Niall assists Louth to comeback win

NIALL CAFFERKEY, formerly of St. Mary’s (Rosslare) and now with Naomh Moninne, played with Louth in their dramatic comeback from twelve points down to beat a Sligo side featuring Seán Kenny (HWH-Bunclody) and Brian O’Loughlin (Monageer-Boolavogue) in the Lory Meagher Cup final in Croke Park on Saturday.

Niall, a regular championship starter with the Wee county, did not make the first 15 for the final due to a niggling thigh strain.

However, due to Louth’s poor first-half performance, he was called upon midway through that period to help stem the Sligo tide. Luckily, his injury held up and he assisted Louth to a most unlikely win following the poor start.

Dundalk-based Niall qualified as a sport scientist in the University of Limerick and now works with Statsports which has offices in Newry. Niall manages to find time for hurling along with his busy job providing consultancy services on elite sports performance and strength and conditioning to top teams from a variety of disciplines.

Niall has worked with the South Africa and France Under-20 rugby teams, as well as working with Poland during their European Championship qualifying campaign, and more recently preparing Belgium for the upcoming finals.

He has also worked with his own particular favourite club, Barcelona from La Liga, as well as Roma from Serie A.

Despite his busy travelling schedule, Niall still finds time to play his own favourite sport of hurling and maintains it is without doubt the best field game in the world.