Saintfield Camp is heaven sent for young Down hurlers

By John Harrington

Growing the game of hurling meaningfully in the developing counties is akin to putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

It takes time and patience, and even if each piece you slot into place might seem relatively insignificant at the time, it will create an opportunity for another until eventually with perseverance you’ll see the fruits of your labour.

A great example of this phenomenon has been the impact of Social Slashers, a social hurling team drawing players from the greater Downpatrick area in Down, since it was established in 2021 by Wexford native Shay Deegan.

When Deegan and his wife moved to Saul he made it his mission to introduce underage hurling and camogie to the local GAA club, St. Patrick’s, and he had the clever idea of simultaneously setting up the Social Slashers.

By doing so he got parents of the children in the club involved in a fun way and the experience of playing themselves, even if they had never played the game before, gave them the confidence to also get involved with coaching children.

Fast-forward five years and Saul have over 100 children playing hurling/camogie from nursery up to U10 and a half, with an U-12 team due to be formed next year and an U-14 team the year after that.

Those healthy playing numbers are very well-serviced by a very enthusiastic team of coaches.

Many of them, like Colum Surginor, are Social Slashers who had never played the game until recently but now have a passion for both playing and coaching it.

The way in which one jigsaw piece can lead to another is illustrated by a new hurling/camogie initiative in the area that Surginor has spearheaded, the Saintfield Hurling Camp.

Run by the Social Slashers with help from coaches from Saul, Carryduff, Kilclief, Newry Shamrocks, DarraghCross, Ardglass and St. Kevin’s Camogie, thanks to a grant from the Noah Donohoe Foundation it provides free hurling/camogie sessions every Monday throughout the months of October and November in the indoor 3G arena in Saintfield for children aged from 9 to 12.

There are a number of GAA clubs close to Saintfield but few provide for Hurling/Camogie so the Monday night sessions have attracted many children who have never previously played the game as well as those who already play for the clubs in the surrounding area.

So far there’s been a hugely positives response, with over 50 children attending every Monday evening session so far.

“It's about bringing together kids from communities to have a go at hurling,” Surginor told GAA.ie.

“If you've never picked up a hurl before, yes, come and have a pop. If you've done a wee bit, yeah, come ahead too. But pitching at those who hadn't done much hurling was really our USP.

“We scouted round for a venue and found Saintfield and that was perfect because we could target then people and kids who weren't in our community. We could target kids from the rugby club, the hockey club, the pony club, the netball club.

“And that's really manifested itself in the spread of kids we have coming on Monday night. There's loads kids there who never previously picked up a hurl.

“One of the guys in my work is a soccer coach for one of the local teams in and around Carryduff and his wee fella hasn't missed a session at Saintfield.

“He's going, “Dad, can I go to the hurling? Can I go to the hurling? I'll still go the two other nights to soccer but can I go to the hurling on a Monday night? It's great craic.”

“On a Tuesday morning, his Dad will come over to me and he'll say, “The kids loved hurling last night. They're buzzing about it. They're telling their friends in school.”

“It’s great to get that sort of positive feedback and it's just a totally natural, organic way to basically grow our national sport.

“It's been a very simply put together process with a lot of generosity from coaches from other clubs which is very indicative of the hurling community in Down.

“It's not about rivalry, it's about opportunity and everyone working together to grow the game.”

The Saintfield Hurling Camp has been such a resounding success that Social Slashers rounder, Shay Deegan, believes it can be rolled out in multiple venues in the coming years.

He has witnessed a significant grassroots growth of hurling in the county in recent years and believes winter hurling camps would be another important piece in the county’s quickly assembling hurling jigsaw.

“I think there's a huge opportunity to grow it,” Deegan told GAA.ie.

“The funding that we got was massively appreciated but we’re not talking about huge money here. The £1,500 we received from the Noah Donohoe Foundation allow us to rent the venue for four months and provide hurling balls.

“A little goes a long way in Down and it wouldn't take a whole lot to set up five centres next winter across the county to provide that bit of hurling in the gap between the end of season and when the schools pick up.

“For me, this all comes down to school, club, county, and actually filling in the gaps and the areas that we don't have in Down.

“We now have a couple of coaches going into schools with Fergal Rogers from Down GAA and Danny Toner from Ulster GAA. They along with (Down manager) Ronan Sheehan have also come to our Saintfield sessions and they do amazing work to grow hurling in the county, but they need help.

“You look at the Wexford 365 model and what they're doing down there. Why can't we deliver that with a small bit of funding through this winter programme, get parents involved, and then drive the 365 programme into schools which will bring more kids into clubs.

“There's already been five or six new clubs established in Down over the last five years and we can easily bring on board another three or four clubs.

“All of a sudden, you have the guts of ten new clubs in Down over the course of five or ten years. You're providing more coaching in schools, you're providing more coaching outside of schools.

“You're preparing them for going into the secondary schools, where the likes of Ronan, Fergal, and Danny and other people are doing some fantastic work in the local areas and in the schools.

“All of a sudden, you're building up that pattern across school, club, county. You're keeping hurls in the hands and you're bringing more on board.”

The hope is that many of the children who are currently participating in the Saintfield sessions who aren’t currently members of a local GAA club will join one because they enjoyed the camp so much.

Deegan knows that for Saul to continue progressing teams up through the player pathway in the coming years it will be a numbers game because player retention becomes more challenging in the mid to late teens.

They’ve laid a very solid foundation in place already though and thanks to their success in recruiting and upskilling coaches they’re in a very good place to continue to go from strength to strength in the coming years.

“In Saul we now have a lot of parents who don't have the hurling background but they're coaching,” says Deegan. “And they're amazing coaches. It doesn't matter that they don't have that deep hurling playing experience.

“They're brilliant coaches and they're eager to learn. They're actually, in some instances, more eager to learn than people like myself who thinks he knows everything.

“The 12 to 14 age group is tough, keeping them in the game. We know it's a numbers game, so we're really trying to do everything possible to make sure that the kids enjoy it. And that's why we have the likes of the trips to Croke Park, the days out, and the hurling blitzes that are organised really well in the county.”

Down are a great example for all mid-tier hurling counties who want to climb the game’s totem pole.

The county’s senior hurling manager, Ronan Sheehan, is very much the figurehead of the game there because as well as overseeing eight very progressive years in that position he has also played a key role in a series of coaching and games development initiatives that have really bolstered the game in the Mourne County.

The hurling community is still a relatively small one in Down but that can have its advantages too.

Sheehan would be on first name terms with everyone in the county like Deegan who is working hard to grow the base of the game, and there’s a real sense of being on the same team regardless of what club you represent.

“I think the one thing is we have in Down is that we all help each other,” says Deegan.

“People are all willing to roll in and support the likes of Bryansford starting hurling now. Glenn are starting this year as well, that's another football club close to Newry.

“East Belfast have done a fantastic job and they have teams right up to senior in both camogie and hurling. St. Kevin's Camogie Club are, to me, one of the best start-ups over the last five years.

“The green shoots are there in the county and it’s now what we actually do with it. It's how we support those clubs to take them each individually from the level they're at to the next level.

“And it's how we then bring through another maybe five clubs in the next five years. I think the big one is to show the clubs that are a small bit reluctant to promote hurling and camogie that this is a benefit in doing so

“It's a benefit to the community. It's a benefit to the kids. It's a benefit to the clubs.

“I know Ronan Sheehan at the moment is putting forward a case for some of the national funding for hurling that was recently announced, and that would be very timely and put to great use.

“There’s so much we can do here in Down with not too much, actually. A lot of the foundation work is already done and we just need to build on it now.”

Go HERE for further information on the Saintfield Hurling Camp.