Francis Scullion

Hi, Thanks for the invitation.
The story developed from the title of the book. My eldest brother was telling me that his son hurled with his left hand and like southpaw boxers this presented certain advantages when dealing with opponents who were accustomed mostly to defending against right handed players.
Throughout history, left handedness has often been seen as a blessing in many legends and myths, helped in some ways by films from the tinseltown of Hollywood. There has always been a fascination in the world of films and stories for extraordinary left handed people. I remember, from my childhood, a western called the Left Handed Gun based on the Billy the Kid story, starring Paul Newman. In my teenage years the Kung Fu craze was raging and I remember a famous martial arts film called the One Armed Swordsman about a guy who loses his right arm and trains himself to become the best ever left handed swordsman. In other words left handedness has always made a good story. So this term, The Left Handed Hurl, played continually on my mind and eventually like in the westerns of yesteryear, like the myths of oriental heroism, I pictured a gifted young lad with extra special abilities due to being left handed. A hurling hero developed in my mind, an ordinary guy with extraordinary talents. A hero, who, on being discovered, becomes the talisman for a down on their luck County team and their attempt at All Ireland Hurling glory.

There are no fictional stories about the All Ireland Hurling Championship and although I don't know too much about hurling, I love it as a spectator sport and think everyone should see at least one All Ireland Hurling Final. I couldn't get the idea out of my head and fortunately I decided to write the first Chapter of a book before heading off to deal with the Foot and Mouth scourge that plagued the country at the turn of the century.