Cross-community team wins friends and title

A SUCCESSFUL team of underage hurlers from Catholic and Protestant communities in Belfast may be the catalyst for the creation of cross community sides across Ulster.

The Belfast Cúchulainns, together for eight months, defeated New York by 13 points in Philadelphia to win the Intercontinental Youth Games U-16 championship at the weekend.

The tour, led by Ulster Chairman Tom Daly and Director of Coaching and Games Dr Eugene Young, lasted 10 days and the team won every game in their section — bettering sides from San Francisco and Boston, as well as a combined North American outfit.

GAA President Nickey Brennan attended the finals and said it was ‘fantastic’ to see a fully representative team from Belfast perform so successfully.

The cross community hurling project has been in existence for just over two years and the schools under the Cúchulainn banner have previously participated in a range of events, which included travelling to Scotland to play an international shinty match.

The boys who comprise the Cúchulainn team represent both religious denominations and live in north, west and east Belfast. All under the age of 16 years, they come from four schools — Corpus Christi College; St Patrick’s College Beranagheeha; Belfast Boys Model School; and Ashfield Boys School

Ulster Council Community Development & Public Affairs Manger Ryan Feeney said it was hoped to have the team more actively involved in games at home this year.

Said Feeney: “This was a pilot project for us. What we are looking at rolling out five cross-community hurling teams across the province and having them play in a blitz next year. The winning team would then represent Ulster in the Intercontinental Youths games and we would pick a selection to play a shinty game either in Scotland or Ireland.

He added: “Many of the boys in the team had never played hurling in their lives before, but they were very athletic. They had played rugby, soccer and hockey while the boys on the ‘nationalist’ side had hurling experience.

“Jimmy Darragh, our Provincial Hurling Manager, took the team on a weekly basis for the last eight months and trained them. Paudie Butler — the GAA’s National Director of Hurling — assisted us and we also had people from a hurling background helping out. We found that the boys quickly picked up the skills — to such an extent that they had a 100% record in their games in America.’’

Buoyed by the success of the venture, Ulster Secretary Danny Murphy said they have been further encouraged by the interest being shown by schools in urban areas which are willing to establish similar teams to the Cúchulainns.

“We envisage our first cross-community hurling competition taking place in 2009,’’ he commented.