Bal camogie book packed with great local stories

FORMER Ballinascarthy camogie player Helen (Walsh) McManamon, from Gaggin, will launch the new 50th anniversary storybook on Ballinascarthy Camogie Club this Monday night. The book is called ‘Give A Girl A Hurley’ and is a compilation of camogie stories told by players, coaches, mentors and committee members over the past 50 years.  

McManamon played camogie in Ballinascarthy during the mid 1980s but transferred to Eire Óg as Bal didn’t have a minor or junior team. She had wonderful success there, captioning the Cork junior team to All-Ireland glory in 1999 in Croke Park, as well as winning several club titles. 

Through her captaincy, she also went on a trip to America where she met Ted Kennedy in Boston. She is back with her original club again, as a coach and is a fantastic ambassador for camogie. Her two daughters Aoife and Ciara play camogie for Ballinascarthy.  

Originally the club was known as Castleview back in 1969 when it was first founded. Times were tough then and the game of camogie was a great addition to the sporting activities for young ladies in the area. Today, the club is thriving, with lots of success in recent years, thanks to the people who had the foresight 50 years ago to form the club.

This book has stories ranging from one player in 1972 getting advice from the priest in the confession box about an upcoming match, even though she thought she was anonymous in the church, to another story whereby the trainer got his legs waxed by the team after he agreed to a bet that they wouldn’t win the county that year – but they were determined and did win!

The launch will be held this bank holiday Monday, May 6th, with Mass in Ballinascarthy hall at 7.30pm, followed by the launch. Everyone is invited to the book launch. It promises to be a great community event, one not to be missed as golden anniversaries don’t come around too often.