By Cian O’Connell

The establishment of St Ciaran’s adds a new dimension to the Mayo Senior Hurling Championship.

Seven junior clubs will be represented in the amalgamated team, who face Castlebar Mitchels in Ballyvary on Saturday evening.

Managed by Moytura’s Sean McGahon, St Ciaran’s will also feature hurlers from Ballina, Ballyvary, Caiseal Gaels, Gaeltacht Iorrais, Westport, and Claremorris.

Sean Granahan (Moytura), Brendan Walsh (Claremorris), Norman Finnerty (Caiseal Gaels), Billy McGhee (Ballyvary,), and Eoghan McGrath (Gaeltacht Iorrais), and Gary Barrett (Ballina) are involved in the St Ciaran’s set-up.

“St Ciaran's are in existence for about five years now as an underage entity,” explains former Mayo GPO for hurling Adrian Hession. “Three underage clubs got together - Ballina, Caiseal Gaels, and Ballyvarry - to try to field teams in teenage age groups like U16 and minor.

“It is sort of a continuation of that. They have been on the go as an underage entity for four years, they struggled in the first two years to pick up wins along the way. In the last few years they have become very competitive at underage.

“A lot of lads are progressing through to play for their clubs at junior adult level. There was no progression for them to play as St Ciaran's anymore, we just floated it to the seven junior clubs if they wanted to come together as an adult team.”

The response has been encouraging. Hession, who will also act as goalkeeping coach for St Ciaran’s, is delighted how the initiative is unfolding.

“All seven clubs really bought into it,” he adds. “They paid their money into the insurance scheme, everything is above board and everything is going the way we planned it to go from the very start.

“We have to acknowledge the seven clubs because it isn't easy to get two or three clubs to come together, but getting seven clubs coming together at adult level takes a lot of co-ordination. It is going in the right direction for them.”

The fact that more players will get an opportunity to hurl at senior level in the county is a source of optimism according to Hession. “The standard has sort of spread out - Tooreen and Ballyhaunis have got very strong in the last number of years, Castlebar are catching up,” he says.

“Castlebar were in a senior final in 2019, but after that there is a big drop down to the junior clubs, to the start off clubs, who are finding their feet at the moment. This was an opportunity to get two or three players from each of the clubs to come forward to play senior hurling.

“There is a massive gulf in standard from the top team to the 10th best team in Mayo as you can well imagine. This helps the senior championship.

“Last year you only had three teams in the Mayo senior championship. So it was over before it started in a way. The round robin is over after three weeks and you're straight into a final.

“One of the round robin matches didn't even go ahead last year, it was the final anyway. You only had three games in the senior championship last year, this year we will hopefully get that to six.”

Hession believes that sheer hard work in the underage ranks is a vital part of the increasing interest in hurling. Persistence is being rewarded because a passion for the game exists in parts of the county.

“The underage kept working,” Hession says. “In my previous job, I was a GPO working with the clubs and schools. So we had built up a massive base of players and former players.

“Funnily enough, the big boost for us was Covid because the two years was a tremendous help in one way in that a lot of people moved home. A lot of those had played underage hurling and thought about what they had done and maybe wanted to rekindle that flame.

“It also gave us a chance administration wise to put these structures in place. Usually we were going from day to day, week to week, get fixtures out. We didn't get much chance to sit down, to plan, to think about things.

“Covid gave us a chance to build these links again, to find people, who wanted to establish clubs. In the two years of Covid we put together the structures of new teams like Moytura, Ballina got back up and running, and also on came Ballyvarry and Gaeltacht Iorrais.

“They knew when they saw that Moytura and Ballina could compete they weren't going to be totally off the scale in relation to the standards if they did set up. It all stemmed back to the Covid times, to get our heads together and re-establish links we had at underage a few years ago.”

With clubs competing in the Táin and Cú Chulainn Leagues a meaningful games programme is now available for players. “Tooreen have won Connacht Club intermediate titles, the standard to get to play senior was beyond the limit of a start up club,” Hession remarks.

“There was no other opportunity, but along came a few clubs together at adult level. Caiseal Gaels were first, they took a couple of drubbings for a couple of years, then Ballina came on board and a couple more made a junior league and championship.

“Also the introduction of the Cú Chulainn league has created a massive amount of mid week games for these clubs. They are paired up with clubs in Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, and further afield which has built up an awful lot of momentum for these clubs.

“Some club junior hurlers in Mayo are getting up to 15 competitive matches in the year which would have been unheard of in the past. It is due to the number of clubs developing and the Cú Chulainn leagues.”

Ultimately the Mayo senior inter-county team should benefit in the long run. “It has already started in the last year, a few lads from Caiseal Gaels and Moytura have donned the red and green jersey,” Hession responds.

“It is a big step up for a junior player in a start up area. You are talking about players, who may not have had club activity for some of the last three or four years, to get to a high level at club level and then the big jump up to play National League or Christy Ring or Nickey Rackard - whatever they are playing that particular year.

“We see this St Ciaran's set up as a stepping stone for your junior hurler. If you are good enough to come into the St Ciaran's set up that it is a shop window for lads.

“If they do perform well against Tooreen and Ballyhaunis and Castlebar it is a sign they can compete with the best in the county even though they are coming from a junior club.”

Passionate about the game, Hession remains adamant that players can flourish. “I always harp on when I'm talking to the lads or when I'm coaching lads from junior clubs, if they aren't sure about committing to things,” he says.

“I always harp on about last year - two of the best players of the year in hurling and football were Gearoid Hegarty, who comes from St Patrick's in Limerick city - a junior club - and David Clifford for Fossa.

“I firmly think that if lads are committed from junior clubs in Mayo that if they can get on board they can be as good as the lads from Tooreen, Ballyhaunis and Castlebar.”

St Ciaran’s will be eager to make an instant impact, but Hession stresses the importance of the longer term. “This year is to get the team off the ground, to be as competitive as they can, and to enjoy playing senior hurling,” he says.

“That is where we are coming from, but it is a two to three year plan. If they want to be successful it could take two to three years for more to buy in.

“It is running in conjunction with the football championship, it is every second weekend. More than likely lads playing football at a high level won't be able to commit to this because it is week on week.

“What we found is we have a lot of younger lads, who only play hurling - stand alone hurlers under the age of 25 have come forward and want to play this.

“When these guys get a bit of experience, get a couple of years playing senior hurling, hit their peak at 26, 27, 28 that is when we will see this project, as we call it, really developing.

“What are the hopes for this year? Just to be competitive, it is a big step up from junior hurling, but if lads gel, and some have the experience of playing for St Ciaran's at underage - that they can drive on this team going forward.

“The lads are enjoying it, they are representing not only themselves, but their families, and this new entity, St Ciaran's.”