New Head of Hurling Willie Maher wants to expand participation levels beyond traditional boundaries

MAMMOTH TASK: GAA National Head of Hurling William Maher wants to expand participataion beyong traditnional boundaries. Pic:  Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

New Head of Hurling Willie Maher says expanding hurling's heat map to show far greater participation rates in the northern half of the country is his 'north star'.

"That's what we are working towards," said the Tipperary man and former Laois senior manager who was appointed to the position in January.

It's a mammoth task though for the Bennettsbridge resident who acknowledged that in certain cases he will be battling against 100 years of tradition.

Maher, who won All-Ireland minor hurling titles as both a player and a manager with Tipp, is committed to a long-term plan targeting increased underage participation.

Fundamental to this is the establishment of new hurling clubs with 45 of these now up and running. There are five new clubs in Munster - three in Kerry, one in Cork and one in Clare - five in Connacht, 18 in Leinster and 17 in Ulster.

"The first step in any of these processes is getting more kids playing the game," said Maher.

Speaking at a Croke Park press briefing, Maher displayed a graphic with a map of Ireland showing existing hurling clubs with white dots. Concentration levels are high from Munster upwards until you cross a line between Dublin and Galway, after which there are far fewer clubs.

"That's the north star," said Maher of improving this picture. "That's what we are working towards. If that's even in participation numbers, that would be a major impact. Are we going to get counties to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup here in Croke Park in the next 10 or 20 years? Probably not.

"But at the same time, how can we get more players playing the game? Then we can start thinking about things like that. That would be the dream.

"I think hurling hasn't really moved outside its traditional boundaries in 100 years so it's important to try to broaden that out without trying to impose it on GAA clubs up the country.

"It's to give kids the opportunity. We want to work with people to actually hold people in clubs to account, yes, but at the same time to give kids the opportunity to play our national game."

GAA President Jarlath Burns, the driving force behind the Football Review Committee and their work, said that improving the lot of hurling is another key target for him while in office.

A schoolteacher by profession, Burns said that even calling for hurling to be 'in every single curriculum in every national school in Ireland' would not be an 'unreasonable thing'.

"That's something that we are going to work with camogie to try to achieve," said Burns. "I think that would be massive."

Burns also insisted that the GAA needs to 'move away from this concept that in order to master the skills of hurling, you need to almost be born with a hurl in the pram'.

The former Armagh footballer, who took up hurling as an adult, said the reality is that you can still become a 'really good player' if you start playing at '10, 12, 13'.

Maher said this sort of back-up from central GAA, and the support of the various committees and coaching departments, is vital for success in his position as national hurling chief.

"I think there's a big difference there as regards from before," said Maher. "This is not an operational role and this is not a travelling the highways and byways of the country and developing coaching courses. Yes, I'll be going out there. Yes, I'll be getting my hands dirty as regards all of that and meeting people. But I think it's giving them the tools to actually promote and develop hurling with their communities."