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06th Sep 2017

Waterford youngster responds to Michael Duignan call-out, to nail hurling’s toughest skill

Even senior hurlers will struggle to do this

Niall McIntyre

All from his own kitchen.

Young Leo Mulhall, like the rest of Waterford’s supporters, went home from Croke Park on Sunday crestfallen and disappointed, but was inspired by and was in admiration of all those involved with the Déise set-up.

Waterford went down on Sunday, but this young side went down fighting, and you can bet your bottom dollar on it, that these lads will be back.

Their youthful exuberance, their team-spirit, they’ve every characteristic needed to be a successful team of the future, and it’s no surprise that the youngsters of tomorrow are feeding off this trend that they have created.

The youngsters of Waterford are looking up to the likes of Austin Gleeson, the likes of Patrick Curran , the likes of Tadhg De Búrca.

Dungarvan nine-year-old Leo Mulhall is like many of these Déise chaps, the only difference is that he has more skill than the majority of others.

Michael Duignan was recently speaking on The Second Captains podcast, when he challenged hurlers of Ireland to attempt to jab lift the ball, without your hurl touching the ground, or causing that scraping sound that usually happens as the hurl lifts the sliotar.

Donal Óg Cusack spoke of perfecting this skill in his book, ‘Come What May,’ but Mulhall appears to have perfected it at the ripe age of nine.

Check out these skills.

Michael was impressed anyway.

Leo’s father Conor told SportsJOE about his son’s interest in the game, and his admiration for his Waterford heroes.

“Leo has both his Mothers heart and her windows broken with sliotars,” said Mulhall.

“He is obsessed with hurling and despite being a 9-year old, he plays under-10, u-11 and u-12 hurling for his club St Olivers in West Waterford.

“He has his hurley in his hand before breakfast every day and practices for more than three hours most days.

“He recently played on the Waterford U11 team that made it to the All Ireland Final in the Community Games in Abbotstown and like the Waterford Seniors they lost out to a better team on the day,” continued a proud father.

If he keeps it up he might get his hands on Liam MacCarthy again.

LISTEN: The GAA Hour – Klopp in Croker, flop in Kildare and the ‘worst fans’ award?

Topics:

Waterford GAA