Another Title for Offaly Camogie

Congratulations to the Offaly Camogie Team who were back in an All-Ireland final for the third year in a row and were successful for the second year in a row. The girls have now won the Junior All-Ireland and Intermediate All-Ireland titles in the space of 2 years. And everyone here at Cúltec want to congratulate them........... Especially those who were using Cúltecs!!!

Red Cúltec Hurley in Croke Park

We think this is the first time a coloured hurley took to the field in croke park. Lorcan McCaughey was playing in the INTO Mini-Sevens at half time during the All Ireland Senior Hurling Semi Final in Croke Park. Lorcan from Co. Down certainly stood out with his red Cúltec Hurley and even scored a point.

On the same day we had an advert in the match programme if you didn't get to see it here it is;

Gerry

Paul Cleary our 1,000th Online Order

When we launched our e-commerce website last year allowing people to buy hurleys online we never thought it was going to be such a huge success. A couple of weeks ago we had our 1,000th order online and to mark the occasion we gave it out for free. So Congratulations and a big thank you to Paul Cleary (the lucky customer) and his Mammy Sarah who sent us in some fantastic photos of Paul playing with his new Cúltec Hurley.

Gerry

Innovation Vouchers

A big thanks to everyone in Enterprise Ireland for the help we received while developing our synthetic hurley. We were lucky enough to be invited to their event to celebrate the success of their Innovation Vouchers programme. Conor Lenihan attended the event and stood in for a photo.

Click on these links for more information on the Innovation Vouchers and AIT Innovation and Research Center

Gerry

Midlands Innovation and Research Center at AIT

We were delighted that both Michael Lonergan and Mark Atterbury could attend our launch in Croke Park a number of weeks ago. Cúltec hurls were extremely lucky to have such a broad knowledge of modern technologies and testing methods available to them in AIT. Without their help there is no doubt but we would not find ourselves in the position we are today.

A special thank you to all involved.

Pictured at the Launch are Mark Atterbury, Materials Research Institute AIT, John Grehan, Cúltec, Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Tom Wright and Gerry Grehan, both Cúltec

The Business Show

John appeared on The Business show on RTE Radio 1 on the 26th of June.

To listen back to the podcast and view more of the photos visit http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebusiness/#Podcasts

Photos from Croke Park

AN TAOISEACH OFFICIALLY HANDS OVER FIRST SYNTHETIC HURLEY USED IN CROKE PARK TO GAA MUSEUM

An Taoiseach Brian Cowen has announced on behalf of County Offaly company Cúltec that the first synthetic hurley to ever be used at Croke Park has secured a spot in the GAA museum.

An Taoiseach made the announcement at a special ceremony in Croke Park yesterday, Monday, June 14 at 1.30pm and officially handed over the history-making stick to the GAA Museum.

The Cúltec hurley, which has been designed to bring consistency to the game, made history when three of the All-Ireland champs from County Offaly's Junior camogie team took to the Croke Park field with a Cúltec hurley.

To mark the memorable occasion the camogie champions handed back a winning Cúltec hurley signed by the County Offaly squad to the Cúltec team and this is the hurl that has secured a spot in the Croke Park museum.

an Taoiseach, Brian Cowen said: "It is always a pleasure to come to Croke Park. These grounds evoke a sense of pride in both our sporting heritage and the ecumenical spirit with which the GAA have embraced other sporting codes.

"However, for most followers of Gaelic games, there is nothing to beat the sense of joy and pride felt at seeing one's own county colours in this hallowed place.

"Today, we are looking at the bigger picture and county affiliations can be set to one side as we celebrate an exciting innovation that benefits hurlers and camogie players whatever jersey they don. This is, of course, the new Cúltec hurley which I am delighted to be launching today.

"I would like to commend the Cúltec team, including Tom Wright, John and Gerry Grehan and Steven Lee for all the hard work they put into its design."

an Taoiseach added: "Cúltec combines the best of the old with the new and shows how modern technology can enhance a much loved and ancient game. The hurley will feature in the GAA Museum, testifying to its importance for hurling and camogie in the 21st Century." However, while the Cúltec hurley made its first appearance at GAA HQ in the hands of the County Offaly champs it is fast gaining momentum as the hurley of choice by some of the top players in the country and has since been used many times at Croke Park.

County players such as Dublin’s Kevin Flynn, Pat Kenny from Wexford and Diarmuid Horan from Offaly now all take to the competitive ?eld with Cúltec hurleys in hand. Diarmuid, whose Father skippered Offaly to its ?rst All-Ireland in 1981, said: “I prefer them to ash; there is a cleaner strike and a bit more distance than the average hurley. But, the real value is consistency as if you break one you replace with an exact copy.”

He added: “I love a light hurley and the Cúltec doesn’t change - it is the same on a wet day as a dry one.”

The brains behind the Cúltec Hurley are Offaly businessmen John Grehan and Tom Wright. Retired school teacher Tom said it was his great desire to see consistency in the game that he loved and he hoped that in time hurling and camogie players all over the country would give the Cúltec hurley a go. Tom has had a life-long interest in hurling having played in all grades. His teaching career spanned 40 years and during all this time he coached school teams as well as underage hurling and camogie teams in his local club.

“It was the great difficulty in obtaining suitable, quality and consistent hurleys which led us to investigate the possibility of manufacturing the perfect hurley,” explained Tom.

John Grehan whose background included Materials Engineering said: "Almost every other sport in the world has benefitted substantially from synthetic materials. Tennis rackets, golf clubs, fishing rods, snooker cues, ski equipment and even hockey and cricket have exploited the new technologies. So why not hurling?"

On the day he said he particularly wanted to thank everyone at the newly revamped Croke Park Museum for securing the Cúltec a place in the illustrious GAA history books.

The Cúltec hurley is the result of seven years research and development combining space age materials and the latest manufacturing techniques. Research and Development of the Cúltec hurley was done in Ferbane, County Offaly. Testing and performance analysis

was carried out at the Nanotechnology and Materials Research Centre attached to Athlone IT.

Having carefully examined these results the GAA gave the Cúltec Hurley its seal of approval.

Pics of Cúltec in Action

We got a few photos in from Ryan O'Neill of himself and his brother Niall using Cúltecs while playing for Columcille in the AIB All-Ireland Junior Club semi final. Niall finished top scorer for his team with 1-5 (4f, one '65).

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Columcille are now through to the All Ireland Junior Club Final to be played in Croke Park on the 13th of February.

Also playing that day in the All - Ireland Intermediate Final are St. Galls of Belfast as they beat Tynagh/Abbey Duniry of Galway in the semi final at the weekend. 8 of the starting 15 players for the St. Galls team were using the Cúltec hurl and there was also a few among the subs.

Not to be out done David Sheehan from St. Galls sent us in a few photos of them in action.

So we would just like to take this opportunity to wish both teams the best of luck in both finals from everyone here at Cúltec. We even plan to be in attendance to cheer them on!!

Gerry

P.S if anyone has photos of the Cúltec in action send them in to us and we'll put them up here for the world to see.