Next weekend the modern titans of Cork and Clare will bestride Croke Park once again for a curtain call that will bring to a climax the most competitive and inspiring hurling championship of recent years. While the national game continued to transfuse the GAA psyche, more orientated towards Gaelic Football, with repeated reminders of the aristocracy and nobleness of hurling, the noblest of sports seemed almost destined to be a pastime reserved for all but the few.

Those fortunate to get a ticket will set out again for Croke Park and All Ireland Hurling final weekend, part two. It's as though the ancient game is raising a clarion call for recognition, that it's a game unique to Ireland and all its peoples, not just those fortunate to have been born or reared in Kilkenny, Tipperary or Cork. Those old enough will recall names such as Ring, Lynch, McCarthy, Fenton, Barry-Murphy, Corcoran, O'Sullivan, O'hAilpín, Smith, McMahon, Stack, Callinan, Honan, Loughnane, Lohan, McMahon, Daly, O'Connor not forgetting Davy Fitztgerald himself. His repeated references to small little fish post All Ireland part one shows that the GAA's perceived chilled indifference to Hurling among those outside the elite blows fresh as ever even where the game is relatively strong. (Those less steeped in history with youth on their side will probably only have recall of next Sunday's warriors.)

And if the the big fishes can boast more Celtic Crosses, let's not forget that but for the vision of Clare man Michael Cusack, none of us might be travelling to Croke Park at all, for any sport. Fitzgerald closed his interview with the words; "this is a great game, keep playing it and you never know what might be". If that doesn't convince, it's odds on that Marty Morrissey will remind us all again in commentary that "they love their hurling in Crusheen, in Cratloe or Clarecastle", never mind the unmilked cows in Kilmurry-Ibricklane should his beloved Clare win second time around.

But they love their hurling too in other places, not least in a place far to the north of Cork and Clare, a place where, to the outsider, the nearest similarity to Cork is the sharing of the colours white and red not too mention a ferocious pride in their Irishness. For in that place, just a few months before Ring brought Cork to Hurling's first four in a row in 1944, a group of friends decided they'd start a hurling club. They named it Eoghan Ruadh, after O'Neill whose fort, set on the highest point of the town, once ruled over large swathes of Gaelic Ireland. The local football club, some twenty seven years older, proudly bore the name of another of the town's contribution to Ireland, Thomas Clarke, signatory to the 1916 Proclamation.

There were scattered references to hurling in that place called Dungannon in Co Tyrone, old men talked of a game called "commons" being a regular feature after Mass on Sundays, boys evacuated from Belfast to shelter from the Blitz brought with them strange implements fashioned from ash and recognisable to all but a few. By luck or design a timely influx of hurling orientated Presentation Brothers, from Cork and Clare, helped ferment the enthusiasm of the fledgling group of friends. The generosity of the late Dean Francis McLarnon in opening the school fields at the old St Patrick's Academy, down the hill from O'Neill's Fort also helped. In those early days they travelled the length and breadth of Ulster in pursuit of hurling, to all those places where, as Marty would say "they love their hurling", where hurling tournaments were regular features of local "feiseanna".

Fast forward nearly seventy years and Eoghan Ruadh are still going strong. They lead the county roll of honour with twenty two senior championships. Numerous other honours have been won at county and provincial level not to mention All Ireland Féile na nGael title (Div 4 1984), All Ireland Shield Sevens titles, an All Ireland Poc Fada Champion and All Ireland Minor football winner (Gerry Goodwin) as well as the captain of the last Queens University team to contest an Fitzgibbon Cup (Pádraig Devlin), Ulster Colleges All Stars, Combined Universities and British University All-Star awards. Throw in contributions to Tyrone hurling teams that won All Ireland C Minor and Juvenile titles, National Leagues and Lory Meagher Cups not to mention contributions to refereeing and administration. And they're still travelling to thee places where they love their hurling. All the more remarkable when one considers that they still have no home of their own, but more of that later.

A weekend before All Ireland Sunday, just like O'Neill before them, the club dispatched its own raiding party in the form of over fifty youngsters at age under ten and under twelve to Mullinahone in County Tipperary for the Mullinahone CJ Kickhams Festival of Hurling. It's become a regular slot in the club diary and previous teams had all acquitted themselves well. But that weekend's exploits reached a new zenith for the club. Club mentors knew they had a decent squad; they'd already won the Kevin Lynch Memorial Cup in Dungiven. Club youth officer, Cathal McErlean, not content with doing well in Tyrone, had consistently set the bar a notch or two higher every year for every team and their coaches. Indeed, several parents with little hurling experience have been despatched to Foundation Coaching courses and are now integral to the success of the club. After what amounted to the equivalent of twenty four hours non stop hurling spread across all the teams, it was the young lads of Eoghan Ruadh who returned north with the CJ Kickhams Hurling Trophy. More important was the calibre of the opposition. They overcame Kildalkey of Meath, Cappataggle of Galway, Mullinahone of Tipperary in the group stages, John Lockes of Kilkenny in the semi-final and finally, Miseal of Carlow in the final, Miseal having defeated Offaly champions Kilcormac- Killoughy.

A delighted Conall Devlin received the CJ Kickhams Cup from Mullinahone Youth Chairman Declan McNamara and Mullinahone's oldest living club member, 104 year old John Vaughan.

So it was back up the road to Dungannon, but not before a quick stop off at Ballyhale Shamrocks for another challenge match, refereedby six times All-Ireland winner Michael Fennelly. The team arrived back in Dungannon to the Hurling Fields to a tumultuous welcome from club members and supporters.

Well we say the Hurling Fields, but in truth they're just a collection of small pitches, one grass, bordered by what were once tennis courts and two gravel pitches. Formerly the sports field for the old Intermediate School, these fields have been the spiritual home to Eoghan Ruadh since the Presentation Brothers. From there all of their teams have learned the ancient skills and ethos of hurling. The dream is to convert the existing facility to a full size pitch with additional training and changing facilities. Thanks to the foresight and generosity of parish priest Dean Colum Currie, the club was granted an extended lease and are in the middle of a major fundraising drive to make the dream a reality. Fourteen months ago the club completed the erection of a Hurling Wall, named in honour of club stalwart Dan Morgan. It's to the Hurling Wall, itself emblazoned with hurling graphics featuring club players, that victorious teams head for to record their achievements. "It's a bit of a hurling magnet" says Club Chairman Tomas Colton, himself a national official with the GPA... Tomas adds; "During the winter, with floodlighting and throughout the long summer evening, the place is heaving with youngsters as well as seniors. We're blessed that our seniors, many of them only in their early twenties, have such a bond with our younger players. And the parents are so generous of their time and resources; it's just like one big family. God forbid that we ever lose that. While we were off to Tipperary several of those seniors were taking charge of our minors as they annexed a fifth county minor title in a row on Friday night. I guess it's just a common love and appreciation of hurling, words can't really describe it. But most important is the enjoyment and the friendships that develop. I remember the years when we weren't winning anything but there were still men to keep putting in the work. We owe it to them as well as future generations to build a fitting citadel for hurling".

They'll keep travelling to places where they love their hurling. All Ireland Hurling weekend part one was no different. While the spotlight of the media fell on Cork and Clare, Eoghan Ruadh too were in Dublin, the under twelve's at St Vincents for the Lar Foley tournament, the seniors at Kilmacud for the All Ireland 7s Shield. Both Shield trophies travelled back north to Dungannon and the Hill of the O'Neill. They too might be small fish, but they love their hurling in Dungannon and, in the word s of Davy Fitz, "they'll keep playing it and you never know what might be". Tweet

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