The Clash

Available for over a year

A hurley is the name given to the stick used to hit a leather ball - or sliotar - in the ancient Gaelic sport of hurling. And the time-honoured tradition of the Irish hurley stick maker is where gentle craftsmanship and player's dreams collide. Neil McManus hurls for Cushendall (Ruairí Óg G.A.A.) and is visiting local craftsman and hurley stick maker, Michael Scullion. Like his father before him, Michael carves only from ash, hand-picking the trees from which they're hewn. Michael Ennis hurls for Ballycran and has gone to see his local hurley maker, Barry Reynolds. With ash become ever scarcer, Barry uses only modern materials in the sticks he lovingly fashions. As Neil McManus and Michael Ennis' opposing teams prepare to clash on impeccable playing fields in the village of Cushendall in the Glens of Antrim, we're immersed in a journey from stick to pitch. But it's not just the hurley sticks that can break in what might just be the fastest - and most ferocious - field sport on earth. Produced and narrated by Róisín Kelleher, BBC Northern Ireland Sound Supervisor: John Simpson Additional Sound Design: Jason Martin, Barney Smyth