A Limerick hurley manufacturer has branched into a sideline industry of hurling accessories to match the enthusiasm of supporters for their county colours.
Mr D.J. Daly from Pallaskenry is making a specially-designed flag to fly from cars, having seen too many improvised flags stuck out of windows in the past.
The "team car flag" has a plastic fitting that clips on to the car glass. "You wind up the glass into its groove and the flag flies from a pole above your car when you are driving," he explained.
He first saw the flags on a visit to the United States and is now selling them back into the US for the gathering of the McAteer clan in Milwaukee next month.
Mr Daly, a former county football player, is also making key rings, pen-holders, fridge magnets and ornamental stands using miniature hurleys and sliotars. The new range will be ready within a month.
He may have a name that almost rhymes with Kilkenny hurler D.J. Carey's, but he is a firm Limerick supporter and is confident they will beat Wexford tomorrow. In the meantime, the Limerick hurling manager, Mr Eamon Cregan, has received a present of one of the key rings as a good luck token.
A carpenter by trade, Mr Daly took over the hurley-making business from his father, Paddy, who had made hurleys by hand since the 1930s.
Employing five people, Mr Daly uses a copying lathe that can produce up to 400 hurleys a week.
But his biggest problem is sourcing the ash wood from which they are made. "Coillte are trying to bring them in from abroad for people because there is just not enough of it in the country," he said.