Sixteen young hurlers from eight counties including two from Down have qualified to participate in the McDonald's Lift and Strike final skills exhibition on Sunday, as part of the build up to the All Ireland hurling semi-final between Cork and Wexford.

The players from Antrim, Armagh, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Mayo, Down and Wicklow took part in the McDonald's Lift and Strike programme in their local primary schools and qualified for, and subsequently won, their County finals of the skills development programme. As county winners, they have already demonstrated their hurling skills at senior championship matches.

The final sixteen young stars qualified from these challenges to take part in the final exhibition and will be presented with trophies by GAA President, Sean Kelly, at halftime in the minor hurling championship semi-final.

The young hurling stars part paring are:

Antrim - James Black, age 11 and Gerard McBride, age 11, from Barnish
Primary School, Co Antrim.
Armagh - Conor McNally, age 11 and Fintan Corvan, age 11 from Our Lady's & St Mochua's Derrynoose P.S, Co Armagh.
Clare - Darren Mullins, age 12 and Cathal Malone, age 12 from CBS
Ennistymon, Co Clare.
Cork - David Drake, age and Eoin Brennan, age 12 from Scoil Mhuire Lourdes, Carrigaline, Co Cork
Donegal - Ciaran Matthewson, age 12 and Dean McDevitt, age 13 from St.
Mary's, Stranorlar, Co Donegal.
Down - Conor Doherty, age 12 and Connor Dorrian age 12 from St. Joseph's, Ballycran, Co Down.
Mayo - Ronan Murray, age 12 and Tomás McAndrew, age 12 from Glencastle NS, Co Mayo.
Wicklow - Jim O'Brien, age 12 and Stefan O'Brien, age 12 from St. Patrick's
BNS, Co Wicklow.

The McDonald's Lift and Strike programme, part of the GAA's Underage Strategic Plan, is an innovative campaign to improve the hurling and camogie skills of primary school children across Ireland. Thousands of children have been introduced to the games through the programme, which is co-ordinated by Cumann na mBunscol and the GAA Games Promotions Officers.

The McDonald's Lift and Strike programme has seen the distribution of 40,000 hurling manuals, 20,000 sliotars, and 10,000 hurls to 2,000 primary schools across Ireland covering both the traditionally strong and the developing hurling and camogie counties.

The programme, developed by the GAA in association with McDonald's Restaurants of Ireland, provides schools with hurling equipment and a series of planned quality coaching sessions, skills challenges and fun blitzes aimed at developing the basic skills of hurling and camogie in an inclusive and fun environment.