sliotar

Donald got in touch with the Carryduff club which was able to contact the sliotar's original owner, eight-year-old Fionn O'Neill.

Fionn is a member of the club and was awarded the ball because he was able to do three roll lifts in a row - a skill in which the hurling stick is rolled over the sliotar before it is flicked up into the hand.

Fionn's mother, Donna Fisher, said they would be willing to make the trip and cannot believe the sliotar has travelled so far: "In our family we lose so many balls with hurling – but they don't always have a name on it – it gives it a special meaning."

Fionn said despite already losing the sliotar once he is going to continue playing with it when he finally gets it back from Scotland.

Players in helmets but no pads use a curved wooden stick with a flat end, a hurley, to advance a hard ball, a sliotar, scoring by hitting the baseball-size ball at up to 100 miles an hour past a keeper into a soccer-size goal which counts for three points, or above the crossbar for a single point.