Striking practice: List of Ball Alleys / Hurling walls / Suitable Alternatives

IIMII

In light of the beginning hurling thread, I thought it might be useful to start a thread on this.

Off the top of my head, I know of Hurling Walls at Kilmacud Crokes (Stillorgan), Craughwell (Galway), Kiltale (Meath) and a half finished one in Faughs (Dublin).

There is a ball alley in Blackrock College (discovered that by complete accident and it's huge), another on the west side of Kilkenny (beside a roundabout whose name I can't think of), and one I remember from years ago on Inis Mór.

Anyone care to add to the list?

mal_1

Not so much adding as giving a link to an architectural link blog done by Aine Ryan to these beautiful and now quirky structures throughout the Irish landscape.

http://www.irishhandballalley.blogspot.com/

LeoB

They are great. Every club should have one. We hope to build one this year. To get any value it does'nt have to be 60x30 some clubs wont be able to afford one but we are using a wall on our clubhouse and adapting it. We will do all the work or 90% of it ourselves.

There was a time when ball alley's were in most villages. Wild Geese from Oldtown are one the smallest clubs in Dublin have a handball alley. They have a good tradition in Handball and having the alley will bring the players on a lot. There is a company from Offaly who build a percast structure and I think it may have 3 or 4 walls in one alley
The christian Brothers had a lot of handball in their schools and I remember a few alleys in their retreat house in Balheary just outside Swords.

IIMII

mal_1 wrote: »

Not so much adding as giving a link to an architectural link blog done by Aine Ryan to these beautiful and now quirky structures throughout the Irish landscape.

http://www.irishhandballalley.blogspot.com/

Excellent site! Never saw it before. She might be interested in the disused handball alleys at Dalgan Park in Meath too, and I think there is one near Athboy as well (Rathmore?)

Pity to see so many of them lying idle

taidghbaby

did Blackrock in Cork not have the first one???

Also Glynn-Barntown in Wexford have by far an away the best one i've seen!

(hurling walls that is)

mal_1

IIMII wrote: »

Excellent site! Never saw it before. She might be interested in the disused handball alleys at Dalgan Park in Meath too, and I think there is one near Athboy as well (Rathmore?)

Pity to see so many of them lying idle

The idea of the site is to chronicle all these throughout the country, hence if know of one, photograph it and post it, with a small commentary. Which reminds me to do that this weekend.

I think the dis-used and derelict ones which have been turned to alternative uses are the memorable ones.

yahoo_moe

I saw a hurling wall out in Portmarnock last time I played there too...

Yavvy

judes have a nice one

IIMII

And should anyone want to build a hurling wall (only two I could find from from google):

http://www.bancrete.com/hurling-wall.htm

And these boys have offers of some sorts at the moment:

http://www.mulcairprecast.vpweb.ie/

The Wallball is also dead handy for using against the wall. It's different to a plastic sliotar as it's great bounce, and warms up as it's used (more rubbery than plastic)

http://www.cumashurling.com/wallball.asp

IIMII

mal_1 wrote: »

The idea of the site is to chronicle all these throughout the country, hence if know of one, photograph it and post it, with a small commentary. Which reminds me to do that this weekend.

I think the dis-used and derelict ones which have been turned to alternative uses are the memorable ones.

I might be able to add one or two to it if I get time over the next while..

Daysha

There's two great ball alleys in DLS college in Waterford city. Spent way too many evenings there avoiding studying for the Leaving Cert

GAAwebsite

There's a couple of the old handball walls left around the place too.

hollywoodhoppy

Here's a wall Banagher Concrete did in Thurles, they're seemingly the best around, Mulcair's do it too, its not a bad option and there's some guy in Cavan doing them too but they're fairly poor quality. We had Paidi Butler visit our club and he convinced our lads to get a Banagher one, its about 45ft wide and you can play on both sides, will try get pics of it up, looks well though

Banagher Wall:

http://durlasog.tipperary.gaa.ie/hurlingwall.html

IIMII

Wow, that's some wall. How much did it cost do you mind me asking?

mal_1

This topic is been discussed on Radio 1 'Mooney Show' at the moment

shotcaller

There's one in Lucan, 12th lock.

RHunce

theres one in mungret gaa club in co.limerick

DDC1990

Should be plenty in Cork... they love their Strikes.

wexican

Buffers Alley just outside Gorey in Wexford have one too.

BayCity

I remember Na Piarsigh in Cork had one:rolleyes:

My Dad used to bring me upto the one in All Hallows afew times a week when I was younger.. but now its gonzo..

civildefence

The Grounds of St. Brendans Hospital in Grangegorman, Dublin has 2 disused handball alleys ideal for striking practice.

rebel girl 15

Nenagh Eire Og club have a good one, used quite a lot by teams around the area - you can check out prices on the website, not too bad

Mallow GAA club have two, only a couple of euro for an hour AFAIK

wixfjord

Ferns St Aidans in Nth Wexford have one.

folan

there are several old walls around Maynooth on St. Pats campus, but unfortunatly many of them are in terrible shape of covered in moss and so on, or just used for storage. There is still one that ive seen people using as a stringing wall quite a bit though/.

aliocroc

folan wrote: »

there are several old walls around Maynooth on St. Pats campus, but unfortunatly many of them are in terrible shape of covered in moss and so on, or just used for storage. There is still one that ive seen people using as a stringing wall quite a bit though/.

Yeah maynooth have a load on campus but only one in use-the rest are all housing building supplies and tables and moss!! The one that is operational isn't bad though-good and high and a good length-the back wall is a little small (for doubling) but thats all. For anyone trying to find it, its up behind the music dept on the old campus! Elsewhere in Kildare-St.Laurences, Narraghmore have built a new double H shaped hurling wall, Ros Glas outside Monastrevan have a single wall built, Clane have a huge single one, there's a huge one in Newbridge college (could be hard to use cos i know its in the grounds itself and security are there all weekend!), then Nurney and the Curragh camp have old handball alleys-both a bit neglected. Apparantly the Nurney one is great but gathers water a little when it rains so my bro brought a yardbrush to sweep it out, then the curragh camp one is a bit damp. the leaves make it a bit dodgey actually cos you end up slippin and sliding on one part in particular.

After that, im up in ashtown in Dublin-i know Castleknock (St Brigids) are in the process of building a wall...after that i dunno much else!? I do know that the underground carpark in Superquinn Rathbourne has a LOVELY spot for it but i havent been man enough to use it and see if i was noticed. But has lights, a back and front wall, each about 20 ft high and no cars-they all go up to the second tier!! Interesting eh?

Later folks!

Al

Mardy Bum

O Tooles in Dublin have a wide hurling wall.Its not very big though.Its flood lighted too.

Mardy Bum

O Tooles in Dublin have a hurling wall and one wall handball courts either side of each other.

Peace

Can anyone give directions to the alley in Casement Aerodrome, Balldonnell, Co. Dublin? Its listed on http://www.irishhandballalley.blogspot.com/ but I don't know where it is in the area.

Thanks in advance...

Live4Ever

Brilliant hurling wall in Commericals (Rathcoole), its right on the Naas road, floodlight on both sides.

keeffe2001

Are the ball alleys in newtown park or blackrock college open to everyone? I'm working out in cabinteely and looking for a place to puck a few balls after work

Live4Ever

Peace wrote: »

Can anyone give directions to the alley in Casement Aerodrome, Balldonnell, Co. Dublin? Its listed on http://www.irishhandballalley.blogspot.com/ but I don't know where it is in the area.

Thanks in advance...

I don't think this alley is open to the public. I drive past it all the time and it's actually in the airfield behind the big fence. I seriously doubt they let the public in to use it. You'd be better off going to commercials, it's literally 5mins away, and probably a better ball alley.

Royal Seahawk

Can I ask what type of ball you use in a ball alley? Can't imagine getting great bounce of a sliothar.

thirdmantackle

Royal Seahawk wrote: »

Can I ask what type of ball you use in a ball alley? Can't imagine getting great bounce of a sliothar.

look up hurling alley ball, or wall ball online
they are easy enough to get hold of

krazyklown

thirdmantackle wrote: »

look up hurling alley ball, or wall ball online
they are easy enough to get hold of

http://www.thegaastore.com/hurling-wall-ball-hurling-ball-sliotar-p/ftb017.htm

Got three of these, serious rebound off them, keeps ya moving!

New hurling wall built in Tooreen Hurling Club, County Mayo (pic to follow)

Royal Seahawk

Excellent wall in Eire Og Hurling Club's ground in Caragh, Co.Kildare, right opposite Mondello Park racing track.
Can you buy them bouncy sliothars in any sports shop?

Oldhandballer

Mardy Bum wrote: »

O Tooles in Dublin have a wide hurling wall.Its not very big though.Its flood lighted too.

I reply to your message re Otooles Hurling /Handball wall,in fact it is 80 feet long by 20 ft high .on one side it has all weather grass and on the other side it has 3 one wall handball courts.
It is also flood lit and is probably one of the best thought out Hurling /Handball in the country.
It may surprise you to find out that New York is full of one wall handball courts
witch is much the same as a hurling wall .In fact if you want to see them and one wall handball played ,just type one wall handball into your search and it will come up for you.
Regards

mikemac

Youghal Arra about 7km from Nenagh have one
It's in great shape
Some people use it for training, I've never heard of a club in the area
A lot of locals don't even know it's there

I suppose most rural villages had a handball alley at one stage, many no longer exist
Now there is a book waiting to be written if somebody wants a project!

hughes2558

feelingstressed wrote: »

Youghal Arra about 7km from Nenagh have one
It's in great shape
Some people use it for training, I've never heard of a club in the area
A lot of locals don't even know it's there

I suppose most rural villages had a handball alley at one stage, many no longer exist
Now there is a book waiting to be written if somebody wants a project!

Not sure if they intend on writing a book but there is a blog.

http://irishhandballalley.blogspot.com/search/label/Co.%20Wexford

nice_guy80

hughes2558 wrote: »

Not sure if they intend on writing a book but there is a blog.

http://irishhandballalley.blogspot.com/search/label/Co.%20Wexford

old handball alleys should be listed heritage buildings
to stop them being knocked

jwcurtin

One at Silverstrand in Galway (across from the church in Barna, but full of Rubbish, shame)

The alley in Brosna, Co Kerry (Just beyond Abbeyfeale) was restored recently, top class, non slip surface etc etc!:D

youthacademy

IIMII wrote: »

In light of the beginning hurling thread, I thought it might be useful to start a thread on this.

Off the top of my head, I know of Hurling Walls at Kilmacud Crokes (Stillorgan), Craughwell (Galway), Kiltale (Meath) and a half finished one in Faughs (Dublin).

There is a ball alley in Blackrock College (discovered that by complete accident and it's huge), another on the west side of Kilkenny (beside a roundabout whose name I can't think of), and one I remember from years ago on Inis Mór.

Anyone care to add to the list?

Where abouts is the one in Craughwell? Is it usable? I'm on the Oranmore side of town, used to use the one in ClareGalway until they knocked the feckin thing last year!

meriwether

Jarlaths secondary school in Tuam have a handball alley.

Handball alley in Claregalway also, on the right hand side going into town.

deadybai

does anyone know if the alley in de la salle college waterford is open to the public? I'm a former pupil also.