Three months ago, 120 children turned up for the first ever Mac Néan Hurling Club training session.
The newly established unit serves as a collaboration between the Belcoo O'Raghallaigh and Shannon Gaels GAA clubs in the MacNean area, which bridges the Fermanagh and Cavan border.
The club not only crosses county territory but the north/south border and so many stumbling blocks and plenty of technical queries were presented along the way to the club's birth.
Still, officials there are happy with their progress to-date.
They say that outside the box thinking was needed and implemented to achieve their goal of fostering community through hurling for both children and adults.
"Where we live in Belcoo is twinned with Blacklion, two small villages in rural Ireland," says John Flanagan , one of the driving forces of Mac Néan Hurling club.
"One is in the north in Fermanagh, and the other is in the south, and both villages have two active GAA clubs, and two good fields all within a couple of miles of each other.
"Down the years we have both suffered with people emigrating and different things like that. Numbers are low and we're struggling.
"Because of the politics of the GAA, you know, you couldn't cross county boundaries and so we're very independent and there wouldn't have been much kind of mixing.
"But we recently undertook a lot of development and we spoke to Shannon Gaels and their new chair Shane Nulty about their fundraising.
"It was then that the idea also came up about hurling. We didn't have hurling in the area but we were aware of a league for underage teams that was not county bound, but determined by area."
That competition is the Táin Óg Hurling League - a youth hurling competition designed to provide underage players with more meaningful games and facilitate matches between teams from different counties.
"That format suited us and gives us something to aim for, " Flanagan continues.
"So we came together and said we would join forces to get the game going in this region and see where it could bring us."
Fielding a team from two counties was not straightforward with concerns and queries coming domestically from both counties.
But the two clubs proceeded with their plans.
"Mac Néan was formed, named after the lake where we live," Flanagan explains
"Both clubs formed a subcommittee. It’s not technically deemed a club yet, but that is a technicality. We run it as a club," he states.
They designed a new jersey, which has been sponsored by sportswear company O’Neills and Fermanagh hurley maker Finian Baker also helped them out with some hurleys for the children.
"On the first night of training we had 120 kids out, which was absolutely phenomenal," Flanagan says, "and we're now running about 60 to 80 kids depending on the weather.
"Obviously the time is coming to do indoor training for October and November and we will look at the community centre for that.
"Everything we do is aimed at opening hurling to more children and families on both sides of the border," he adds."The immediate aim is training sessions, blitzes and tournaments, challenge games at underage.
"Those are the first steps. We would hope to see it grow from there."We had to think outside the box to get this far, and we will have to in the future."
The unprecedented joint venture was explained in full detail to GAA president Jarlath Burns and head of hurling Willie Maher, both of whom the club met earlier this summer.
Flanagan says that the response was very enthusiastic. He also hails Ulster GAA hurling manager Kevin Kelly for providing assistance in helping the club obtain a grant and giving support to coaches.
Months later, kids who come from different schools, different teams and different counties now arrive at training at Mac Néan Park in Belcoo each week and come together for a common purpose.
Down the line there may be issues in terms of what competitions they enter, or what county they represent – but Flanagan says that is in the future.
For now, they look to grow from strength to strength.
"Coaches, coaches, and more coaches, that's what we need most of all," he says.
"A lot of us don’t have the coaching expertise that is needed for hurling so that would be most welcome now."
