A WELSH man has tracked down the owner of a Sliotar which he found washed up on a beach in South Wales.
Darren Acteson, from South Wales, was relaxing the beach when he noticed something unusual had washed up on the sand: a Sliotar, the ball used in the Gaelic sport of Hurling, and which was obviously very far from home.
The Valleys man took to social media where he shared images of the Sliotar, which thankfully had the owner's name scrawled on it, and said: "A long shot but does anyone know Michael Dwan Fogarty"?
The Welshman added an Irish tricolour emoji to his tweet, as there were some clear clues as to where the Sliotar had originated from-- not least the owner's name, Micheál.
"We found his Hurling ball while fishing," he continued. "Washed up on Cefn Sidan beach which is between Burry Port and Kidwelly in South Wales".
Though the appeal was certainly a "long shot", the power of social media never fails, and just one day later someone got in touch who knew exactly where the Sliotar had come from.
A long shot but does anyone know Michael Dwan Fogarty 🇮🇪??,we found his Hurling ball while fishing,washed up on Cefn Sidan beach which is between Burry Port and Kidwelly in South Wales🏴 pic.twitter.com/peGqPHiiSI
— ackers (@Nitemare70) June 14, 2021
"I work with his dad!", David Cashman wrote. "He just showed me the tweet, he can't reply because he's not on twitter.
"His young lad plays for [Douglas GAA] in Cork. His dad's name is Michael Fogarty."
Micheál will soon be reunited with his lost ball, Acteson revealed that he will be travelling to Ireland for work this August and should be able to return the Sliotar to it's rightful owner.
The Sliotar had travelled a whopping 400 kilometres from Cork to Cefn Sidan, with many joking that he must be Douglas GAA's star player to puck the ball that far-- a "long shot" indeed!
As incredible as the story is, it's not the first time it's happened-- in fact, it's not even the first time this year: in January of this year, a Waterford girl's Gaelic football washed up on Llanrhystud beach in Wales, was found by a local woman and returned.
