By Paul Kelly

AT an age when most people are slowing down, 60-year-old Belfast based businessman, Liam McEvoy, has his sights firmly set on another season of competitive hurling.

“I’m not as fit as I was but I can still play,” he said.

“I never smoke or drank and I’m still reasonably fit. I can cover a couple of hundred yards fairly fast, enough to surprise some young people.”

Born and reared in Offaly, Liam remains devoted to gaelic games as both player and administrator.

From Offaly to London, London to Westmeath and Westmeath to Belfast he has continued to play the games he grew up with and has supported their development at every opportunity.

“The voluntary aspect of it is very important,” added Liam.

“People give of their time, especially in hurling, for the betterment of children and their friends.

“It’s not about what you can get out of it. It’s about what you can put into it.

“The more you give, the better. Hurling has always been that way.”

Liam was introduced to gaelic games at the Christian Brothers School in Tullamore.

At 19 he left for London to work for the Nat West bank and continued to play gaelic football and hurling as well as mixing in a bit of rugby with London Irish.

During that period he made a couple of appearance for the Offaly senior team but living in London, at a time before low budget airlines, his opportunities to go home were few and far between.

After 10 years in England he returned to Ireland, settled in Athlone and it was here that his interest in hurling blossomed.

As hurling secretary for the Southern Gaels team Liam successfully promoted and developed the sport in what had been a ‘soccer town’.

“Hurling was always my first love, I got great enjoyment from it. Mind you, in the beginning, I was better at the football,” he said.

Married to a Belfast woman he moved to the city in the mid-80’s and gravitated to the John Mitchel’s club.

He remains a fixture there, a former secretary and treasurer and still a regular performer on the field.

He sees great potential in the county but is frustrated by the current structures which he feels hinder the development of the sport.

“As an outsider looking in, there’s no continuity of games. It is too haphazard,” said Liam.

“It’s something I have been trying to get people to understand.

“You can play a hurling match here in the middle of March in terrible weather but right throughout the summer you’ll get one or two games.

“I’ve spoken to people about this. We need to organise hurling on a constant basis for people who want to play it, not just for the inter-county players

“Playing once or twice a week, is how to promote hurling, not by sitting back and waiting for inter-county players to be available to play in your leagues.

“I think we need to develop something in the Belfast city area along the lines of the North Antrim league, where they play amongst themselves.

“I’m also trying to get clubs to realise that players don’t have to play for specific clubs in the promotion of hurling.

“A lot of clubs are struggling to field. If they can relax the code of membership it would allow matches to be played by mixing the players up.”

For the same reasons, promotion and development, he supports Antrim’s move into next year’s Leinster Championship.

“Even though my own county was against it, it’s better than just sitting around,” he added.

“Just think about it. If Antrim get more games against stronger opposition it means that they are going to have to up their level.

“At the moment that play a couple of games in the Ulster Championship and then have a big gap before playing in the All-Ireland Championship.

“The only county capable of doing that are Kilkenny.”