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[From top: Tadhg Bolger duringthe Celtic Cup 2013 where Ireland beat France 12-8t; The national team try-outs held in UCD; Robert Byrne and Cillian Murphy (right) at the end of the  ‘try-outs’ ; Hall-of-Fame coach Richie Moran ad­dresses the Irish players at the end of the try-outs; Ireland Lacrosse CEO Michael Kennedy with a traditional lacrosse stick; Tadgh Bolger playing ‘Wall Ball’ which is how Lacrosse players improve their basic skills. Tadhg has been selected for the Irish team that will play at the World Championship’s in Denver, Colorado]

“This traditional lacrosse stick is very important to me – it was crafted on the Onondaga Indian Reservation in upstate New York (I’m originally from New York) and was given to me by my teammates as a gift after I retired (after playing for 8 years, 6 years as captain) from the Irish national lacrosse team. Lacrosse is a sport given to us by Native American Indians, and they believe that they have received it from the Creator, so this stick symbolises both my own origins and my passion for the sport of lacrosse, which I continue to try to develop in Ireland.”

Michael Kennedy, CEO of Ireland Lacrosse.

Tom Beary writes:

For most observers, the road to the 2014 World Lacrosse Championships (Men’s) in Denver, Colorado this July started in late October 2013 when trials for the senior men’s Irish national team were held over the course of a wind-and-rain-swept weekend in Dublin.

For most of those involved in Irish lacrosse, however, that event wasn’t so much about the start of a journey, as it was about yet another checkpoint along the long and winding pathway which has been the development of lacrosse in Ireland, an odyssey which started as long ago as the late 1800s.

Overseeing the process of selection for the national team – which would require selection of 23 players out of the nearly 70 player-candidates that attended the trials – were a number of key figures who have played a prominent role in the development of lacrosse in Ireland.

Principal among these was Richie Moran, legendary US Lacrosse Hall-of-Fame coach who guided Cornell University to three US NCAA Division I national championships in the 1970s, and who, since he retired from Cornell, has applied his expertise, and energy to the task of promoting and developing Irish lacrosse.

Overseeing and co-ordinating the selection process itself was John Cavanaugh, National Teams Director for Ireland Lacrosse and Athletic Therapist for the team, whose day job sees him based at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, and who has also been part of the staff of the United States Swim Team at both the Beijing and London Olympics.

And working with Moran and Cavanaugh, as well as the other coaches and assessors for the trials, was Michael Kennedy, CEO of Ireland Lacrosse, the National Governing Body for the sport of lacrosse in Ireland, and member of the Irish national team for eight major tournaments from 2004-2011 (and captain of the team from 2005-2010).

Moran and Cavanaugh’s involvement with the Irish lacrosse team stretches back to 2002, when the team competed in the World Championships which took place in Perth, Australia that summer. At that time, the Irish team was comprised entirely of players who resided outside Ireland, and were eligible for the team on the basis of their Irish ancestry.

While the team enjoyed some success in that tournament, it was clear that the real challenge would be to introduce lacrosse onto Irish soil. It was with that objective in mind then that efforts were subsequently undertaken to get equipment delivered to Ireland, to run clinics and exhibition games, and to recruit beginner players and introduce them to this amazing game, which has its origins in Native American Indian culture.

Taking up this mantle, Kennedy then established Ireland Lacrosse in 2009 to put a proper organisational structure onto these efforts. Nowadays, there is an Irish Lacrosse League (ILL) for both men’s and women’s teams, a National Indoor Lacrosse League (NILL) that takes place during the winter, and there is a programme of development that includes training of lacrosse referees and a coaching development qualification programme.

The success in these endeavours, which are all aimed at promoting the game and developing new players, has led to an arrangement whereby the Irish national team is now divided roughly 50/50 into ‘Irish-based’ and ‘non-Irish-based’ players. So, just as there is trans-Atlantic co-operation at the organisational level between the likes of Richie Moran and John Cavanaugh in the US and Michael Kennedy in Ireland, so also on the field that same co-operation is evident – and to great effect. In the 2012 European Championships, the Irish team made it all the way to the final, losing to England but coming away with a silver medal. The team is currently ranked 2nd in Europe and 9th in the world.

However, neither lacrosse, nor this trans-Atlantic co-operation regarding it, is new to Ireland. In 1867 teams from Canada (including Native American Indian players) played exhibition games throughout the UK and in Ireland. In 1872, the first lacrosse club was established in Newtownards (just outside of Belfast).

And in the summer of 1886, following the formation of an Irish men’s national lacrosse team, that team took a trip to the USA and Canada to play a number of exhibition games there over an approximate three-month period. All eyes will be on the current team making a similar trip across the water this summer in the hope of making a big impression in Denver.

Ireland Lacrosse, together with the national team players, engages in a wide array of fundraising activity in order to cover the cost of participating in a major tournament such as the World Championships.

In the lead-up to the tournament in Denver this summer, the “Be Our Hero” campaign has been launched in order to find supporters and sponsors for the team. More information, including the link to purchase our special edition “Be Our Hero” t-shirt here.

Check out Ireland Lacrosse

Ireland Lacrosse (Facebook)

Photographs by Tom Beary 

 

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