'I’m completely blown away' - the hurley swap that made Cáit Devane a social media sensation

Cait Devane

The clip went viral a few days ago, and no wonder.

In the Tipperary senior camogie championship semi-final, Cáit Devane of Clonoulty-Rossmore can be seen wheeling out of a ruck, away from Burgess-Duharra opponents.

Devane races down the wing, drops her hurley, grabs one thrown in by a mentor and takes a shot. It’s a scarcely believable passage of play, a video clip that was captured on video by Sports Focus Photography and has attracted thousands of views on social media.

I’ve been recording games for my club for 8 years & I’ve captured many extraordinary moments but my capturing Cáit Devane collecting a fresh hurley in full flight today will be hard to top. Best of luck to @ClonRossCamogie in the final and commiserations to my own @DuharraCamogie pic.twitter.com/KtY70uzdls

— Sports Focus Photography (@SportsFocusIe) September 6, 2020

“I’m completely blown away by the coverage it’s gotten,” said Devane.

“But I suppose the fact that it got onto social media, that people are hanging to see anything to do with sport . . . They just want to see sport, any kind of sport.

“It’s fantastic, I find it funny because it was just an instinctive thing on my part.” 

It was only after the game that Devane became aware that people had noticed what she’d done.

“Ten or fifteen minutes afterwards someone came up to me and said, ‘what did you do?’ It was only then that I thought, ‘yeah, that was a bit mad’.

“The fact that it was my brother John who threw the hurley to me was another twist to it. He’s not actually over the team but for the last couple of games he’s fallen in to help out on the sideline with various things.” 

Before the game John, himself a former Tipperary hurler, had told Cait he had her second stick if it were needed. 

Cait Devane, Tipperary camogie player, speaking during the #GAAyouth Forum 2018 at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Then...

“When I broke the hurley I had, I saw him and beckoned him on. Then I went into the ruck and got the ball.

“I turned out, away from the ruck, and he said, ‘I have it, but I don’t know what to do with it’, and I said, ‘throw it’.

“We had a conversation out there. A very quick conversation.”

 The fact that Clonoulty-Rossmore beat Duharra-Burgess to make the county final was more significant for Devane: “Winning by two points was massive for us, because Duharra have been kingpins here for the last few years, so we’re in a county final Saturday week against Drom & Inch.” 

The shot with the replacement hurley dropped short (“That would have been the cherry on top altogether,” she says) but it was one of Devane’s few misses: she contributed 0-13 of her side’s 0-18 total on the day.

“The fact that it was recorded made the difference, obviously enough. If not, then someone might have said, ‘did you see that’ and people mightn’t have believed it.

“I suppose with the times we’re in at the moment, there’s probably more interest than there would be normally. As I say, people are crying out for anything to do with sport.”