Students come up with answer to sticky problem

Hurling mentors, your days of rooting around in a dark potato sack for a player’s spare stick are over.

Sideline, a company set up by transition year students from Coláiste Iósaef in Kilmallock, has invented the 12-PAC, a hurley storage bag which is a must-have for every GAA club.

“The students came up with the idea of a hurley bag based on a make-up set, believe or not,” says Sean Twomey, principal of the school.

“The idea is that you put each individual’s spare hurleys in a sleeve in the bag, so when you roll it out, you can see immediately where each player’s hurley is — there’s no rooting around in a fertiliser bag for five minutes, as one of the students said. When you see it in action, it’s self-explanatory.”

The bags come in twos, one for backs and one for forwards, and typically are printed with the club crest. Those transparent PVC covers on the sleeves are weatherproof, which means that a player is guaranteed a dry hurley.

“The response has been fantastic,” says Twomey. “University of Limerick and Limerick Institute of Technology have both ordered some, the Limerick County Board were looking for six bags for last Saturday night’s game against Clare — and the Clare County Board have been in touch as well.

“Ben O’Connor, the Cork player, has ordered 12 bags for his hurley making business — he’ll be shipping them out to the United States.”

The students have been equally proactive when it comes to marketing their wares. There’s a website (https://sites.google.com/a/cik.ie/sideline/) and a Facebook page.

“It’s all part of our transition year programme but we put a big emphasis on enterprise in the school as a whole,” said Twomey.

“These are the entrepreneurs of tomorrow so it’s good to see them becoming familiar with these ideas when they’re young.”

The bags are made for the students by Harry Le Gear of Irlanda Canvas Products and retail at €30.