CON HOULIHAN hated hurling snobs.<\/p>\n
The \u2018traditionalists\u2019 who believed that it took several generations to produce a hurler \u2013 that there was some kind of mythical gene passed from generation to generation without which all effort was doomed to fail \u2013 were \u2018amusing mystics\u2019 according to the great Kerry writer.<\/p>\n
Giving typical lyrical form to his thoughts following the 1995 Leinster final in which Offaly skelped Kilkenny on their way to hurling\u2019s yearly September showpiece, Con wrote that the myth of the \u2018born hurler\u2019 should be \u201cburied at a crossroads with a stake driven through its silly heart\u201d.<\/p>\n
The heroes of that piece, Offaly, have twelve hurling teams competing in their senior club championship. This summer, with the addition of Eoghan Rua and Na Magha to the ranks, Derry\u2019s number will be just four less.<\/p>\n
In years to come, Paddy Henry hopes there will be a ninth name on the list.<\/p>\n
As he patiently demonstrates the mechanics of free taking to a captive youth – an art for which he is widely renowned – all thoughts of nature over nurture are dispelled as quickly as the leather is dispatched by the ash.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll chat for half an hour now,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if he\u2019s still striking those balls when we\u2019re finished, we\u2019ll know he\u2019s dedicated.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/photo.jpg” align=”left” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n
Castledawson wouldn\u2019t exactly be known as a hotbed of hurling. However, four years on from their first training session in which nine youngsters took part, Paddy Henry along with his brothers Christopher and Peter, and Mick O\u2019Kane, are preparing a squad for the weekend\u2019s National F\u00e9ile finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis evening as an example, we had thirty-seven out. Twenty-five of them are part of the panel for the hurling F\u00e9ile<\/a>, albeit we will have a very young team with a lot of under 10s and under 12s,\u201d explains Henry.<\/p>\n Keen to stress that the current upsurge of interest in hurling along Moyola\u2019s grassy banks is not part of \u2018any master plan\u2019, Paddy Henry reveals the rather more incidental nature of its origins:<\/p>\n \u201cThis was started with a random phone call from one of the girls in the camogie club. A few of the parents had said that their sons were \u2018kinda half interested in playing hurling\u2019 and with Peter and Christopher, my two brothers, and myself having an interest, would we start up a hurling team.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has grown very dramatically. We\u2019re very fortunate that we have a solid camogie club that help us out. So, for example if there was only one or two of us available for an evening, one of their coaches would maybe take an age group and train them with their own teams. They put the idea to us basically.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt seemed like a good idea at the time!\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n[aesop_parallax img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/FINAL-2-28-8-11.jpg” parallaxbg=”on” floater=”off” floaterposition=”right” floaterdirection=”up” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”off”]\n The hurling year began for the St Malachy\u2019s boys with a trip to Gulladuff, a journey Henry knows only too well as the current Lavey senior club captain:<\/p>\n \u201cI hurled around the house for two or three years before I went to Lavey. My da was from Lavey and they were the closest hurling club so it just made sense to go there. I started hurling for Lavey around nine or ten but I\u2019d been playing football for Castledawson for maybe two or three years before that, so I\u2019d always say I\u2019m from Castledawson.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course when I\u2019m hurling for Lavey, I\u2019m 100% a Lavey man! It\u2019s a family thing and a location thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Although admitting there is no masterplan in place, it is crystal clear that Paddy Henry has thought long and hard about the development of hurling in Castledawson, and that he continues to do so.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the start of the year we went up to play Lavey in a friendly and didn\u2019t score. So our next thing was, right, let\u2019s get a score in a match. Then the next step was: \u2018let\u2019s get a score in each half of the match\u2019,\u201d he explains calmly and logically.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very fortunate that we have a group of boys who keep coming back. They haven\u2019t won a game all year, the closest we got was when we played Coleraine. Our numbers are getting bigger though. At the start of the F\u00e9ile we had 19 and struggled a bit. Now we have 25 and we actually had two new faces there this evening that I had never seen before – lads who are 13. It\u2019s really a testament to all those young fellas that we are competing and that they\u2019re still playing with a smile on their face. It\u2019s not as if they\u2019re dreading togging out.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day we\u2019re not putting any pressure on them. We\u2019re not stupid. We\u2019re not expecting them to go out and beat other teams in Derry straight away. If we were able to get maybe one win during the F\u00e9ile weekend I would deem this year to be a really massive success. It would be great for the fellas to end their year like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Castledawson are not alone in the situation in which they find themselves. Others such as Eoghan Rua and Na Magha have travelled the same road in recent times and face similar challenges. If not handled in the right fashion, defeats can deflate. In normal circumstances, gradings would take care of such anomalies and cater for clubs along different stages of their development.<\/p>\n Numbers of clubs and grades are the key to the future, although current reality is something which can’t be ignored by people like Paddy Henry, and others, seeking to grow the game on new ground. The Castledawson effort has illustrated what is possible and also points the way to the future. Twelve clubs, like Offaly, could see a situation where new growth becomes sustainable. Because it offers a greater diversity of teams at different levels, F\u00e9ile, Henry believes, has a massive role to play:<\/p>\n[aesop_quote width=”300″ background=”#282828″ text=”#ffffff” align=”center” size=”3″ parallax=”off” direction=”up” quote=”‘F\u00e9ile being in Ulster this year, and next, is a massive penalty kick for us. It gives the fellas something to look forward to.'”]\n \u201cThey won\u2019t be hurling in the Derry league or the championship. There isn\u2019t really any point. During the F\u00e9ile, bar the exception of one or two teams, everyone else has beaten us by twenty points. It\u2019s not right on those fellas to put them through all that again.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, they\u2019re happy enough in the knowledge that they are in the F\u00e9ile now, against teams in a similar situation, close to where we are at. So, we\u2019re going to get a great test as to just how far we have come on since that first game against Lavey. Will we get those wins? Can we maybe sneak into a Shield final or are we not at that level?” he proffers.<\/p>\n “It\u2019ll be a great opportunity to find out.”<\/p>\n The plan for now is fully focused on F\u00e9ile for the Castledawson fledgling project. With somewhere in the region of six of the starting team for the competition expected to be made up of players who are still entitled to play under 10 hurling, those who have \u2018started at the right age\u2019 are the indicator that Henry will look to once the final visitors have left next Sunday evening.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I want to see later in the year, once they return to u10, is how far away are we at that level. We\u2019ll be going up to Owenbeg meeting the Slaughtneils and the Laveys. The last day we were up there with the u10s we beat Ballinascreen, and to beat someone like that, a great hurling club, was a massive lift for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all well and good maybe beating the Dungiven \u2018C\u2019 team but when you\u2019re beating someone\u2019s \u2018A\u2019 team like we did, the young fellas are coming away with the real sense that they have achieved something.<\/p>\n[aesop_parallax img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/DERRY-WESTMEATH-3-MML.jpg” height=”900″ parallaxbg=”on” floater=”off” floaterposition=”right” floaterdirection=”up” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”off”]\n With Sligo\u2019s Drumcliffe-Rosses Point set to arrive at the Broagh on Friday, excitement is building ahead of what is expected to be a weekend to remember for parents and children alike. The scenes will be repeated in Lavey, Banagher, Slaughtneil, Dungiven, Coleraine, Ballinascreen, Swatragh and the City\u2019s Ballyarnet area, all of which will buzz with anticipation.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ll be going out on Saturday now, if not expecting to win, then at the very least to give a good account of themselves and that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n \u201cOk we were beat by 20 points by Slaughtneil but I would simply tell them \u2018lads, we weren\u2019t expecting to win that. We\u2019re preparing for the All-Ireland F\u00e9ile.\u2019<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Feile-na-nGael.jpg” align=”right” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n \u201cIt\u2019ll keep coming back to that. For the next two years we\u2019ll play everyone that we need to play in Derry but at the end of the day I\u2019ll be focusing on the middle of June and F\u00e9ile to see where we are at.\u201d<\/p>\n 2014 may be new territory for Paddy Henry the coach but for Paddy Henry the hurler, F\u00e9iles are not new:<\/p>\n \u201cI played in two F\u00e9iles for Lavey; one when it was in Derry and we hosted Ballyboden and Castlefin, and then the year after when we were down in Westmeath.<\/p>\n \u201cSpeaking of Westmeath, we played them in a Christy Ring game there a couple of years ago and it was only at the end of the game that I realised that the fella I had been marking, when he took off the helmet, was from the same family that hosted us all those years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Consistent performances that have seen Paddy Henry amass huge scoring totals have given the valuation surveyor recognition in hurling communities from West Kerry to the Ards peninsula. Absent from the red and white in 2014, his loss has been keenly felt.<\/p>\n Will we see him back in the Oak Leaf jersey, though?<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d he declares.<\/p>\n \u201cI would fully expect that at some point, whether it\u2019s next year or the year after I\u2019ll be back hurling with Derry. Given that this is our first year in F\u00e9ile, it wouldn\u2019t be fair to the wanes to push them into F\u00e9ile and not be there to help them through it, and to prepare them properly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a chairman in Castledawson [Noel McKenna] who is exceptionally good to everyone. He gives everyone their fair share. We\u2019re also very fortunate to have Kevin Hinphey who has done wonders for me here in terms of getting extra coaches down to help out – the likes of Colm Dillon from Lavey has been excellent.<\/p>\n \u201cBut Derry hurling is something I love and I fully intend to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n For 2014, however, hurling\u2019s loss is hurling\u2019s gain.<\/p>\n [Nine Derry clubs will take part in F\u00e9ile na nGael which is being held throughout Ulster on 20-22 June. See DerryGAA.ie<\/a> for team profiles.]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CON HOULIHAN hated hurling snobs. The \u2018traditionalists\u2019 who believed that it took several generations to produce a hurler \u2013 that there was some kind of mythical gene passed from generation to generation without which all effort was doomed to fail \u2013 were \u2018amusing mystics\u2019 according to the great Kerry writer. Giving typical lyrical form to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\nFinding the Level<\/h2>\n
A\u00a0F\u00e9ile Future<\/h2>\n