Progress Report

Sunday 01st June, 2008

Work is still in progress on preparing the 1976 edition of "The Breastplate" for uploading and it will appear on the site shortly

Work has also commenced on creating a new look for the site and we hope to include a number of new features which we hope will encourage visitors to keep returning to the site.

We would also request that visitors would pass on "The Breastplate" web address to other past pupils with whom they are in contact either by word of mouth, phone calls, text messages or emails.

We would like to see more users registering. Registration is a painless process and costs the user nothing. However, when the updated site goes 'live', some of the new features will only be available to registered users.

It is always encouraging to receive 'feedback' from visitors and aslo help with putting names to faces in the many photographs. We hope eventually to have every subject in every photograph identied. So if you can help with the naming of anyone please email the details to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Wednesday 02nd April, 2008

Two new additions to the main menu - 2008 and Old Boys' Links.

2008 contains items on the magnificent comeback against St Michael's, Enniskillen by the present Academy Senior Squad to win this years MacRory Cup Final. Many 'old boys' were in attendance to witness what has been described as the greatest comeback by any team in a MacRory Cup Final. If you were there you may appear in one of the numerous pics in the features. Check then out.

The Old Boys' Links will include contributions from former pupils of the Academy. Check out our first link featuring pieces of work contributed by Henry Joy McCracken, from Stewartstown, a professional astronomer who is currently working for the Institute Astronomique de Paris (Paris Observatory). You will be very surprised by the quality of his writing which includes book reviews, film reviews, and accounts of his travels to various parts of the globe.

Work has commenced on preparing the 1976 edition of The Breastplate for publishing. This issue will appear on the site shortly .

Keep checking this section for progess reports.

Feedback and suggestions for improvements or new features are most welcome.

Tuesday 25th March, 2008 

HOGAN CUP FINAL

The date and venue for the 2008 Hogan Cup Final has just been announced. The date is Saturday 5th April and not Sunday 6th as has been rumoured. The venue is Portlaoise and the thowin is at 5:15pm. Their opponents in the final will be St Brendan's, Killarney who beat a fancied St Jarlath's, Tuam. 

TG4 who will broadcast the game live. This match will be preceeded by the vocational colleges final.  ACADAMH ABU!!

Progress Report

The 1980 issue of The Breastplate is now complete, with the ads finally scanned  and uploaded to the servers. Work will now commence on another issue.

Sunday 23rd March, 2008

Once again we congratulate the 2008 MacRory Cup Sqaud and their management team on their success in reaching the final of the Hogan Cup. The semi-final was a hard fought contest against a very fresh and very fit Athlone Community College team. The Academy boys were tested to the limit and had to dig deep into their reserves to again pull a narrow victory out of the bag. The victory is all the more remarkable as the players had only four days to recover from another very tough and stamina draining MacRory Cup final match against St Michael's Enniskillen.

We wish them all the best in the final.

Saturday 15th March, 2008

The publication of the advertisements from the 1980 issue is ongoing at present. There are over seventy ads and when these are added to the site this will complete the 1980 edition.

We wish the present MacRory Cup Squad the best of luck when they contest the 2008 MacRory Cup Final against St Michael’s Enniskillen in Healy Park Omagh on St Patrick’s Day. Whilst the St Michael’s Team would carry the favourites tag because of their displays throughout this years competition, the Academy boys had a very convincing win over a strongly fancied Amagh team in the semi-finals and would appear to be ‘peaking’ at just the right time.      

ACADAMH ABU!!

Thursday 13th, March 2008

Just published twelve articles to complete the Irish Languge Section of the 1980 issue. Anyone wishing to provide English translations of these articles is very welcome to do so. Please forward them to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Translations will be added after the original. If you get an error messages saying the email client is not installed, simply copy this address and paste or type it directly into the address box in your own email application.

Anyone wishing to contribute an article or poem to a Past Pupils Section of the site is encouraged to do so. I would also request that anyone who has photographs of activities or events relating to the ‘old’ Academy please scan them and forward them to me at the email address above.

The ’97 Hogan Cup Winning Squad had a reunion night out recently to celebrate the 10th anniversary of that great achievement. It is hoped to publish photographs of the night very soon.

Saturday  08th March, 2008

Work is continuing on the 1980 edition of The Breastplate. Just published the remaining photographs which completes the “A Bird’s Eye View” section of the magazine. This is a pictorial history of the previous 25 years in the life of the Academy. It includes photographs of both current and past students and staff from 1955-1980.

Unfortunately, a number of the photographs do not carry the names of the subjects within. If you can identify any of the faces in the photographs, please forward them to me at the following address This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please indicate the row and position in the row for each name. If you get an error messages saying the email client is not installed, simply copy this address and paste or type it directly into the address box in your own email application.

 Sat 23rd February, 2008 

Work is continuing on the publishing of articles from past issues of THE BREASTPLATE on this site .

In the beginning  a decision was taken to publish one magazine form each of the 4 decades to whet the appetites of former pupils from each of these eras. 

To date over 200 articles from various issues have been published. As well as these, many photographs and advertisements from various issues have also been uploaded to this site.

At the minute work is progressing on the 1980 issue which is a substantial volume of work as it includes a pictorial history of the previous 20 years of THE BREASTPLATE.

The publishing of the past issues of THE BREASPLATE is an ongoing project and will take a lengthy period of time. The project includes a number of tasks starting with the scanning process. 

Each issue is scanned page by page as a TIFF image file.  This file in then converted using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software from images to text. The text documents are then edited and spell checked to remove any errors created during the OCR process. Any photographs or ads are copied, edited and resized and then saved as individual JPEG images.

When these stages are complete the individual articles, photographs and advertisements are uploaded to the server hosting the site. Each article is then published on a separate page with any relevant graphic, photograph etc.

The content of the articles is as in the original magazine article and is completely unedited, abridged or appended to. Only very obvious spelling mistakes are corrected during processing. Photographs, graphics and even advertisements are as far as possible included with the relevant article.