On April 15th, the members of Marnock’s Music Group and teachers Ms. Kenealy, Ms. Murphy and Mr. Maughan were delighted to hear that they had once again qualified for the 2026 final of the Waltons, RTE Lyric FM Music for Schools Competition in the National Concert Hall. The video entry of their song, Rhythm Rulz had been approved by the judges and they would now compete against five other primary schools in the final, all from counties outside Dublin.
On Monday 18th May, the 35 members of the Marnock’s Music Group and teachers travelled by coach to the National Concert Hall. They left at the school at 7.30am in order to beat morning traffic and to be on time for the group’s 9.15am sound check. Spirits were high and there was a palpable feeling of readiness amongst the group and teachers as the coach entered the city via the port tunnel. The past five months had been a blur of brainstorming, collaboration, video and sound recordings, composition and rehearsals for the group and its teachers. It all led up to this day where the group would step on the stage of the National Concert Hall and do themselves and their school proud.
The group and teachers were also buoyed by the recent support they had received from staff and children of St. Marnock’s. Ms. Trimble had even pulled on some connections to get the group a shout out on Lorcan Murray’s Lyric FM Drive Time show. The whole school would be watching the live stream of the final on YouTube that day.
After the soundcheck, the group had some lunch and played card games. Finally, after 1pm, the concert started. Marnock’s Music Group would be performing third in the running order so they didn’t have long to wait. After an excellent performance by the group, there was resounding applause and great shouts of support from the parents and relations of the group members who were in attendance. The group and teachers could relax and enjoy the rest of the concert, knowing that they had done their best.
Then came the announcement of the winners of the primary school prizes. Evelyn Grant of Lyric FM announced the winners in reverse order. There was some momentary nervousness as the group members realised they hadn’t come third or second. Maybe they hadn’t won anything! When Evelyn delivered the line “They took us to the seaside….”, the teachers and students knew they had won because one of the themes of the song was their school’s seaside location.
There were hugs and shouts of joy all around as the group celebrated. Mr. Maughan and Sadhbh Murphy went to the stage to collect the trophy and certificate from competition judge Paul Noonan who is also the singer in the band Bell X1. After taking some photographs and receiving congratulations from parents, the principal Ms. Trimble and chairperson, Ciaran McCormack, it was time to return to the school. Needless to say, everyone on the bus home was tired but delighted with their victory.
