Rhetorical Rookies Rock the Rostrum!
5 May 2025The Second and Third Years are about to battle for the O’Connor Cup, so we best clear our desk of photos from the First Year McCarthy Cup, an impressive in-house competition debating debut for many, but clearly won by Mariana Alves Branco. St. Conleth’s is, without doubt, the best debating school in the country (see ‘Leinster Champs’ below and many, various past postings). So, you would expect a good showing, even at a First Year Debate, but both the quantity and quality at this year’s McCarthy Cup was especially impressive, as Sixth Year adjudicator Charlie Plant pointed out with emphasis. The motion ‘That this house would abolish the Junior Cycle’ was carried in the end (perhaps an emotional decision) but there were rhetorical flourishes, drama, humour and logic on both sides. St. Conleth’s reign lover Irish schools debating looks well set to continue!
