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Wheelchair hurling/camogie All-Ireland Finals make a welcome return

Peadar Heffron of Ulster in action against Shane Curran of Connacht during the M.Donnelly GAA Wheelchair Hurling All-Ireland Finals at National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown, Dublin.

Peadar Heffron of Ulster in action against Shane Curran of Connacht during the M.Donnelly GAA Wheelchair Hurling All-Ireland Finals at National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown, Dublin.

By John Harrington

Covid-19 forced the cancellation of the M.Donnelly GAA Wheelchair Hurling/Camogie All-Ireland Finals in 2020 and 2021.

Thankfully, the shadow cast by the pandemic over the sport will finally melt away this Saturday when the 2022 Finals take place in the GAA National Handball Centre.

Connacht's Shane Curran speaks for the partcipants from all four provincss when he says its a welcome return to action.

For the participants from the four provincial teams taking part, like Connacht’s Shane Curran, it’s a welcome return to action

“It’s great to be back at it,” says Curran. “It’s the first All-Ireland since Covid so everyone is looking forward to it.

“Everyone will be looking out for Munster because they’re usually the top dogs.

“Even to be back this year going on trips and playing the other provinces, you’d get a great buzz out of it."

Curran turns 21 later this month, but is still one of the most experienced players on the Connacht team having started the sport from a young age.

“It was just a come and try day with Connacht Wheelchair hurling,” explains Curran of how he first started playing Wheelchair hurling.

“I was only 13 or 14 at the time and I come from a good GAA club at home, Maigh Cuilinn, so that love for hurling was always there.

“I couldn't participate with my own club because of the wheelchair, but once I found the wheelchair hurling I picked it up straight away and just never turned back.

“I just started playing matches straight away, our first match was up in Belfast, and I just fell in love with it really from the start.

“You're letting fellas off in wheelchairs with sticks and there's no holding back! I've had a few grazed knuckles and minors injuries, but nothing too bad.

"It's a very skilful game too and the standard has come on massively. Some of the lads with the Munster team especially are very good, they're definitely the ones to beat.”

Sultan Kakar of Munster in action against Shane Curran of Connacht during the M. Donnelly GAA Wheelchair Hurling Interprovincial All-Ireland Finals at I.T. Blanchardstown in Blanchardstown, Dublin.

Sultan Kakar of Munster in action against Shane Curran of Connacht during the M. Donnelly GAA Wheelchair Hurling Interprovincial All-Ireland Finals at I.T. Blanchardstown in Blanchardstown, Dublin.

Curran was born with Spina Bifida but has never let his disability hold him back.

Wheelchair hurling is just one of his sporting pursuits, he also does basketball, cycling, and swimming with Galway Speeders, rowing with Galway rowing club, and athletics with the Irish Wheelchair Association.

He’s a highly decorated track and field athlete in the javelin, shot putt, and discus, and hopes to add to his already considerable medal haul when he represents Ireland later this month in the IWAS World Games in Portugal.

He’s currently studying Agricultural engineering in Pallaskenry Agricultural College, so managing to balance sport and studies is considerable challenge.

“There's an awful lot of training in an average week and I'm trying to juggle that around college as well so it can be a challenge,” he admits.

“For the hurling, I go home on Saturdays and we usually have training in Mayo. It's a lot of travelling, but I'm driving myself so I'm lucky.

“I just love sport. I'm an only child as well so making friends through sport has been a big thing for me. I just love getting out and getting active.”

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Wheelchair Hurling was growing quickly in all four provinces.

Now that it’s back up and running again, Curran is hopeful it will go from strength to strength.

“I think there's a massive potential for growing the game,” he says.

“I used to play a lot of wheelchair basketball and that grew massively. There's definitely the potential for wheelchair hurling to go as big as that.”

You can view and download the programme for the M.Donnelly GAA Wheelchair hurling/camogie All-Ireland Finals below.