Robbie and Brian from Abbey Christian Brothers’ School in Newry, County Down, analysed how well the GAA supports health and wellbeing in each county in Ireland.
The two boys produced a comprehensive analysis of all 32 county final programme books from 2024 and created a criteria to mark them.
They then sent off their results to each county board and some of those took on the feedback and made changes.
The boys also created an interactive display with a map of Ireland and the results of each county.
Their project has already caught the attention of GAA president Jarlath Burns.
“He visited our school on 12 December and he listened to our project and what it was about,” said Robbie.
“He was very impressed with it and we have now been invited to visit the health and wellbeing committee for the GAA by Jarlath himself. So hopefully, we will bring another step to mental health and wellbeing being further supported by the GAA.”
Brian said mental wellbeing is important for GAA players.
“If you are a player at inter-county level, you need to be physically strong and mentally to put up with all the hard training and matches, and any injuries you sustain, you need to be able to have the mindset to deal with that.”