WHEN Luke Meade recently took a training session for the Newcestown minor hurlers, there were some players who tried to skip a family event just to be there.
The Cork hurler is big news in his home parish – the Newcestown clubman is the only player from the Carbery division involved with the county senior set-up. He’s been flying the West Cork flag at hurling’s highest level since joining the panel at 18. He is 28 now.
‘There were one or two fellas who had an important family event that night, and they were cursing they had to go there and miss Luke’s training session!’ quips Charlie Wilson, who has had a front row seat in the rise of his nephew.
‘Because it was Luke giving the session, the players really bought into it and soaked up everything he said. Have no doubt that a lot of youngsters are in awe when Luke is around.’
Newcestown is fortunate that Meade is a teacher in the local national school, Bishop Galvin Central School, so kids have direct accessibility to a role model who proves West Cork men can hurl.
Newcestown's Luke Meade in action for Cork.
‘To get on the Cork hurling team you need to be incredibly good, motivated, skillful and fit. It should be very difficult to make the Cork hurling set-up. Plenty of outstanding club players don’t make the grade,’ explains Ballinascarthy’s Joe Ryan, who previously coached his home club and the Carbery senior hurling team, and is now Kilbrittain boss.
He acknowledges that West Cork is Gaelic football country, and a look at the county championship line-up acknowledges this. While there are only five Carbery clubs operating in the top five tiers, only dual club Newcestown (premier senior) play in one of the top three grades, with Bandon at intermediate A, and Arigedeen Rangers, Barryroe and Kilbrittain all premier junior. Still, Joe Ryan points out the region consistently produces talented hurlers who play at various levels with the county.
‘We’ve had players from Bandon, Newcestown, Luke Murphy from Barryroe, Shane Murnane from St Colum’s, Liam Dooley from Ardfield, there were a few Bal lads on the U16 team – there are always local players there or thereabouts,’ Ryan says.
‘There has been West Cork representation but you are dealing with the elite here in terms of Cork hurling. Also, you’re up against clubs with a greater tradition in hurling, greater numbers and have that exposure to higher level hurling from U10s up.’
The question is: can Carbery hurling benefit from the incredible interest in the Cork hurlers right now? Alan Foley, a stalwart of O’Donovan Rossa hurling in Skibbereen, answers with a resounding yes.
‘We’re seeing it already on the ground – we’re seeing boys coming back who had packed it in before,’ he points out.
‘What we’re seeing around Skibb, and you wouldn’t have seen it before, are fellas walking around with hurleys and meeting for a puck around – there just seems to be hurleys everywhere.
‘You have to put that down to what the Cork hurlers are doing now, there is a buzz there.’
When The Southern Star put out a call for photos of local fans who attended the All-Ireland semi-final win against Dublin when Rebel supporters took over Croke Park, we were inundated with replies from across the region. Allihies. Castletownbere. Bantry. Skibbereen. Castlehaven. Dunmanway, Newcestown. Clonakilty. There’s momentum behind the Cork hurlers right now, a sea of red pushing them forwards.
‘A rising tide lifts all boats – but it’s up to the clubs to put in the work,’ Cha Wilson notes.
‘The wave rises, but you need to get underneath it and keep pushing it – if the work isn’t done, the fad almost goes away again because something else will come along that might capture the imagination.
‘The way Cork hurlers are playing is exploiting the skill level – they are getting peoples’ attention. Kids love it – they want to be Brian Hayes or Hoggie (Patrick Horgan).’
Hurling is grabbing kids' attention this summer. Eyes wide open, they are watching the story of a team trying to end the 20-year wait for the Liam MacCarthy. It’s captivating and inspiring.
Kilbrittain hurling manager Joe Ryan.
‘One of the Kilbrittain selectors took his son to the Munster final, it was his first inter-county game, and they couldn’t get the jersey off him for the week. That’s the start of his relationship with Cork hurling,’ Joe Ryan says.
‘The younger generation are being exposed to this, and they’ll want to get involved, go to nurseries and camps.’
Keeping their attention is the challenge, Cha Wilson says. With the split-season calendar meaning the All-Ireland hurling and football finals have been moved from their previous September slot, there is no build-up in schools now, and less of a window to capitalise on hurling fever. Clubs need to be ready to step up.
‘If you think success happens automatically, that’s the rock you perish on – the work has to go on. It’s back down to the basics, through the clubs, and building up through the ages,’ he says.
‘If we look at my own club Newcestown, every age group is important. I have seen before where a club will concentrate at U12 as the most important grade – the thinking is if you look after them then, you will have hurlers who carry through to adulthood. The reality is some of those lads have given up by their teens. If you start working hard when they’re in their teens, maybe their skill level isn’t strong enough because they didn’t work on it when they were younger.
‘Learning the skills is one part, learning the game is another part, and you really have to work on it all the way through, from kids through to adult level.’
Joe Ryan believes coaching is key: coach the coaches.
‘The formal coaching is something that can be improved – coaching the coaches to coach is very important because you might have parents involved who want to help but don’t have the coaching skills just yet. Coaching courses need to be more frequent and accessible,’ he says, noting that hurling has a very specific skillset.
It’s good news that we now have West Cork Sciath na Scol hurling, similar to football. It introduces hurling to local national schools. Two local principals took the lead on this. Take a bow, Alan Foley of St Patrick’s Boys National School in Skibbereen, and Diarmuid Duggan of St Mary’s Central School, Enniskeane. Earlier this year, St Patrick's made history when they captured the county Sciath na Scol H4 title in Páirc Uí Chaoimh – that’s a boost for hurling in Skibb. Looking across the division, news that Carbery wants to enter an U15 hurling team at premier level in 2026 is also a positive. There are a lot of pieces to this jigsaw.
‘Blitzes are very important,’ Joe Ryan adds, ‘make a day out of it.
‘Kids are hooked now, but they will be hooked by something else in a couple of weeks, so what clubs do now to keep their attention is important.’
Considering Carbery has only one hurler on the county senior team, if Cork triumph in the All-Ireland final, then we need to see some of the Rebel heroes make visits to hurling Cúl Camps in West Cork, and at training sessions – there is a window of opportunity here to give hurling in Carbery a boost. Barriers exist, though, as most clubs are football-first, given its tradition in West Cork, and that leads to a lack of hurling people in clubs – that leads back to Joe Ryan’s point of coaching the coaches. There’s a chance here for hurling to win the hearts and minds, but there’s a lot of work to be done to feel the benefit of it.
