IHA fights back as 300 schoolboys descend on the Mardyke

The popularity of boys’ hockey in Munster continues to bounce back, after almost 300 Cork schoolboys were introduced to the sport yesterday.

A minority sport played by boys in just five secondary schools in Munster, concerns have been raised in recent years over dwindling numbers at both underage and senior levels.

But following recent news that U16 playing numbers among boys rose 8% to 440 in the province in 2011, the sport received a further boost at an innovative event at the Mardyke yesterday.

A Taste of Hockey, the brainchild of Helen Lynch of the Munster Branch of the Irish Hockey Association, saw the sport’s national and provincial bodies team up with University College Cork.

The latter provided their state-of-the-art water-based pitch and sports scholarship students to coach, while the IHA’s western regional development officer Phil Oakley laid the ground work with four Cork city schools — the third and fourth classes of St Anthony’s Ballinlough, St Joseph’s of the Mardyke, Beaumont Boys NS and Glasheen Boys NS.

Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Terry Shannon, and IHA president Herbie Sharman were among those looking on as the likes of Irish youth Olympian Amy-Kate Trevor and former Ireland U18 international Stuart O’Grady taught nearly 300 boys the basics of the sport.

Each child was given a DVD, goodie bag and details of local club open days in a bid to get them playing the sport more regularly.

The project was undertaken in conjunction with UCC 101, which celebrates 101 years of sport in the famous Mardyke grounds.

The college has also revealed plans to install international-standard floodlights at the Mardyke.