CreditPaulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times
KINVARA, Ireland — Thirty men battle on a deep-green field, each one wielding what looks like a field hockey stick moonlighting as a broken oar. They chase a ball that fits snug in the hand, sometimes balancing it on their sticks as they run, sometimes swinging the sticks in midsprint to arc the ball toward a goal’s uprights.
Bursts of “Come on, lads!” erupt from the sidelines, along with an epithet or two, as the players bump shoulders, jab their sticks of ash, and do everything allowed to dispossess their opponents of the ball.