A sell-out crowd packed into the Tullyglass on Friday for a memorable night of insightful conversation and storytelling with seven greats of the GAA.
The event run by Friends of St Louis centred on the theme ‘The Student Athlete to the Elite Athlete.’ Compere extraordinaire Shane Elliot probed the guests on their experiences of playing and coaching football and hurling at second, third level & beyond. The Dunloy man also branched out his questioning to broader issues in the modern game of Hurling & Gaelic Football drawing fascinating insights from the panel.
First up was Gaelic Football with Peter Canavan, Dr Paul McFlynn and Paddy Tally taking to the stage. Wasting no time, Shane opened the discussion on the topic on everyone lips of late – the appointment of Mickey Harte as Derry Senior Football Manager. A lively & diplomatic discussion ensued between the two Tyrone legends one who played under Mickey and one coached with him & with the Derry man Paul, who will be a member of Harte’s backroom team for the incoming season.
The three men went onto contribute their thoughts on the state of modern football and its defensive set up and the challenges facing underage teams in an age of ultra-competitiveness.
After an interval where guests enjoyed a delicious buffet and the music of St Louis Traditional Group, there was a presentation to the school’s All Ireland winning Camogie team.
The second half of the night centred on Hurling & Camogie, the impressive panel consisted of Martin Fogarty, Ursula Jacob, Neil McManus and Lucia McNaughton. Discussion centred on the challenges facing young athletes in an age of social media. Ursula Jacob shared her own story of dealing with Twitter trolls when she talked about enough being enough and loving her role with RTE.
Neil, fresh from Cushendall’s win last weekend, issued a plea for Ulster GAA to step up their efforts for the small ball in the North.
Martin discussed how ego can impact not just the players, but everyone involved with a team.
And finally Lucia, a past pupil of St. Louis, spoke about her love for the game, the friendships made and continually striving to be the best every time she goes out onto the pitch.
The crowd were treated to an abundance of craic and stories and plans are already in place for a return next year.
