GAA calls for input into national hurling action plan

The GAA has announced the creation of a workgroup that will formulate a 'National Hurling Action Plan' in a bid to try and develop the small-ball code, with particular emphasis on counties playing in the lower-tier championships.

A recent proposal by the Central Competitions Control Committee that counties with fewer than five adult hurling clubs would not participate in the National League from 2025 drew a strong negative reaction and was ultimately withdrawn last weekend.

The CCCC suggested that hurling could be improved in those counties if some of the funds spent on inter-county participation were diverted into development but the proposal was met with outrage by the counties that would have been affected - Fermanagh, Cavan, Leitrim, Longford and Louth - and further afield.

Writing for RTÉ Sport, three-time All-Ireland winner Dónal Óg Cusack questioned the GAA's commitment to the sport and suggested that the fact Martin Fogarty had not been replaced as national hurling director after his five-year-term expired in 2021 "says it all".

Ex-Kilkenny U21 manager and senior selector Fogarty last week told RTÉ Sport that a hurling taskforce was needed to help grow the game beyond its traditional heartlands.

The GAA has now confirmed the formation of a committee, chaired by Maynooth GAA's Colm Nolan, which it said would "facilitate the formulation of a three-year action plan to sustain and grow hurling in line with the overarching vision and goals set out in the GAA strategic plan."

The GAA said the primary aims of the action plan were to:

The workgroup had its first meeting last Saturday, with Éibhear O'Dea [Limerick], Kieran Farmer- [Fermanagh], Keith Higgins [Mayo], Darragh Cox [Sligo], Joey Carton [Waterford], Kevin Kelly