The tree used to produce hurley sticks is under threat due to a disease which is on track to wipe out the island’s ash tree population.
Ash dieback (or Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) first arrived in Ireland in 2012 and has hit the supply of good-quality ash so badly that craftsmen are having to close their businesses as a result.
The disease is now common all across the continent and according to a report published in the Journal of Ecology in 2016, Europe’s ash trees may be completely wiped out in the near future.
A hurley producer from Castlepollard, Adrian Moran of Moran Hurls, said that he has had to source planks of ash from Europe in recent years to keep his business running.
