I don’t know what Frank O’Meara said to his Shamrock hurlers at half-time on Sunday, July 13, at Cardinal Dougherty field, but they came roaring back from a scoreless first half to tie the match against the against the Allentown Hibernians. Final score: 3-4 Shamrocks, 4-1 Hibernians.
These two new teams—some of whose members had never heard of hurling until this spring—are improving by literal leaps and bounds. Allentown had come off of two losses for the tie. “We’re happy with a tie game,” says team member Jeff Purtell who, a PGA golf pro, might see a little of the “good walk spoiled” in hurling, in which the ball, called a sliotar or sliothar, is often walloped at 90 miles an hour more than a 100 yards down the field.
But there’s no leisurely putting in hurling. In fact, there’s no leisurely anything. “It’s a full 60 minutes,” says Purtell.
There are two more local games on the roster—August 3 and August 10—then both hurling teams will go to the North American Champsionship near Boston August 29-31.
