Arguably the biggest barrier to the development of hurling in most counties is an ingrained sense that hurling can only be played or developed to the detriment of Gaelic football.

It is a curious but depressingly common mindset. GAA people involved with clubs with a preference for seeing children going to play hurling with another club or to play rugby or soccer as a second sport. I have no issue with children playing any sport. It is all positive and most people who get involved in coaching or helping out with their local sports clubs do it for the right reasons. They are trying to do good by the children involved and to provide a positive sporting outlet for young people in their communities. However, a GAA club should surely see that a child coming to the club more often and getting more opportunities to represent their club will form a tighter bond to the club.

The list of other benefits for offering both codes is extensive, it provides children with the opportunity to develop a lot of transferable skills, it broadens the appeal of the club to new members, strengthens the bonds between players who train and play more often together and it promotes a lower rate of fall away from clubs.

Kilkenny is often cited as the County where the situation is reversed, where hurling is king and football is treated with distain or contempt. However, the truth on the ground is that the Gaelic football scene in Kilkenny is something that hurling communities in eight Ulster counties can only aspire to in terms of participation numbers. 30 clubs participate in Gaelic football competition at underage level in Kilkenny, 27 clubs field at adult level. 90% of primary schools participate in Cumman na Bunscoil Gaelic football competitions, which has the exact same structure and provides the same number of games as the hurling competition.

Hurling is the number one sport in Kilkenny but Gaelic football is treated fairly and participation levels are very high. The opportunity is provided for any child that wants to play Gaelic football in Kilkenny, as it should be. Do Kilkenny clubs see Gaelic football as equally important to hurling? No, but hurling people in Kilkenny don’t view football as some sort of existential threat the way hurling is often perceived in counties where the game is, in many cases, actually on its knees.

I played Gaelic football for my local club St Canice’s, Dungiven. The football and hurling clubs in the town are separate but the club teams are largely made up of dual players. My own football career stalled at the age of 15. A late developer, I was very small and fairly immobile at that age which wasn’t much of a basis for a budding football career.

In 2003 my brother Liam joined me at Coleraine University. Liam had just won a Hogan Cup playing for St Patricks Maghera and was already playing for the Dungiven senior team. Liam signed up to play for the university football team. I quickly realised there was an extremely healthy social scene surrounding the UUC football team which I found very appealing and with that I was back out of my football retirement. I was in good shape at the time as I was playing club and county hurling, so I got on okay playing for Coleraine. I made the university team and enjoyed the experience.

That winter I went back to club football training. I played both codes until I was 33. One of my biggest sporting regrets is losing the 2007 football final to the Loup. We had a very good team at the time but just didn’t perform to our potential on the day. The following week we defeated Sleacht Néill in a County hurling final replay.

Being a dual player certainly had its challenges but ultimately the pros far outweighed the cons. At times when the county hurling season ended, it was great to get back to football and get a chance to play a different code.

The bond between the dual players was unbelievably close, we were together practically every evening, training with one team or the other, we suffered in defeat and celebrated victory together. The bond between those players still remains very strong even though we have finished up playing.

Sleacht Néill have had an unbelievable period of success over recent years. They have won countless titles in hurling, camogie and football at county, provincial and national level. Unfortunately, we have been on the receiving end of this success. A number of painful championship defeats during these years have been hard to take. The only solace I gain from it is, that no one can credibly argue that it is not possible to be a successful dual club or dual player in the face of the irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Where management teams accept that players want to play both codes & be successful in both codes and show a willingness to work together to facilitate that want, then it is possible. It can also create a momentum where success in one code can fuel success in the other.

In order for hurling standards to develop, counties need to get more clubs participating in hurling. To do this, counties need to find ways to get Gaels within clubs to see the benefits that offering hurling can provide and chip away at the misconception that hurling is a threat to Gaelic football in some way. There are some positive signs that counties are recognising this reality and working to improve the situation. Fermanagh now have 8 teams competing in hurling competition at underage level. 10 years ago, Lisbellaw were the only team. Getting all these teams through to playing at adult level will be very challenging but it is the only way for hurling to survive and develop in the County.

Fermanagh Gaels deserve great credit for the work going on in the county, hopefully other Ulster counties can see the progress being made and will be inspired to follow suit.

Hurling is a great game, unique and central to Irish culture and heritage.

All children in Ireland should have the opportunity to play and enjoy the game. It is the duty of counties, clubs and the Gaels across Ulster to provide this opportunity.

NO THREAT… Kilkenny is famous for its hurling, but at underage they don’t fear football, unlike other counties according to Kevin Hinphey