Hurling putting down roots in Ardara
Young hurlers from the Ardara club in Donegal.
By John Harrington
Since he was a boy growing up in Armoy in the Glens of Antrim, hurling has always been a way of life for Colm Hunter.
His first hero was Glen Rovers clubmate, Olcan ‘Cloot’ McFetridge, who won an All-Star in 1989 when Hunter was an impressionable seven years of age.
His dream was to follow in Cloot’s footsteps with the Saffrons and he did so at underage level, but then life brought him around the world.
Wherever he went he brought his hurley with him, and he played club hurling with distinction in the US, England, Australia, and Dubai as well as county hurling with Warwickshire and the first ever Middle East hurling team.
He eventually settled in Ardara, County Donegal, and was a prolific full-forward for Four Masters in Donegal town until he finally hung up his boots last year.
He wasn’t long lacing them back up. Ardara football legend, Damien Diver, is the ecumenical sort when it comes to sport, and when he approached Hunter to ask him would he be interested in getting hurling going in the club the Antrim man jumped at the opportunity.
Young Ardara hurlers hone their touch.
In 2025 Ardara were one of the 45 new hurling units who successfully applied for hurling starter packs and since then they’ve made great progress.
“We got going with the U-6 academy with the gear that Croke Park delivered last year and then the club bought us bigger sticks for the U8s and U10s and we got going with them too," Hunter told GAA.ie.
"The kids are really enjoying it, it’s been going very well. We had 24 young lads for our last blitz so it's been really good uptake.
"The footballers have really helped us out. We've done training for the U8s and U10s on the same night that they train football.
"I would take the U10s first for the hurling and then we swap over with the U8. Everybody's encouraged to play both. The club have been very supportive, they've really backed it.
"We've gotten great support too along the way from other clubs we've played in blitzes, like Four Masters and Aodh Ruadh, Ballyshannon.
“I was just a bit apprehensive at the start as to how to go about it and get into it, but the minute they got to a game the boys just love it. They find out the craic you have off it and they've loved it."
Ardara have taken part in blitzes with clubs like Four Masters and Aodh Ruadh, Ballyshannon, who have been very supportive.
If you give children the opportunity to play hurling or camogie they’ll grasp it with both hands because the game is so enjoyable it effectively sells itself.
The biggest challenge for clubs like Ardara who are trying to grow the game from seed is to get enough coaches involed.
People can convince themselves they aren’t capable of coaching the game if they haven’t played it when the reality is that you only need to stay one step ahead of the eight year olds and the same principals of coaching used in Gaelic football can be successfully applied to hurling.
Hunter has gotten hurling in Ardara off to a very positive start but he knows that if it is to have a long-term future in the club he’ll need a few more recruits to help him drive it on.
“Yeah, that's the hardest bit,” he says. “I've gotten great help from Shane Clerkin, Ronan Hegarty, and Stephen Pearson, but there are only four of us doing the coaching.
"It's about building up their confidence by getting them into coaching courses and then also hopefully recruiting a few more coaches.
Particpants in a recent indoor camogie session organised by Ardara.
“We're trying now as well to get Camogie going too. I've been chatting with parents and found out there's three or four of them who are ex-camogie players which I never would have known about so we'll try to get them involved next year and get the girls at it as well. That would be brilliant.
"You can't be too ambitious too soon. You have to start slow and keep building as you go, otherwise you'll burn everybody out.
“You’d hope then over time that a few more would come out and involved. Once they see their own kids at it and see that it's not as scary as it looks, then hopefully they'll give it a go.
“We'll stick at it anyway. I was always going to give it four or five years and if we can keep it going after that then we'll hopefully be able to put a real big burst into it.
“It's about building slowly and if we have something sustainable after that, then that would be a success.”
Coaches keep a watchful eye on young Ardara hurlers.
Hunter was down at the pitch recently for the final of Ardara’s U10 football parish league when he saw two 12-year-olds walk in with hurleys.
They’re too old themselves to be part of the first cohort of players in the club to have the opportunity to play both codes, but clearly the hurling gospel is spreading in Ardara.
“That's the first I've ever seen of kids just walking about around Ardara with hurling sticks,” says Hunter.
“I was actually standing next to Damien Diver and I said there's a wee positive sign for us there.
“I make sure people know it was Damien's idea, not mine, to bring hurling into the club! That it wasn't the bloody northerner! I was asked to do it and was more than happy to do it but it's been great to have the backing of the footballers too.”
When you’re trying to grow hurling in developing counties, it’s all about making little gains when and wherever you can.
A young Ardara hurler keeps his eye on the ball.
Hunter teaches in Crannóg Buí National School in Ardara, one of five primary schools in the parish, and next week they’ll participate in a school's developmental hurling competition for the very first time, a prospect his pupils are “buzzing” about.
It’s that pure pleasure of playing hurling for hurling’s sake that motivates Hunter more than anything else. He wants give the children of Ardara the same opportunity to play our national game that he had growing up in Armoy.
“I have four children, two girls and two boys, and if I could give them and all the other children in Ardara the opportunity to play the game that would be great,” he says.
“As I've said to the club at this stage it's not about thinking that in 20 years we'll be county champions. To me it's just about giving the children the opportunity to play our other national sport.
“There are two main Irish sports, hurling and football, and every kid should have the opportunity to play them both.
“People emigrate and travel all around the world and I just think it would be good if a fella from Donegal could meet a fella from Limerick or Kilkenny and be able to puck about on a beach in Bondi. That might be something small, but it's something worthwhile.”
