Investment needed for Ulster hurling's growth

Ulster hurling stands at a crossroads. Over the past decade, the game has seen remarkable growth.

In 2013, there were just 73 clubs across the nine counties, a figure that has since jumped to 115.

Yet this expansion has come almost entirely from clubs taking the initiative themselves, often without funding or support from county or provincial councils.

In recent months, a further 17 clubs have decided to take up the mantle, with the Hurling Development Committee providing starter packs. Three of these new clubs are based in Derry: Faughanvale, Castledawson, and Magilligan.

But according to Kevin Kelly, Ulster’s Hurling Development Manager, growth alone is not enough. The province needs investment to ensure these clubs survive long term, particularly as staff levels have not kept pace with the games' expansion.

“I’ve got seven regional hurling officers covering the province, which straight away is not enough because there are nine counties,” he said. “Back in 2013 there were 73 hurling clubs; in 2024 there are 115.

“That’s a mental jump with no resources and very limited full-time staff. That’s just down to clubs getting it going off their own bat.

“Each of them is at seriously different levels. Some are just starting out at Go Games, some are struggling with just an adult team, and then you’ve a right few struggling through different grades, but going from underage up to senior is the biggest jump.

“You’ve another 17 coming on board, but I’m not sure if they’ll survive. It’s more of a trial to get it going, but if we could get five, it would be unreal.”

For Kelly, with resources stretched so thin, it’s a constant uphill battle to spread the game across the province and give every youngster the opportunity to play their native sport. Yet he is realistic about the dominance of football in Ulster.

“Ulster GAA are 100 per cent behind developing hurling, but it comes down to funding issues for staff.

Ulster Hurling Development Manager Kevin Kelly.

“They are doing their best to drive it on, but football is number one in Ulster, and anyone who says they are looked after equally is just not being truthful.”

“That’s not down to Ulster GAA. In each of our counties bar maybe Antrim, football is their main sport. It’s just as simple as that.

“If you put on a football match in the morning, you might get 10,000 at it; for hurling, you might get 1,000. So, it’s probably 10 to 1.

“We have 115 hurling clubs, and at this moment in time I’m responsible for eight staff. Seven are covering 9 counties and one for the Gaeltacht region in Donegal.

“If someone turns around and looks for help, I can put that into their work programme, but if I do, something else has to come out of it. There are only so many hours a week and only so many weeks in the year.”

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“Now if we had 23 staff, we’d have one for every five clubs. If you have a county with eight clubs, that’d be two staff looking after four clubs each, with a responsibility to try and develop another club. But it all comes down to funding. We are just a pebble in the ocean here.”

The impact of growing the player base through new clubs is profound at inter-county level, and this can be seen when looking at the volume playing the game in each of the Liam McCarthy-level counties.

Kelly, who continues to play a key role in Ballinascreen and Derry’s underage hurling setups, is keenly aware of the importance of sustainable growth further down the county’s hurling pyramid.

“We did a wee bit of research a number of years ago around the counties playing in each of the tiers in hurling. The one standout thing is that in order to succeed, you need a serious number of clubs.

“There’s an exception with Carlow, who don’t have many clubs and made it to Tier One, but they didn’t last very long.  They also have the benefit of being surrounded by Tier 1 Counties.”

“The likes of Offaly are now trying to do that, and that’s probably why they fell back a few years ago; they just didn’t have the depth of players or clubs. From our point of view, we’re fighting the fire from all ends.

“We need more clubs, but then we also need to keep the clubs that are there. To get Derry up to Liam McCarthy level, you need the exact same thing.”