GAA National Head of Hurling William Maher, centre, with Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Jarlath Burns, left, and Ard Stiúrthóir of the GAA Tom Ryan after a media conference at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
By John Harrington
GAA National Head of Hurling, William Maher, says the establishment of 45 new hurling units in 2024 and 2025 is “a major win” for the Association.
18 of the new units have been established in Leinster, 17 in Ulster, and five apiece in Munster and Connacht.
The majority are made up of hurling units in already existing clubs which until now only catered for Gaelic football.
The 45 clubs have all successfully applied for a hurling starter pack consisting of hurleys, helmets, sliotars, and additional training equipment.
Wicklow, with eight new hurling units, and Donegal with seven, are the two counties that have most enthusiastically embraced the opportunity.
“45 new clubs have started, that’s a major win,” said Maher yesterday.
“Finance is often an issue as regards a barrier to entry to hurling with hurleys, balls, cones, helmets and everything else and after going through the application process these 45 clubs were informed this morning that they were getting their funding.
“We’ve got commitment to roll out a similar initiative later on in the year for clubs that are already established but are just struggling around the equipment piece as well.”
Maher's remit as National Director of Hurling is a broad one, but one of his key priorities is to continue growing the number of clubs playing the game.
He sees opportunities everywhere to target sustainable growth but knows a one size fits all approach simply won't work due to the variety of challenges on the ground.
Most of the new hurling units that have applied for starter packs are clubs where Gaelic football is already played and they have the numbers to play both codes.
In areas where the demographics are less strong, thought is being given to forming independent hurling clubs that draw in players from a number of clubs that only currently play Gaelic football.
Maher believes we should "fish where the fish are", so such 'hurling hinterlands' could extend across county and even provincial boundaries.
“You look at a county like Roscommon, they have seven clubs," says Maher. "How can we get that to 12? That’s meaningful as regards looking at the demographics.
“The whole of the north of the county, I think there’s one club in Boyle. They’re issues, getting into the real detail within counties.
“It’s about building the structures out around what’s currently there. Kerry, I think there’s three clubs there (among the 45 recent starters). So there could be a lot of improvements there as regards getting that number from 10 or 12, to 15 or 20.
“It’s important to fish where the fish are ultimately and to really focus on where people are now as opposed to where they were.”
Almost half of the population of the island lives in a relatively thin sliver down the east coast of Ireland and yet just 18.6% of GAA clubs exist in the same place. Maher sees fertile land for the growth of hurling in these growing urban areas.
"You look at Dalkey, you look at Na Fianna up the road. Again, 20 years ago, if someone had said that Cuala or Na Fianna would win Club All-Irelands, you'd say, you're mad.
"So this can be done. And it's a case of identifying people, identifying, again, the demographics and where they are now. But, again, if you can build hurling in Dalkey, you can build it anywhere."
The locations of the 45 new hurling clubs are marked with red dots. Existing hurling clubs are marked with white dots.
As the graphic above this sentence highlights, there are far less hurling clubs in the top half of the country than the bottom half.
Maher hopes that, in time, we will see a much more even distribution of hurling clubs throughout the country.
“That's the North Star,” he said. “That's what we are working towards. If that's even in participation numbers, that would be a major impact.
“Are we going to get (developing) counties to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup here in Croke Park in the next 10 or 20 years? Probably not. But at the same time if we can we get more players playing the game then we can start thinking about things like that. That would be the dream.
“Hurling hasn't really moved outside its traditional boundaries in 100 years so I think it's important to try to broaden that out and to give kids the opportunity to play our national game.”
GAA President Jarlath Burns’ home club, Silverbridge Harps in Armagh, are one of the 45 clubs who have successfully applied for the hurling start-up pack.
Significantly growing the number of hurling clubs in the country is one of the main goals of his Presidency so he’s naturally taking a lot of satisfaction from seeing his own club embrace that vision.
“We are not going to see more teams and counties participating in the Liam MacCarthy Cup, where we want them to be, unless we have more clubs in the counties and I will say that the starter packs have been an incredible success,” said Burns.
“My own club was a club that applied for them and we are now setting up the structures around this pilot, and getting for the first time ever in Silverbridge young children at under 6 levels to play hurling.
“We've been grappling with this in our club for many years. The first thing you need is numbers. Three years ago we realised we now had enough in our club to have two U-14 and two U-16 teams and we now have a team in Division 1 and Division 4. I had been saying for many years that all that proves is we have enough in our club for the two codes.
“Then when the pilot scheme started we applied for it and you're then looking to see who is in the club catchment area to help.
“We have a man there from Tipperary and there's another fella from Kildare and there's a girl who's on our senior team from Glenullin in Derry. They have all come in and said we will take the U-6s.
“With coach education then you're starting to looking to get our coaches trained to take hurling as well. We have done enough now to get the thin edge of the wedge in.”
GAA National Head of Hurling William Maher, left, and GAA President Jarlath Burns in attendance at a media conference at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
Burns believes that in order for hurling to be played more widely across the entire island the sport needs to be demystified somewhat.
He’s convinced that it should be possible for anyone to take part and at least get to a level where it’s an enjoyable and rewarding sport to play regardless of your age or where you live in Ireland.
“We need to move away from this concept that in order to master the skills of hurling, you need to almost be born with a hurl in the pram, and take it with you everywhere you go, that it's an extension of your arm,” says Burns.
“That is true in the best hurlers that we have, that we go to see them over the weekend, that is true of them.
“But that doesn't mean to say that when you reach the age of 10, 12, 13, that you shouldn't be able to take up the game of hurling and master it and become a really good player.
“I think we're shooting ourselves in the foot with a mentality that you must start at under 6, under 7. I would contend that if you took a really good under 12 football team that knows the rules, knows the movements, knows the field, and give them maybe 2-3 months of solid hurling training, that you could turn them into a team that could compete and that could win.
“So that's one of the aspects of the mentalities around all of this that we want to stop because at whatever level a player is at, if they start playing hurling, they can achieve.
“I only started playing hurling when I had finished playing county football. I had a couple of years teaching PE in my school and after about a year of constantly doing it I was able to play hurling myself.
“I'm not saying to dumb it down or to note look at the very elite skills that are involved in hurling, but just let's move slightly away from the idea that if you want to master hurling, you have to start as an infant.
“A really good sportsperson could kick up hurling at any age and become a good player.”
The 45 new hurling clubs who have availed of Hurling Starter Packs
LEINSTER
Rathvilly - Carlow
Kilcullen - Kildare
St. Pauls (Emo) - Laois
St. Francis Dromard - Longford
Rathcline - Longford
Na Piarsaigh, Blackrock - Louth
Wolfe Tones - Louth
Walsh Island - Offaly
St. Brigids - Westmeath
Castledaly GAA - Westmeath
Knockananna/Ballymanus - Wicklow
Vallymount - Wicklow
Hollywood - Wicklow
Dunlavin - Wicklow
Kilbride - Wicklow
Blessington - Wicklow
Enniskerry - Wicklow
Fergal Óg - Wicklow
ULSTER
Clann na hÉireann, Carraigín - Antrim
Colin Gaels - Antrim
Greencastle Wolfe Tones - Antrim
Mountnugent - Cavan
Faughanvale - Derry
St. Malachy's, Castledawson - Derry
St. Aidan's Magilligan - Derry
CLG Ard an Ratha - Donegal
CLG Chill Chartha - Donegal
CLG Chleann tSúilí - Donegal
Na Rossa - Donegal
Naomh Micheál - Donegal
Naomh Mhuire Iochtar na Rosann - Donegal
Na Dunaibh - Donegal
Bryansford GAC - Down
Ardglass GAC - Down
Silverbridge Harps - Armagh
MUNSTER
Ballydesmond - Cork
Uíbh Ráthach - Kerry
Cluin Boine - Clare
Killarney Legion - Kerry
Dingle - Kerry
CONNACHT
Ballinamore - Leitrim
Gortlettragh - Leitrim
Boyle - Roscommon
Creggs - Roscommon
Easter Harps - Sligo
