The most recent installment of the Setanta Hurling programme came to a conclusion last week and has proved an immense success.
An eight week edition, which began in mid-May, came to a conclusion with a series of games in O’Moore Park and the Centre of Excellence last week.
The Setanta Programme was originally begun back in 2005 and ran in the county for more than a decade with many of the current Laois senior hurlers having come through it.
Catering to all abilities, the Setanta Programme is aimed towards the development of all young hurlers in the county. The programme focus is to instill passion and pride in the young hurlers of Laois in providing preparation for future development squads.
Sessions consist of high-quality hurling coaching, drills, games and matches from both Laois GAA academy squad coaches and club coaches in Laois, in collaboration with the Coaching and Games department and Cumann na mBunscol.
The idea is that you identify the best and most suitable coaches for development squads and also have the players at a standard where they are very comfortable at the basic skills by the age of 14.
It was discontinued but last year, under the drive of a dedicated committee working with Brendan Phelan from The Harps, Setanta returned to cater for U-10 boys.
This year, two age groups were included, U-10 and U-11 with Clonad GAA coming on board as an additional venue to cater for the numbers.
Speaking to LaoisToday, Brendan Phelan thanked all of the committee and the coaches for their help.
He said: “Mattie Collier (chairman of hurling board), Shane Maher (Cumann na mBunscol), Colm Clear, Liam Ahern and Dessie Conroy are on the committee.
“They are great Laois lads and they are trying to change the culture and improve standards.
“Liam Ahern really took a lot of pressure off me – he was able to make sure that there was no ‘second season syndrome’. You worry that after it got off to such a good start last year that it could die a death but we actually increased the numbers.
“I also want to thank the County Board too. Niall Handy, secretary, has been very good to us and accommodated us with pitches.
“And I also must mention Clonad too who were brilliant to deal with and provided pitches that allowed us to expand.
“We had members of the Laois senior hurling panel over on the final night and that was brilliant – the kids absolutely loved meeting them and they were so good with their time.
“We are trying to make playing for Laois attractive and do things the right way.
“We are also extremely lucky to have some brilliant coaches who are all eager to learn.
“Every two weeks, we changed the activities and drills and the coaches were sent a PDF on this so they knew what they were doing before they got here.
“And the brilliant thing is that all of these coaches can take the skills that they have learned back to their clubs which can only be a good thing.”
Between the two groups, there was more than 290 boys registered. The U-11s had 170 and U-10s had 110.
240 boys were present on the final night last Wednesday and almost every club – from all corners of the county – were represented.
Brendan said: “The programme is open to all abilities and it has to be this way as children develop at completely different rates.
“If we are trying to pick a county minor panel from 240, obviously not all will be up to the standard right now, but the coaching that they are getting will help.
“I am convinced that we are giving them the very best of coaching.
“And with the group that are there now, there is a longer term plan where when they get to U-14, perhaps you could have three panels of 25 and widen the net a bit further.
“You are not just picking the strongest group – but you are giving all these boys that we are currently working with a chance to develop.
“It has been two good years but to see real benefit, this programme needs to continue for at least ten years.”
Next year, the Setanta Programme intends to expand further.
Brendan said: “Our plan next year is to go U-10, U-11 and U-12. Again, you are bridging the gap to development squads.
“We are convinced that this will improve standards in Laois and we are determined to drive it on.”
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