Donegal GAA prepare for another big hurling push
Attendees at Donegal GAA's recent hurling development night at their Centre of Excellence.
By John Harrington
If you were to liken the sport of hurling to a flower, then an orchid seems an apt choice.
It’s a beautiful thing, but it requires constant care and attention if you want it to thrive and blossom.
This is particularly true in the developing counties where the environment isn’t as conducive to good growth as it is in the parts of the country where hurling has deeper roots.
If you make a consistent effort to promote the game then you will quickly see good gains, but if you rest on your laurels at all then the harvest can fail.
The Donegal senior county hurling team has made great strides in recent years but the county board has now recognised that if that progress is to be sustained then they need to tend to the grassroots of hurling in the county again.
The game isn’t quite as vibrant at that level now as it was five years ago, and that will have repercussions if action isn’t taken. Credit to Donegal, they are taking that action.
GAA National Head of Hurling, William Maher, visited the Donegal Centre of Excellence on November 20 to meet all the clubs of the county, recognise the new seven hurling units that were established this year, and hear the plans that Donegal GAA are putting in place for urgent hurling development.
Their immediate goals are five-fold:
- Appointment of new key staff to include a head of hurling and two games development/participation officers.
- Development of club-school links.
- Implementing dual county nursery policy in all clubs.
- A three-phase support for the seven new units.
- New support for existing clubs, particularly at Go games level.
According to Donegal GAA Hurling Officer, Cormac Hartnett, those five steps have to be taken if Donegal hurling is to start moving in the right direction again.
“Numbers have fallen away at all levels,” he explains. “There's ten existing clubs in Donegal, they're the ones that have been there for a long, long, long time, and most of those clubs would be struggling to field teams at one or more age group, and some of those clubs would be struggling to field at multiple age groups.
“In developing counties if you take your eye off the ball at all then in a very short space of time it can go backwards.
“I think we have to be very careful, because we're now at a kind of a critical point where if we don't take sort of remedial steps to address the deficit that has occurred over the last number of years, that you're going to very quickly get to a point where that progress that has been made and is being made at senior intercounty, is going to fall flat, because there won't be the same number of people coming through to maintain that progress.
“It's not all doom and gloom. There has been a decline but the county board, in fairness to them, have recognized that there is a decline and hence we had this presentation, hence we have this document with the key goals on it which is an immediate strategic plan to try and address the issues in the short term and we would hope would in some ways help to reverse the pattern in respect of underage hurling.”
Left to right: Donegal GAA Hurling Officer, Cormac Hartnett, GAA National Head of Hurling, William Maher, and Donegal GAA Chairperson, Mary Coughlan.
Encouragement can be sourced from the fact that seven new hurling units were established in Donegal in 2025 and all of them had a very positive first year after availing of a hurling starter pack grant.
“There has been a good follow through by each of the seven clubs, which is the promising bit,” says Hartnett.
“They've all taken their own individual internal steps, such as setting up a hurling sub-committee or setting up a coaching committee specific to hurling and doing things such as that.
“They've all adopted it in their own individual way within their own club structure and they're awaiting then the unfolding of phases of supports through us and Ulster GAA, which is going to happen in the very early new year.
“There is a close connectivity being maintained between the clubs and Donegal and Ulster GAA to try and ensure as far as is possible that they survive.”
GAA National Head of Hurling, William Maher, pictured with members of Na Dúnaibh GAA club, one of seven new hurling units established in Donegal this year.
Ulster GAA Provincial Hurling Manager, Kevin Kelly, met with the seven new hurling units on November 20 to outline a three-phase support plan they can avail of in the coming year.
Phase 1 has already taken place – an introductory meeting that outlined the supports available to the club on how to best establish their club structures.
Phases 2 and 3 will include practical workshops that will show the clubs how to run coaching sessions and engage with parents and volunteers. There will also be a hurling specific Introduction to Coaching Gaelic Games course run for club coaches in the New Year.
“The idea is to give support in terms of education and mentoring to the actual clubs, and to give some ideas then in relation to how they operate on the ground with their children, in terms of ideas for sessions and things like that,” says Hartnett.
“Hurling is more vulnerable because it's always going to be a secondary sport so there's always going to be a lesser number of people involved and the people who are involved tend to be under a little bit more pressure.
“So, it's just trying to build around those people and trying to put in a club structure and county structure the provides the supports that people can utilise when they need them.”
Promoting hurling in the developing counties requires a combination of hard work and foresight. It looks like Donegal GAA have their eye back on the ball.
