Portraits of Clongowes Portraits of Clongowes

From 1984-1992 Worked as a plant engineer in IMI Yorkshire Alloys, Birmingham, UK and later Redland Bricks, Horsham,UK
In 1992-1995 Kevin was a Technical teacher in Burkina Faso, West Africa, Aid work with International Service, York, UK.
In 1996 named Lecturer on the Mechatronics Programme, IT Sligo. Kevin left Clongowes in 1979.

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Andrew Carlos is currently a prefect in Clongowes Wood College- poacher turned games keeper! Andrew attended Clongowes from 1997 to 2003 then went to UCD and studied English and History. After attaining his degree Andrew worked in banking with Deutsche Bank for a few years before getting a teaching diploma in San Diego State University, and teaching in Italy, Mexico and Saudi Arabia over the span of 12 years. In 2021 he returned from whence he came: Clongowes, where he prefects in Third Line, teaches Spanish and SPHE, and coaches rugby and athletics.

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Rory spent 20+ years in the video games industry based in Japan, Germany and subsequently in France, where he is now settled for the past 30 years. He amassed a wealth of knowledge in the videogames industry setting up distribution networks throughout europe. Following his 23 years in video games, he decided to go down the entrepreneurial route and co-founded a tech start-up in the personal data space in the UK which he sold in 2022.

After 30 years working with and successfully leading various fast-moving international businesses, Rory recently decided it was time to leverage those experiences, as a business coach, by helping entrepreneurs and their teams scale their businesses. Continuing his path as an entrepreneur, Rory also recently acquired an escape game business in Paris and at the same time he is also a Member of the Board of Directors for a number of companies around Europe.

Rory is based in Paris where he is married to his wife Emer and they have three children. Rory's brothers (Grattan '78 and Diarmuid '87) , father (Michael '50) and grandfather (Henry Grattan '02) all went to CWC. By his own admission, he is not a rugby fan but is a rugby 'fanatic'! He is also a keen golfer, skier, jogger and horse-rider when time permits

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Des Groome grew up on Ballinderry Stud, Carbury, Co. Kildare, attended primary school in Edenderry and boarded in Clongowes 1981-1987. Des began study in the UCD Veterinary College in 1987 and graduated as a Veterinary Surgeon in 1993.

He rode as an amateur NH jockey throughout school and university , had Summer jobs with John Oxx, Jim Bolger, John Hammond and combined his love of racing and equine medicine throughout his early career as a Vet. He was resident Vet to Champion trainer Martin Pipe and afterwards to Emir Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince and King of Saudi Arabia.

Des settled in his native Kildare, founding Kildare Vet Surgery where his three boys Daniel, James and Tom have grown up. Des developed the first online vet service in Ireland, Videovet and then GymDog  the first of its kind fitness and wellness centre for pets, alongside the vet practice. His latest venture, A Pets Life is an online community of pet owners and a pet food ecommerce platform. 

As Des had to drop Biz-Org to do Chemistry, he later had to study in the IMI under another OC, Mr Cormac Lucey and gained some knowledge of Finance and an MBS.in 2012.

A love of athletics was fostered by cross country running in Clongowes and has completed all the big city Marathons. These days Des follows Clongowes and Leinster Rugby, still rides out on the Curragh and leads a peloton of mamils in Kildare Cycling Club notwithstanding two new hip joints.

He hosts a weekly animal welfare radio slot on KFM Radio and podcasts A Pets Life on spotify. His son Daniel attended Clongowes until 2020 where his art talent was encouraged and he now studies in the NCAD. Tom is in poetry and working on his academy. Des has one remaining ambition which is to speak in the Past Vs Present Debate. 


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Frank Waldron-Lynch is a globally recognised Physician-Scientist with over two decades of experience in leading research and clinical development in autoimmunity, transplant immunology, and rare diseases across academia, biotech, and pharmaceutical sectors. Frank is a distinguished Consultant Clinician with multi-layer expertise in Immunology, Translational Medicine, Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, and Metabolism. A strategic leader and independent thinker with a proven track record in hiring talent, forming, developing, and mentoring high performing teams that consistently deliver transformative therapies for patients.

Most recently, Frank held the position of VP, Cell Therapy, and Immunology Research at Vertex, in Boston, USA. Prior to this Frank held the position of Translational Medicine Expert and Global Inflammasome Lead at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Basal, Switzerland, and spent several years on faculty at University of Cambridge, where he was a Senior Clinical Trials Fellow in the Division of Experimental Medicine and Therapeutics, as well as being an Honorary Consultant in Endocrinology and Internal Medicine at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, UK.

Dr. Waldron-Lynch, BSc, MA, MB, BChir (Cantab), PhD, FRCP (Lond), FRCPI, trained in academic and clinical medicine at Yale University, University of Cambridge, University College Cork, and University of Galway. He has published numerous scholarly articles in his research areas of interest and holds fellowships from the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.

Frank (OC 89) is married to Maeve and has two sons who both currently attend Clongowes Wood College. Both his father Derrick (OC 54) and brother Tom (OC 87) also attended Clongowes. In his spare time, he enjoys snowboarding, sailing, and gardening.

Frank left Clongowes in 1989

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Noel McNamara once advised students at Clongowes Wood College to “make your obsession your profession”. It’s fair to say that he’s lived that philosophy, leaving a permanent, pensionable position as a teacher to adopt, full-time, a different vocation as a professional rugby coach.

The Clare native has taken to a road less travelled, to North Harbour in New Zealand, the Sharks in Durban and, since the summer, a new role as attack coach with Bordeaux-Begles in the French Top 14; one that has made all the difference.

In Ireland McNamara helped develop players in a previous life as head coach with several national squads, including the 2019 Under-20 Grand Slam winners.

Former Toulouse and French international hooker Yannick Bru spent last season as breakdown coach at the Sharks but was then offered the head coach job at Bordeaux. He persuaded McNamara and forwards coach Akvsenti Giorgadze to swap Durban for the west coast of France.

@The opportunity to come a little closer to home was a big driver in the decision. I could have stayed with the Sharks for another two years but ultimately the challenges of travel were pretty significant. It [the offer] aligned [with a decision to move back closer to home]. I have always been intrigued by the French way.” (Courtesy Irish Times)
Noel was teaching and coaching in Clongowes from 2005-2016

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