Can Daithi roar with Dragon’s Den hurling venture?

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Daithi O’Regan, a Clare man who also hurled for Kerry, was one of the more interesting characters to come through Dragon’s Den of late.

His idea was quite simple – an online store where hurlers can buy hurleys. Daithi’s rationale is that hurlers in, say, Antrim would like to get their hands on a hurley made by the makers who make, say, King Henry’s hurley.

We like the general idea – particularly as hurley-makers on their own may not have the wherewithal and/or the inclination to create an online presence for themselves. This way, they can showcase their hurleys online, and Daithi can make a profit for himself on all sales generated.

Will it work? We hope so, and we’re not sure. By ‘not sure’ we mean ‘not sure.’ We’re not sure it will, we’re not sure it won’t. The main obstacle we see is that hurlers like to hold, feel, bend, caress, chat up, almost kiss their hurleys before buying them.

Sarah Newman, partner of King DJ, invested in Daithi. The pair of them acknowledged the tactile relationship hurlers have with their hurleys, but are still confident they can make a business out of this. There is a sound premise underneath it all, and, once again, it shows that a good idea, pulling together various other service providers already in the market place, holds the prospect of becoming a viable business.

Daithi won’t manufacture hurleys. He won’t knock down ash trees. He will simply market, promote, publicise, the lot. Expect to meet him at the next National GAA Coaching Conference, and read about him in match programmes this summer.

We wish him well. It’s a simple idea, and it would be wonderful if he could pull it off. He is a popular figure, too, and on LinkedIn, where I started a discussion, I found a lot of goodwill towards him (a great promoter of hurling in Kerry, I was told) and towards his idea.

Business name, anyone? DJ’s Handcrafted Hurleys? I presume they will use DJ’s good name to brand the product.

http://bit.ly/bxOhId – SmallBusinessCan

http://bit.ly/9tclpu – his adopted club of Duagh gave him a presentation some time back for all he’s done for hurling in Kerry. Coming from Mayo, where the Large Ball is the dominant faith, I am sure you can understand why I would be extremely grateful if more people would do a lot more for Kerry hurling!