Kids getting into the swing with soft foam hurley

IF you are looking for a stocking filler of a sporting variety this Christmas, then one that should certainly appeal to the young and active in the household is the newly launched hurlóg – the soft foam hurley for children under six that recently made a prominent appearance on The Late Late Show Toy Show.

Believe it or not, the hurlóg is the brainchild of a Galway-based husband and wife duo, former Cork hurler Eoin Fitzgerald – formerly of Castlegar and now hurling with Oranmore/Maree – and Kiltartan wife Ciara (nee Moran). The couple reside in Oranmore with their two and a half year-old son, Daithí.

Indeed, it is at their beautiful, warm home in Oran Island, where they have been living for the past three years, that Talking Sport visits to discuss their new and brave business venture, which some may recognise from the AIB advert currently running on TV. As simple as the idea is, Eoin and Ciara have to be commended for having the courage of their convictions. Their story really is an inspiring one.

“The original idea came from when we had our own first child, Daithí almost three years ago. We had looked for a hurley, but there was nothing really there for a child that young,” begins Ciara, as she places the brewing pot of tea and an assortment of croissants and toast on the kitchen table.

Eoin takes up the story. “We had seen the material [in a baseball bat] in the United States when we were over there. To be honest, we had never really thought of it until we went looking for baby stuff, the push prams, the cots and all that kind of stuff ourselves.”

However, aside, perhaps, from the small, ornamental hurl produced through the Gaga Baby.ie website, the Fitzgeralds discovered there was no soft hurley appropriate for young toddlers. “And, anyway, how would you give a child an ash hurley?” muses Castlelyons native Eoin. 

“The way I see it, though, everything has a phase or a step in its development. Like, you started off sitting up, then crawling, and then you learned to walk. It is all development and it is the same with hurling. You need to learn how to hold the hurl and swing it before you can play.

“A baseball bat for that age is very simple to make because you just stick a tube in it and you wrap foam around it. But how do you make a hurley that is thin, light, soft and yet durable? That you can swing it and belt around with it? To make it that it is something you can use rather than have it nice to look at?”

The couple set to work. A number of prototypes were made up and taken to the annual GAA coaching conference – attended by some 700 people – in Croke Park, where they got lots of feedback. “Now, we probably knew some of it already, but it was good to hear it over and over again, such as ‘make a bigger boss’, ‘make a bigger ball’, ‘make a smaller handle’. It was very simple stuff, but practical,” says Eoin.

One of the observations was the “rough” finish, with the contours of the ash-look more pronounced than they, perhaps, should have been. However, after securing an innovation voucher worth €5,000 from Enterprise Ireland, the Fitzgeralds employed the aid of Athlone IT.

In all, the process lasted almost 12 months, each step painstakingly leading towards the final design. Along with creating a product that would look great, they also needed to consider the shape – would it take the form of a Cork, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Galway or other hurl – but in the end they found a “happy medium” for the hurlóg. One that they hope ticks all the boxes.

In January of this year, the Fitzgeralds – or hurlóg Limited – finally placed an order for 2,000 to a manufacturer in China as it was not possible to get the product made here, in Ireland. “The packaging then is completely separate,” continues Ciara. “The hurls come in bags and we box them. So, the first 2,000, we boxed them. It started off here; they were done here in this room.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.