...

, broadcast live from the College's Chapel and St Brigid's Church, Newry. The trebles have performed live in Broadcasting House, Belfast as part of BBC Radio Ulster's ''Sounds Classical''. The choir has also recorded with

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

for the programmes ''O Little Town'' and ''Our Wee World''. The choir were winners of the Southern Grammar School Regional Heat of the UTV School Choir of the Year 2005. The school choir allows students to develop team working skills as well as allowing them to develop sight singing and their overall musicality. Also in 2005 the choir took part in the 20th anniversary of ''Sing Carols'' which was broadcast on BBC NI and BBC Radio Ulster. Their live BBC Radio Ulster's performance of Elaine Agnew's commissioned work ''Blessed'' was used on the promotional CD for the European Chamber Orchestra's educational programme throughout the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. In Newry Musical Feis, the choir won the Secondary Schools Choir Competition in 2024, with the tenors and basses winning the plainsong competition.

Organ

The College Chapel has a two-manual pipe organ, originally built by

Rieger Orgelbau Rieger Orgelbau is an Austrian firm of organ builders, known generally as Rieger. The firm was founded by Franz Rieger. From 1873 it was known as Rieger & Söhne, and from 1879 as Gebrüder Rieger, after his sons took over. At the end of World Wa ...

and rebuilt and installed in the college chapel by Kenneth Jones & Associates, for the use of the students.

Traditional Group

The school Traditional Group has won the Newry Musical Feis multiple times, most recently in 2022. In 2023 the group placed 3rd in the competition which included seven schools and in 2024 the group placed 2nd in the competition out of five schools with a very high mark of 92.

Abuse of pupils

In October 2017, the Diocese of Dromore settled the "biggest ever pay-out in a historical abuse case in Northern Ireland" over claims that Fr Malachy Finnegan, who was President of the College between 1976 and 1987, sexually abused a pupil. Finnegan, who died in 2002, was the subject of twelve abuse allegations made between 1994 and 2016. In the weeks following the scandal, the school removed all photographs depicting Fr Finnegan from the interior of its building.

Notable former pupils

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Colman's College, Newry Catholic secondary schools in Northern Ireland Educational institutions established in 1823 Education in Newry Secondary schools in County Down Boys' schools in Northern Ireland Grammar schools in County Down Specialist colleges in Northern Ireland