An intermediate football and hurling club officials says: "We have great numbers at underage, but from about under-16 onwards, players tend to drift away. What can we do to stop the rot?"

In Kilkenny hurling is booming, and not just among the kids. They reckon they have 722 adult players in the county, meaning the average panel runs to 30 men.

It goes without saying that the incredible success of the county hurlers at every level is a key contributor here - but it's not the only one.

Games development officer for the Cats Brian Ryan tells us that having a lot of rural clubs helps. "Peer pressure comes into it. If lads stop playing at 15 or 16 there will be no adult team because they wouldn't have the number to cover the losses. So you often have limited players lining out with exceptionally talented ones," he says.

In the larger urban clubs, the problem is more acute. As well as the distractions of town life, the abundance of human resources means that youngsters can be allowed to drift away, with coaches confident the losses can be easily replaced. This, says Ryan, is a mistake.

"A lack of game time is the main reason people lose interest. It's vital to run second teams whenever possible. Even if they don't win much, and aren't playing to a high standard, the chance to play regularly and wear the club jersey means an awful lot to fellows," he explains.

"The important thing here is to get extra personnel in to coach second teams. These people may feel they are not great coaches but they are filling a very important need at the club.

"And when you run second teams, you will always pick up a couple of good players for the senior panel who might develop late."

Another good means of maintaining interest in the game is to invite high-profile guests to train the team. An inter-county hurler can take an hour or two out of his life to do a session with a group, and forget about it by that evening, but to the young and not-so-young listening to his words, the impact will be felt for a long time.

"It's amazing the things people remember," said Brian. "I was just talking to an ex-county hurler and he can still recall the details of a training session he had with a county hurler many years ago, and how it helped him."

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