Northern Ireland

'Now that's lovely hurling!' as Iraqi-born GAA ambassador shows his skills at Stormont

Dublin's Abood Al Jumaili, aka Bonnar Ó Loinsigh, tests his hurling skills during a visit to Stormont.
Dublin's Abood Al Jumaili, aka Bonnar Ó Loinsigh, tests his hurling skills during a visit to Stormont. Dublin's Abood Al Jumaili, aka Bonnar Ó Loinsigh, tests his hurling skills during a visit to Stormont.
By Paul Ainsworth

A DUBLIN hurler, GAA ambassador and former Iraqi refugee has shared an online clip of him playing his beloved sport at Stormont.

The clip, featuring Abood Al Jumaili, also known as Bonnar Ó Loinsigh, racked up over 170,000 views within hours of it being posted to Twitter yesterday.

In the footage, he can be seen hitting his sliotar against the wall of Parliament Buildings. He posted the video with the caption: "At lunchtime, it was a sin not to go out and hurl! #Hurling against the walls of #Stormont."

He ended the caption with his regular catchphrase: "Now that’s lovely hurling!"

A player for Ballinteer St John’s club in his home county, Abood, who moved to Ireland from Iraq as a child, was named the GAA's first-ever Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador earlier this year.

The law graduate has been visiting the north in recent days, and met with MLAs and also the Irish Government Secretariat in Belfast.

During another visit north last month, Abood met with GAA pundit Joe Brolly.

In a previous post describing his passion for the sport, he wrote: "I strongly believe hurling is the best of us, one of the greatest and most beautiful expressions of what we can be. For me that is the perspective that death and loss cast on the game. If you could live again you would hurl more, because that is living."