The Eoghan Rua senior hurlers pictured outside their clubhouse ahead of Sunday's Tyrone SHC Final.
By John Harrington
If you want to grow hurling in the developing counties, then no better people to ask than those who have built thriving hurling clubs in them.
Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon, who contest Sunday’s Tyrone Senior Hurling Championship Final against Éire Óg, Carrickmore, are one such club.
Their proud hurling tradition stretches back to the 1940s, and one of the reasons they continue to thrive is that they make a significant effort to plug into the wider, nationwide hurling community.
That means arranging challenge matches all over the country for their underage teams and playing in as many blitzes as they possibly can, because they’ve learned over the years that what young hurlers need most are meaningful matches of as high a quality as possible.
“We do a lot of travelling to Derry and Antrim and Armagh with our youth teams for local leagues,” says Eoghan Ruadh’s Coaching Officer, Cathal McErlean, who has done Trojan work in that role over many years.
“We would also head down for blitzes and any opportunity to travel to big games in Croke Park or Thurles we like to bring the teams down to play local clubs and take part in local blitzes in various counties.
“We find that trips like that make our young lads hurlers for life. We run a thing called Fantasy Hurling and the proceeds of it help fund the likes of those trips to Croke Park and Parnell Park and Thurles. The lads love those trips away with the craic and the banter and then obviously getting to play high quality clubs like Mullinahone, Athenry, and Clarinbridge.”
Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon place a big emphasis on underage development with great results.
Training and playing in state-of-the-art facilities also provide a hot-house environment for the young hurlers of Eoghan Ruadh.
For most of their history the club did not have a permanent home, but a combination of great vision, hard work, and tireless fundraising has meant since 2017 they finally have a pitch of their own which they’ve significantly developed.
“Absolutely, a lot of work went in to securing the grounds and opening the clubhouse and it's great for the kids,” says McErlean.
“Now they've a ball-wall, a clubhouse, floodlights, a community walkway. It’s very inspiring for everyone.”
Hurling in the developing counties needs more and more clubs striving to reach the level of Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon, and the growth of the game at youth level in Tyrone in recent years suggests that many there have the ambition to do so.
Those clubs need to be supported as much as possible and the statement of ambition from the GAA’s Hurling Development Committee and the imminent appointment of a National Head of Hurling suggest they will.
Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon last won the Tyrone SHC in 2019.
McErlean has been working at the coalface of hurling development in a non-traditional hurling county for decades so is better qualified than most to lay out what they need most.
“The person who comes in as Head of Hurling, it can't just be him as a Messiah as such, he'll need people under him and foot-soldiers in each province and in each county,” he says.
“Realistically the GAA needs to back it financially too. It's not the cheapest sport in the World when it comes to sticks and helmets and it's very hard to encourage parents to go and buy those things.
“The clubs need help, especially clubs that are starting. The clubs that are already established, they still need support too. I don't know what this Hurling Development Committee can do to get into counties and sort out fixtures and overlaps for dual players to make it easier for them because that's still a big issue.
“What's needed is a county board buy-in from all counties to make that work. At times hurling can feel like an afterthought when it comes to fixtures. We have a youth championship in Tyrone and I still don't know when it's going to be even though we're in to October.
“Hurling needs oxygen and as much as it can get. Hopefully whoever comes in gets the wheel turning and are given what they need to get it going in counties like Tyrone and further afield.
“A problem for us in Tyrone is that there's not enough hurling in the schools. There's not enough coaches there in the schools.
“We have only one Tyrone hurling coach here this long time and one is not enough to go into the schools. You need five or ten of them, so that will be a major factor.”
Former Tyrone and Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon star, Damian Casey, pictured during the 2022 Nickey Rackard Cup Final at Croke Park. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
If you want to inspire the youth, then it helps having some home-grown heroes and Eoghan Ruadh certainly had one in the late, great Damian Casey who passed away tragically two years ago.
An incredibly talented hurler, he was a colossal loss to the game as a whole but to his family, friends, and community most of all. He’ll be to the forefront of all their minds when the Eoghan Ruadh hurlers take to the field for Sunday’s County Final.
“It's very hard because he was a big focal part of our community and he's sadly missed,” says McErlean. “His memory lives on and we'll always keep the flame burning.
“We had a big community event last year in his memory that was very well attended. We had wee fun games and a lot of them were hurling oriented with target-practice and things like that.
“It was a great day to celebrate his memory. It was a very emotional day but the community rallied well together.
“Damian was a just a top-notch clubman, you couldn't ask for anyone better when it came to being a club person. All of us looked up to him and were inspired by him and I was lucky enough to coach him from no height.
“When he did become the superstar he became, any time you asked him down to a youth night for medal presentations or to take a session with the young lads he would literally change his work-plans just to facilitate that. That’s the sort of fella he was.”
