CUMANN NA MBUNSCOL ARD MHACHA HURLING DEVELOPMENT SQUAD TRIP TO KILKENNY

On Friday 20^th March the Armagh Primary Schools’ Hurling Development Squad left Armagh for a coaching weekend in Kilkenny.  The party of 38 young hurlers was made up from Primary Schools throughout the county.  This development squad trip was the culmination of an extensive coaching programme commencing in October last.  The squad met on a weekly basis rotating between three venues and attendance was consistently excellent.  

On arriving in Kilkenny on Friday afternoon the group were escorted to Clara where they played mini-sided games with a Kilkenny Primary Schools’ selection.  To facilitate the GoGames philosophy of maximum participation in an atmosphere of fun the squads were mixed with Armagh kids playing alongside their Kilkenny counterparts.  This proved to be a highly successful strategy with great skill and enthusiasm shown all round.  After this game the party headed to their base in Foulksrath Castle Hostel, a Sixteenth Century Tower House belonging to the Purcell family and which later passed into the hands of Dean Swift’s family.   

That evening the young Armagh hurlers were invited by Brian Cody to the Kilkenny Senior Squad training session in St. Ciaran’s College.  Brian spoke to the young hurlers and encouraged them to practise constantly if they wanted to achieve success.  Cha Fitzpatrick, former Kilkenny Captain and a young teacher himself, gave freely of his time to meet the squad and to give tips on improving their game by listening to their coaches and putting the drills into practice.  Autographs and photographs were the order of the evening and reluctantly the kids boarded the coach for refreshments and bed.

Children from St. Malachy's Primary School, are pictured with Uachtarán CLG Nickey Brennan at the Cumann na mbunscol Ard mhacha hurling development squad trip.