A campaign started by a group of past pupils of Garbally College in Ballinasloe – to retain the Garbally heritage when it amalgamates into a co-educational institution from September – is gaining traction among their former school-mates and across the area at large.

It follows the announcement last year that the new co-education school – an amalgamation of Garbally and the girls secondary school, Ard Scoil Mhuire – would be renamed Clonfert College when its new chapter begins this autumn.

But now a number of former pupils have formed an action group to retain Garbally in the new entity. The Spirit of Garbally group wants the new school to be named “Clonfert College at Garbally Park” and for school’s sports teams to continue to play under the name “Garbally.”

The original St Joseph’s College was established by the Diocese of Clonfert in 1892 as a boys seminary. It was first located at Cartron and later relocated to Esker near Athenry.

In 1901 due to continued expansion, it located to a building known as The Pines in Creagh.

There it remained until 1923 when it located to Garbally Park, the home of the Early of Clancarty, on the other side of Ballinasloe. Garbally Court, built in 1819, and its extensive lands, were purchased by the Diocese of Clonfert for £6,750 in 1922 from the trustees of the Earl of Clancarty.

The Spirit of Garbally says that in ditching the name, the school authorities were effectively shutting down over 100 years of heritage.

Among well-known former pupils backing the campaign are former Ireland and Lions rugby captain, Ciaran Fitzgerald; ex-rugby international Noel Mannion; All-Ireland winning hurlers, Iggy Clarke, Sean Silke, Conor Hayes, and Michael Duignan; former Galway hurler Damien Joyce, Channel Four Foreign Affairs Correspondent Paraic O’Brien, and current Connacht Rugby player Colm Reilly.

Caption: Garbally College…past pupils’ campaign.

Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.