Irish stick fighting: The Celtic sport making its modern comeback

When keen martial artist Bernie Leddy shattered his knee after a fall at work 15 years ago, he began his search for an accessible but challenging way to get his body moving again.

After hours of research, he shifted his focus closer home.

"I started looking at different cultures and thinking: 'Well, why am I looking at Japanese and Chinese culture? Does Irish culture have any martial arts?'," he said.

That was when he discovered Irish stick fighting.

Bataireacht - or Irish stick fighting - is a two-handed blend of boxing, fencing and grappling all while using a shillelagh, a long blackthorn or oak stick.

Classed as a martial art, it flourished as people took part in "faction fights", often held at community gatherings to settle disputes or even for fun.

"This basically involved losing teeth and blackened eyes and breaking noses and these would be signs of badges of honour," Bernie said.

After discovering bataireacht, Bernie flew to Canada for an intensive two-week training session with Glen Doyle, one of the last registered instructors in the world.

With Doyle passing down the mantle of chieftain to Bernie, he's making it his mission to ensure the art remains alive and thriving - and not just on the island of Ireland.

"The Irish diaspora in America are very strong," he added.

"When I go over, it's like a great meeting of these orphans of Ireland that have gone from generations ago, and connect back to Ireland.

"So this gives them that connection to us but we're a big family so they're a part of our family."

With family such an integral part of modern day bataireacht, the new generation are beginning to learn the fighting styles of their ancestors.

Thirteen year old Loughlin became a level four coach last year and while he admitted it wasn't the typical sport most boys his age would be into, he's now introduced it to most of his friends.

"The first time I did it, I just loved it," he told BBC News NI.

"I just loved that it was different, it wasn't the same as everything else."

Loughlin has some big aspirations for where he thinks bataireacht could go next.

"It means a lot to me because I know I'm bringing back this almost dead martial art and I'm bringing it around Ireland and all over the world - it gives me a sense of accomplishment," he said.

"I want to become the best, I want to be just like Bernie and be the chieftain once he's gone, and I want to bring it all over the world."

Recently, Martin has been showing the martial art to women's groups, who often said they felt vulnerable while they were out.

Martin added: "They really enjoyed it because it was giving them a sense of empowerment like: "I've got a few things here that I know I could use if I needed to".

"Hopefully they'll never need them... but if you're up against someone who isn't going to back off, you can sort of force them to back off."

With clubs set up right across Northern Ireland - stretching from Dunmurry to Enniskillen and beyond - Bernie said a badge of honour is much more than missing teeth or bloodied noses.

"Factions nowadays are like families… and that kind of honour thing is going to a place and having friends, it's meeting and protecting yourself."

"That's very much what we do, we're very much looking after and protecting each other."

For Bernie, his role of chieftain is much more than teaching the new generation, it's about honouring the ones who came before.

"It's the same as why would we speak Irish? Why do we do hurling or football? It's the part of a traditional Ireland which was lost and we're very lucky it survived.

"What I love is that this links me to my past... it's the first martial art most of the Celts did so for me, it's a massive thing for Irish culture and we should embrace it."

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