Down manager Ronan Sheehan talks to his players at a drinks break during the Allianz Hurling League Division 2A Round 4 match between Offaly and Down at Bord na Móna O'Connor Park in Tullamore, Offaly. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
When Ronan Sheehan tells you that incoming National Head of Hurling, William Maher, recently rang him to pick his brain, it’s both encouraging and unsurprising.
If your brief is to grow hurling in the developing counties, then no better man than the Down hurling manager to give you some good pointers.
When he took charge of the Down hurlers in 2019 they were at a low ebb, but the seven years since have been transformative.
Despite having a pick of little more than 300 club hurlers in the whole county, they’re consistently punching above their weight and getting closer all the time to breaking out of the middle tier of hurling counties.
They reached the Allianz Hurling League Division 2A Final in 2022, the semi-final of the same competition last year, and are in very good shape in this year’s Division 2 League campaign with three impressive wins on the trot over Kildare, Derry, and Donegal.
The improvement of the county’s flagship team is built upon some solid foundations that Sheehan has also helped put in place.
Back in 2017 Down GAA had the foresight to establish a Player Pathway Programme designed to create a clear skills and preparation pathway from U-6 right up to U-20 which has had a very positive impact.
The recent graduation of very promising young hurlers like Shea Pucci, Finn Turpin, and Michael Dorrian to the senior inter-county ranks testifies to the health of the conveyor belt of talent in the county.
Sheehan and many of his Down senior hurlers head up the ‘Be Better’ hurling programme in the county which sees them coach close to 100 U-14 club hurlers over a five-week period every year.
The three Ards Peninsula clubs – Ballycran, Ballygalget, and Portaferry – have long been the backbone of Down hurling, but significant efforts to grow hurling outside of the Ards peninsula is starting to pay off now though, with Bredagh and Liatroim in particular making great strides.
The Down hurling community is a small one, but every member of it is pulling together in the same direction and Sheehan’s hands are on most of those strands.
Shea Pucci of Down with the cup after his side's victory in the GAA Hurling All-Ireland U20B Championship Richie McElligott Cup match between Down and Roscommon at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile.
Now that we’ve established his credentials as someone who knows a thing or two about growing hurling in the developing counties, what advice did he give to incoming National Head of Hurling, William Maher, when he answered his call?
“What hurling needs above anything else is not money, it needs space,” says Sheehan. “What I mean when I say space is that it needs space in the calendar.
“If we're truly serious about hurling and protecting hurling, particularly north of that line above Dublin where it has traditionally struggled we need to be saying that one week in every month should be a hurling only week. We're going to dedicate that time to allowing hurling to be nourished so it can flourish.
“Why do I say that? People will say we need more clubs or more young lads playing U8 or U10. Yes, we certainly do, but if you're going to focus on that what happens is you get these kids playing U8 or U10 and the minute they get to U12 they'll stop playing.
“Why? Because the football will go to three nights a week or four nights a week because there's an obsession with having to train the same way as an inter-county team does.
“It just means that hurling gets squeezed. Kids don't give up hurling because they don't like the game. They give up hurling because they don't have time to play it anymore. Or the demands placed on them to be a dual player are too great.
"The reality is in all of those counties north of Dublin with the possible exception of Antrim, football is the number one game.
“So, what you need to do is create space in the calendar. Turn around and say that the third week in every month is hurling only and you will see hurling flourish on the back of that.
“That might feel like positive discrimination but when you look at the lessons we learned in the six counties around tackling discrimination here, sometimes positive discrimination is the only answer to moving past years and years of inequality and an opportunity for hurling to get an equal footing.
“It also is a very good test for counties. Because if counties are not willing to invest just one week out of four in hurling development, well then we're really wasting money sending them one hundred thousand pounds or more money for U8 or U10 teams because all we'll do is create a group of young lads that play for two years and then stop.
“If you could gather up all the hurleys and helmets that have been given out in Ireland over the past 25 years for hurling start-up projects and you flogged them, you'd end up a millionaire. That's the reality.
“We've an awful habit in the GAA that thinking the solution to everything is throwing money at something, but sometimes the best solution is one that costs nothing.”
In attendance, from left, Knockbridge hurler Cormac Ludon, Louth hurler Paddy Lynch, Knockbridge U14 selector and manager Declan Fehily and Knockbridge youth hurler Cian Fehily during the Táin Óg & Cúchulainn Launch at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Hurling has seen some encouraging green shoots in recent years. The cross-border Táin Óg and Cúchulainn Leagues have given clubs in developing counties an invaluable stream of meaningful matches that have given children and adults alike a reason to keep playing the game.
The standard of hurling in the Lory Meagher, Nickey Rackard, Christy Ring, and Joe McDonagh Cups is rising year on year with counties like Donegal and Tyrone to name just two making some very obvious strides.
Jarlath Burns saying he wants his presidential term to be the catalyst for “an explosion of new hurling clubs”, the establishment of a new Hurling Development Committee with fresh energy, and William Maher’s appointment as National Head of Hurling are also very encouraging developments.
Sheehan believes we’re now at a tipping point. There is great opportunity to grow the game if we really seize the moment. But, if we don’t, those green shoots could quickly wither and die.
“Hurling is always fragile,” says Sheehan. “Particularly in the no-traditional areas because so much of it is centred around two or three individuals and their passion for the game.
“You go to Ballela in Down and if the McCuskers decide they're not going to promote hurling any more then you may as well collapse the tent and close up as a club.
“You will find that hurling in many of these counties all around Ireland are sustained by a small group of families. What we need to do is broaden that base but also give those people the support they need to grow the game.
“We are always at a tipping point with hurling, but if we give it space it will thrive. That is the one fundamental it needs.
“I never played U8 or U10 hurling or football, I played U12 hurling and football. Now ever club has U6s, U8s, U10s, U12s. And every football manager thinks they're Mickey Harte and wants to train three nights a week or four nights a week or whatever the case may be.
“That is the biggest danger to, not just hurling, but to the GAA overall. This obsession with training and how many times we want to train. What it's doing is squeezing the lesser code in counties.
“You could have the same conversation with someone in Waterford or Kilkenny and they'll say that football is the code that's being squeezed out.
“But hurling is the code that faces an existential threat right across the developing counties in Ireland. There is great potential but there is also just as great a risk.
“And if they don't get this right in the next couple of years then we're in real trouble because the increasing professionalism in the preparation of club teams, particularly in football, is going to wipe hurling out if we don't protect it.”
Down hurling manager, Ronan Sheehan.
But what if we do get it right? What if this fresh impetus to protect and develop hurling is followed through over a sustained period of time by the Association?
“I think the world is our oyster,” says Sheehan. “If we get this right then we can ensure hurling is sustainable. What I mean by that is it doesn’t need money thrown at it.
“It actually just becomes organically sustainable. That it has the space, it has the time, it has the coaching facilities to flourish and grow.
“You continue to grow your starters. You continue to grow the game and the numbers. And ultimately you get to a tipping point whereby you bring another two into the top eight whereby all of a sudden counties like Offaly or Laois move in there.
“Then over the next number of years Antrim and Down might grow enough to move into that top tier as well. But those things take time. What we need to look at is our key metrics. Our key metrics should be, are the standards improving? Are there more scores per game? Are there more young people playing hurling age 16 and over.
“Stop looking at U8s and U10s. Anyone can get an eight- to ten-year-old playing any game for a couple of years to tick a box. What are the numbers playing the game post 16 years of age? Because once you play hurling post 16 you'll generally become an adult hurler.
“That has to become the key metric. Are there more people playing the game? Is there space now in the calendar for hurling? Those are three critical things that we can look at and measure.
“People say that Willie Maher has a massive job. He absolutely has a massive job, but I think he'll do a very good job if he gets the support centrally on two or three issues, not least that piece around time.
“If Jarlath Burns can come out and say, 'We're going to protect our national game, we're going to protect the UNESCO game that we have on this island, we're going to give it a dedicated week every month in every county in Ireland', then that would be some statement and boost for hurling people all across Ireland to see that statement being made by our Uachtarán and to know that the GAA is determined to make a real difference to the game of hurling.”
You’ll find that hurling people in the developing counties are more dedicated to the game than anyone else.
They have to be, because it’s a lot more challenging to grow the game there than in the traditional powerbases.
They’ve kept the flame alive despite all sorts of challenges that are often wilfully put in their way, so imagine what could be achieved if they were supported to the hilt instead.
“I've been very lucky that my father before me was involved in hurling in Down for many, many years and I suppose I just picked up the torch that he passed on to me,” says Sheehan.
“Ultimately that's what hurling tradition is. The passing of the torch to the next generation. All your job really is to try to pass it on in a better state that what you inherited.
“Hurling means everything to me really. I was out coaching on Saturday at my own club with U10s and U12s. I'm involved with the Down U16 development squad as well as taking the senior team.
“Look, I'm no different to hundreds of others scattered all across Ireland who are exactly as passionate I am. I would argue that hurling is not just a game, it's far more than that and it means far more to us as well.
“If you give a child a hurley and the first time that they strike a ball right on the meat and the sliotar almost sings back to them when they strike the ball and the child gets that thrill...that thrill is the call of their blood. It's in their DNA to play hurling.
“As the GAA we need to take that responsibility seriously and ensure that every child gets the opportunity to feel that that thrill, to feel the call of their blood, to reach back into their DNA to who they are.
“You go to north Kerry, you go to Carlow, you go to Donegal, you go to South Derry, you'll find plenty of Ronan Sheehans just as passionate about the game.
“I'm nothing unique but there are plenty of people like me all around Ireland, we just need to give them the support they need to help this great game thrive and flourish.”
