Clash of the ash turns to carbon fibre

It feels like ash, it looks like ash, but the clash may be somewhat different. A new slim, trim hurley was unveiled to a critical sporting public at NUI Galway yesterday, when the carbon-fibre version received the blessing of the GAA.

The AshMor has been invented and developed over the past four years at the university with the support of industry, Enterprise Ireland and the GAA's hurling development committee. The main aim of the project has been to find an attractive and durable alternative to ash for juvenile hurlers, which would have the same "spring and feel" as the original.

The work has involved a unique collaboration between western counties Galway and Kerry, and was directed by a football champion, no less. It involved NUI Galway's composites research unit, led by Dr Conchur O Bradaigh, with an industrial collaborator, Killarney Plastics Ltd., of Co Kerry.

The all-Ireland football winning full-back, Gary Fahey, has managed the research team for the past two years.

The hurley will be on display next weekend at the GAA special congress on hurling in Wexford, at Science Week in the RDS, Dublin, from Sunday, and at the first Galway Science Fair in Leisureland on November 8th. It is expected to be on the market early next year.