Green shoots for Louth hurling

By John Harrington

Every minute spent in the shop window is priceless for hurling in the developing counties.

Louth’s appearance in Saturday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 4 Final against Fermanagh won’t make many national headlines, but it’s great publicity for those working hard to grow in the game in the Wee County.

None have their shoulder more squarely to the wheel than Louth senior hurler, Paddy Lynch, who in his day job is Louth GAA's Hurling Games Development Administrator.

He’s planting the seeds in schools and clubs that will hopefully lead to a significant growth in participation numbers in the county, and is already seeing some green shoots for his efforts.

“There's a good buzz around the game at the moment in Louth,” Lynch told GAA.ie “I see it in the Drogheda area where Wolfe Tones started hurling again last year. They had always been a football club but they've retaken to the hurling again and are going to be fielding at U8 and U10 level this year.

“Recently we had an open day in the O'Raghallaighs GAA club in Drogheda as well where we encouraged young players to play and they're looking to field at U10 and U12 level which is brilliant because since the demise of Wolfe Tones hurling in Drogheda there has been no team in that area.

“To have two clubs looking to drive it on now is brilliant. We've also had St. Nick's in Rathmullan apply for a hurling starter pack. There is a real energy around hurling again in the county which is great to see.”

Lynch believes there’s a great opportunity in particular to grow hurling in Louth’s two major towns, Dundalk and Drogheda in the coming years.

“In Drogheda and Dundalk I'm in eight schools every week and you'd be amazed how on every school staff there are hurling people that you just don't know about,” he says.

“It's about energising those people to come in and get involved in coaching. What would be really brilliant would be if we could get another coach into Louth so that we could have one targeting the Drogheda area, another one targeting Dundalk, and then maybe Ardee or the Cooley peninsula

“There's a huge opportunity there at the moment and I think it needs to be capitalised now.”

Lynch knows only too well the huge impact a few good people can have when it comes to the promotion of hurling.

His own club St. Fechin’s are very much the dominant force of Louth club hurling at the moment, but they’re also very much a recent success story that should be an inspiration for others to follow.

“In my own club St. Fechin's, hurling was established in 1997 and it was set up firstly by two men, Tom Ryan and Mark Stephenson, from Kilkenny and Waterford respectively.

“Then my father who is from Limerick got involved too and so did John Joe Conneely from Galway. Those guys taught us how to hurl and they had the passion to bring hurling to a new area.

“Now we're seeing as our club gets older that you have lads born and bred in Louth who have become very good hurlers and are becoming very good coaches.

“We really just need to maximise all of those people and I think a really good example of that is in St. Joseph's school in Drogheda.

“Ciaran Brennan who is a teacher there has just energised that school for hurling and there's lads from every nationality coming out and they've got great skills.

“The idea with the O'Raghallaighs is that there's a club for them to go into where they can keep developing their hurling.”

Starter packs are now available for GAA clubs who are keen to establish hurling teams or clubs and Lynch hopes more and more avail of the opportunity because he has seen at first hand how much children love the sport if they’re only given the opportunity to play it.

“You see joy on a kids face,” he says. “A lot of them have never even see the game and they're shocked and at first are wondering is this cricket or lacrosse or what is it.

“Within a session or two they're asking can they join a club and it's about making hurling accessible for them and giving them a place to go.

“I'm sure there's huge talent in areas like Drogheda that hasn't been tapped into for years. Even in our own club we have Danny Morgan and Conor Higgins and Darragh Stone who play their football with the O'Raghallaighs but have to come to St. Fechin's for hurling.

“If we could make hurling more accessible in those areas it would be a huge boost.”

What new hurling clubs and teams need most of all is a meaningful programme of matches to keep young players interested.

Lynch is vocal supporter of the cross-border Táin Óg and Cúchulainn Leagues which provide just that by giving clubs the opportunity to play competitive matches against clubs from other counties of a similar level.

“The Táin Óg and Cúchulainn have been huge for us in St. Fechin’s,” he says. “When I started playing for St. Fechin's which was around 2012 we had six senior clubs in the county and since then it has been whittled down to three.

“We're hoping to bring it back up to four this year, but it's just the monotony of playing the same players again and again and you don't learn the same way because you know what side this player strikes on or what else he does.

“Whereas when you get to play a club like Dungannon in Tyrone...we played them last year and it ended in a draw and I think there were 46 scores in the game and it was a brilliant spectacle. That experience of getting out to play teams from Tyrone, Armagh, Cavan, Monaghan, it just opens your eyes up to the potential that is there.

“The Táin Óg does the same for our younger players, it's brilliant. Even Na Piarsaigh, Blackrock who are our fledgling club in Dundalk and who are making great strides at the moment, this is going to be their first year playing in the Táin Óg and it's a huge opportunity for those lads to experience playing different players and playing at a higher level.

“It just supplements all the work you do with the Academy squads.”