Wooden it be good?
September 02, 2010Mick Power is a hurling man through and through. A brother of former Kilkenny centre forward John Power, the John Lockes (Callan) clubman also donned the famous Black & Amber colours, winning a junior All-Ireland medal for his troubles. The ancient game has always been close to his heart and this passion has spilled over into his work: Mick is one of the driving forces behind Coillte's Hurling Ash Project and he epitomises the state body's desire to see the manufacture of hurleys remain in Ireland.
"This is a unique indigenous Irish business, which I would consider to be a very viable cottage industry, probably the only viable old cottage industry we have left," he notes.
Mick is Coillte's District Manager for the South East. For forestry purposes, Ireland is divided into 17 districts and the area for which Mick is responsible comprises counties Kilkenny, Wexford and Carlow, incorporating a total of 17 forests, each of which has its own forest manager. As District Manager, Mick's functions include preparing timber for sale, overseeing environmental and social details, the harvesting of timbers, road construction and the general management of the forests in the region.
He has been working in forestry since 1980, starting out with the old Forest & Wildlife Service, which evolved into Coillte in 1989. During the intervening years, Mick has held down a variety of roles within the company but, from a hurling perspective, his role in helping establish the Hurling Ash Project was vital: "Tim Crowley from Cork was General Manager at the time and we set the project up to increase the supply of Irish ash to hurley manufacturers. There was pressure from Croke Park and from political corners, and I got involved because of my hurling background.
"We started in 1998 and since then we have put 100,000 planks on the market every year. But the market demand is for 350,000 planks per year. We also brought other guys in privately to supply the market, but Coillte remains the biggest supplier of ash to hurley manufacturers - that's between the ash we produce ourselves and imports from Sweden, Denmark and Britain.
"All three of those countries are on the same line of latitude as Ireland. This guarantees a consistency of supply. There are 214 hurley manufacturers of various sizes in Ireland at the moment and we supply them all."
Coillte's commitment to hurling is absolutely vital considering that the hurley-making industry supports over 300 full-time workers as well as many part-time people - from cutting to transport to planking to manufacture. It's a substantial business.
Coillte itself is a huge organisation that started out solely as a forestry business but has since diversified significantly into a forest and forest products business, exporting timber and supplying all the mills in Ireland. They have also recently become involved in the wind-farm sector.
Taking everything into consideration, the forestry industry in Ireland is worth between 12,000 and 13,000 jobs. Coillte's involvement in hurling is really just a very small part of the overall operation, as Mick reveals: "The hurling end of it would be more social than commercial. We are a certified company with social, environmental and economic considerations and we must support all three of these aspects. Any social activity that we get involved in has to be commercially-viable, and hurley manufacturing is."
Long-term, Coillte is in a strong position - on the back of the planting policy set out by the Government in the 1990s - to become completely self-sufficient in the production of ash. This would feed 600,000 euro annually into the Irish economy.
Like most Kilkenny men, Mick Power has a massive interest in hurling. He hurled for his local John Rockes club for 20 years, up to the age of 35, winning county championships at both junior and intermediate levels and playing senior club hurling for a number of years. He garnered an All-Ireland junior championship with the Cats in 1986 but it was his brother John who made the biggest impression with Kilkenny, enjoying an illustrious intercounty career on the 40 that yielded a hatful of senior All-Ireland and All Star awards.
"There were six of us in the family and we all played with the John Lockes club and still have a keen interest in the game. Our young lads are all playing the game now, so we're all involved at juvenile level in the club."
Of course, the main thing that's preoccupying the minds of all Kilkenny hurling folk at the moment is the Cats' historic bid for the historic five-in-a-row of SHCs. The Noresiders will lock horns with Tipperary at Croke Park on Sunday evening in a repeat of last year's decider, knowing that victory will guarantee them hurling immortality. Can they do it?
"They're on course and we're all hoping for the right result this weekend," says Mick. "Henry Shefflin's injury has put a huge dampener on it but maybe Brian Cody can use that to motivate the team. From a personal point of view, I am really disappointed for Henry, who has been a fantastic hurler for Kilkenny, and it's going to be a long road back for him. He will be sorely missed on Sunday.
"The All-Ireland final is by no means a given, but I'm sure Kilkenny will fight for it like they always do. You could say it's a new team again this year and Brian Cody has freshened it up by including Cha Fitzpatrick, Aidan Fogarty, John Dalton and Michael Fennelly. I think Michael Fennelly will be a man to watch in the final, but Kilkenny have plenty of leaders on the pitch and that is one of the strengths of this side.
"An awful lot of what Kilkenny have achieved is down to Brian Cody's brilliant management. He has somehow managed to keep them all fresh and on their toes. Since 2000, he has changed it slightly each year and kept it fresh. Brian's intelligent management of the team has led to their greatness. He has managed his resources extremely well, probably as well as any manager in the history of the game.
"Is this the best team ever? I think it's very hard to compare teams and it's unfair to compare players and different eras, because the circumstances were different and it's impossible to make accurate comparisons. But this is a great team and hopefully they can complete the five-in-a-row on Sunday." Tweet
