Hurling play at Longford's Backstage Theatre was pucking fantastic

If you've ever sat in a dressing room waiting for your name to be called then “Pucked” is a gut churning experience that assaults with its relatability.

The show runs about ten minutes longer than an inter-county senior fixture, but Cathal Ryan takes his audience on an extraordinary journey from birth to rebirth in his one man show about GAA redemption.

Ryan's talent could be compared to that of his fellow county man Nicky English. He has a broad pallet of skills that coalesce into a production that is sublime.

His writing is astonishing. Each character is identifiable, without resorting to cliché. It touches on many of the issues that young men have to navigate in the course of modern living.

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Ryan plays just under 30 characters, as he flakes imaginary balls around the stage. His stick work is nothing short of amazing, transforming it into a newspaper, a bicycle or a microphone.

Pucked tells the story of the young and ambitious Matty Daly. Immersed in the GAA from birth, Matty has one dream and one dream only, to play on his senior team.

When Matty finally gets called up, we join him as he learns the hard way that playing senior isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.

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Pucked tackles issues such as self- confidence, individualism, masculinity and ambition with humour and energy, all the while celebrating the greatest sport on earth, hurling.

Cathal Ryan's show has captured a moment in time. It's a genuinely important piece of contemporary drama. And it's got hurling