Hurling alive and well in Latton again
The Latton U-15 hurlers that played St. Aidan's Derrylin in the first round of the Táin Óg League on Monday night.
By John Harrington
After a few years absence, hurling is alive and well again in Latton GAA Club in Monaghan thanks to the considerable efforts of a small band of hurling zealots.
When former Monaghan hurler, Gabriel McQuillan, returned home after a number of years teaching in Dublin he made it his mission to reintroduce the sport he loves to his club.
With great help from fellow hurling enthusiast, Jaime Black, in four short years he has revitalised the sport in Latton and is busy building for an ever brighter future.
"We started it up again at the start of 2018, myself and Jaime,” McQuillan told GAA.ie “The two of us started with an U-11 team and now we have U-7s up to U-15s and we have a senior team too.
“It's important to have that senior team for the young lads to aspire to play for and we're hoping to get the first batch of young players through in 2024.
“There would have been hurling in the club previously and we got to two county senior finals in 2007 and 2009. Hurling was strong in the club for a long spell, there was a priest called Father Gerry White who encouraged it and then there were others like Gerry Naughton and Brian McEntee who supported hurling down through the years.
“It kind of died off then when a load of boys left the area in 2010 when the recession hit. A lot of boys went to Australia or America and we lost a number of players.
“But since we’ve started it again we've gotten a great buy-in from the kids in the area.”
The Latton senior hurlers in action against Four Masters G.A.A. Club in the 2022 Ulster GAA Hurling Development League.
Like many other clubs in the developing counties, Latton’s promotion of hurling has been hugely assisted by competing in the cross county-border Táin Óg League.
“I think it's a great League because there are only seven clubs in Monaghan and part of the problem in a small county is you get bored playing the same clubs day in, day out,” says McQuillan.
“There's a freshness about the Táin Óg because you're going to different counties and playing in different pitches.
“Before the pandemic the finals were always on in big stadiums and kids love getting to play in big stadiums. And if you fulfilled all your matches the Táin Óg people would give you 20 tickets to bring the young lads to one of the All-Ireland semi-finals and that was massive.
“I remember we brought out lads to the 2019 All-Ireland semi-final between Kilkenny and Limerick and something like that was brilliant. It was a massive day out for the kids and a big incentive for them.”
Hurling has come a long way in Latton since it was reintroduced to the club in 2018, and McQuillan is confident more progress will be made in the coming years.
“Everyone is saying it's great to see hurling back in the club again and you'd hope that in another five years we'll be in a much stronger place than we are now.
“We'll probably lose some lads to county football teams or soccer but in four or five years time we definitely would like to think we'll have hurling well enough established in the club again.”
