Kilkenny Hurling Experience: What to Expect

• A working GAA club in Kilkenny is not the most obvious place to find yourself any afternoon. But O’Loughlin Gaels on Hebron Road is where you will join your hurling session, and the fact that it is a real club ground rather than a purpose-built visitor attraction is exactly the point! The pitch gets used. The dressing room has seen actual match days. When the club coach (your guide), talks about what hurling means in this county, he is talking about the place he has spent most of his life.
   
  The session lasts around 90 minutes and splits into two clear parts. 
  Here is how it runs.
   

Step 1: The dressing room

• You start inside, not on the pitch. The team changing room at O’Loughlin Gaels is where Kilkenny club players get ready on match days, and the session begins here deliberately. Your expert coach covers the origins of hurling: its roots in Irish mythology, its mention in the Brehon Laws, and how a sport played by amateurs in front of 82,000 people at Croke Park has stayed that way since the GAA was founded in 1884. 
   
  He explains what the sliotar is (the small leather ball, travelling at over 150km/h in a county final), what the camán is (the ash-wood hurley you are about to hold), and why Kilkenny specifically matters. Twenty-three All-Ireland titles. A county that takes this seriously in a way that is hard to explain until you are sitting in the room where it happens.
   
  Allow 20 to 25 minutes here. It is worth paying attention, because the skills session makes more sense once you know what you are holding and why!

Step 2: Out to the pitch

• Now the fun begins…from the dressing room you move to the field. Hurleys and helmets are provided; all you need is flat, closed-toe shoes and clothing you can move in. Your coach and his  staff are on the pitch with you for the full session. 
   
  There are four skills, taught in sequence.
   
  Ground strike. The ball sits on the turf. You sweep the hurley underneath it and send it forward. Simple in theory; it takes a few attempts to get the angle right. Most people have it by the third or fourth go.
   
  Hand pass. A short, punched delivery: hold the sliotar in one hand, strike it with a closed fist. This is the quickest skill to pick up and the one that makes you feel, briefly, like you know what you are doing.
   
  Solo run. Carry the ball forward by bouncing it on the face of the hurley as you move. The ball has to come back up to your hand every four steps. This is the one that takes practice.
   
  Overhead strike. A high ball, met with a full swing of the hurley. When it connects cleanly it is the most satisfying moment of the session. When it does not, it is still entertaining.
   
  No particular fitness level is needed. The session has been run with guests from age six to their mid-seventies, and the coaching adapts accordingly. Don’t worry, you will not be out of your depth.

Step 3: Shots at the goals

• The session closes with a chance to take shots at the goals. The posts are tall and narrow. The sliotar is small. Scoring is harder than it looks, which is part of the appeal but your coach can keep score if you want him to!
   
  And of course, there are plenty of photo opportunities throughout the session to preserve the moment.

Check out the real thing at Nowlan Park