As a result, Croke Park is to be lobbied in the coming months in the hope of expanding the compulsory use of helmets to all levels of hurling. Mr Beatty was responsible for a previous report that helped persuade GAA chiefs to make the use of helmets standard practice at underage levels up to minor in January 2005. The provision was expanded to encompass under-21 level in April of this year and the latest report comes on the successful implementation of these new rules.

The audit at the Eye Department of Waterford Regional Hospital audit found that 11 players aged 18 years or under sustained eye injuries playing hurling in the 12 month period immediately before the new rule for underage players was introduced in 2005. This compares with only two eye injuries in the same age group in the 12 month period following the implementation of the new rule.

"We've seen a very noticeable decrease of late in the number and severity of eye injuries sustained by people engaged in hurling, since the GAA introduced the new rule, " said Mr Beatty. "No patients aged 18 or under have suffered a permanent visual defect from hurling since the new rule came into effect and this contrasts with the state of affairs before the new ruling. Overall, this is a significant breakthrough and provides enough evidence to show that protective headwear should be worn at every level."

According to Mr Beatty, if the ruling is taken on board at senior level, then one to two eyes per annum will be saved from blindness, as hurlers are 90 per cent less likely to sustain eye injuries if wearing protective gear.

"The GAA might argue that senior players who are not used to wearing helmets all through their career would find it difficult to begin wearing them now, and I accept the point. But this is a serious safety issue that has to be dealt with."

In an eight year period, from 1994 to 2002, Mr Beatty found that a total of 310 patients attended the Accident and Emergency Departments of Cork University Hospital or Waterford Regional Hospital with severe eye injuries sustained in hurling. Of these, 17 per cent required admission to hospital, and six were blinded in the injured eye.

"I was amazed to see there were no regulations in place for hurlers to wear helmets.

In the last decade Congress rejected the compulsory use of helmets on two occasions.

The reason given was that the National Safety Authority of Ireland hadn't set any standards and they were afraid the safety of players might be compromised. I didn't agree with this because the first step is to make it compulsory. Lately, though, things have progressed and the GAA has dealt with the situation at underage level."

From his first-hand experience, the results have been overwhelming. "Some evenings in the summer two or three young hurlers were admitted to casualty in Waterford with eye injuries sustained while hurling without a helmet. Our operating theatre was full of patients with eye injuries and the out patient department was clogged as result. Since the new ruling this has stopped and it's important to point out that the vast majority of these types of injury are preventable."

Prior to 2005, fears were expressed that the compulsory wearing of helmets would lead to a reduction in the number of players taking up the game and continuing with it, but according to Mr Beatty, the new initiative has provided a positive environment.

"Baseball and hockey didn't suffer when protective headgear was introduced to these sports and it's the same with hurling. If anything, parents will be more likely to allow young children to play the game if they know that these safeguards are in place.

The idea is that players will be so used to helmets that they'll feel vulnerable and naked without them. We've found that the underage programme has proved an overwhelming success. The next step is to ensure this is brought in at senior level."

The Waterford findings come in a week when engineers in Cork Institute of Technology are working on the development of a new helmet that provides team doctors and coaches with vital information on the player. As a result of the new design, fitness, heart rate and hydration levels of individual hurlers will be monitored and communication from manager to player will be facilitated.

"There are huge advances in hurling helmets at the moment and it's essential we continue to promote their use. If we can do this, injuries with debilitating and life altering consequences will be prevented."

ANTRIM TO BE LORDS OF THE RING CHRISTY RING CUP FINAL ANTRIM v CARLOW Croke Park, 2.00 Live, RTE Two, 1.40 Reckon, as an increasingly vocal section of hurling opinion appears to, that the Ring and Rackard Cups are a waste of time? We give you Eoin Garvey, Carlow hurling manager.

Naturally, he doesn't reckon so.

And please, no whispers at the back of, "well he wouldn't, would he?"

There isn't much point, Garvey begins, in leaving a county like Carlow perennially stuck in the Leinster championship and getting hammered every year. "If we ever do win the Ring Cup, and I'm certainly not saying that'll happen this year, we'll have a solid base for playing in the top flight. We'll be used to beating teams at our own level. That has to be the first step."

The state of the nation in hurling is, Garvey goes on, "always delicate. Every county is relevant to the picture. If teams in the top tier don't have something to aim for, they'll never improve and the top tier will become so stale so quickly.

In the same way, counties like Carlow will never improve if we don't have a target to aim at. The Ring Cup has given us a target."

A target that unlike last year, when they lost their way after a headline-grabbing spring campaign that included a defeat of Offaly, they've kept their sights locked on to. They hurled well against Kerry and Mayo, then excelled in the semi-final against Down. "We were in trouble on so many occasions in the second half that day, " according to Garvey. "But the lads kept going despite the knocks."

The county's build-up to today has been more low-key than the Carlow minors' equivalent for their ill-starred appearance in the Leinster final, and Shane Kavanagh at centre-back and Pat Coady on the half-forward line are two men bound to cause problems for the favourites. But any team that beat Galway in the National League are too good for this competition.