Sports Apparel/Equipment

O’Neills International Sports Co Ltd are the leading sports brand in Ireland. They have a long and established record in supplying playing kit and equipment for hurling, Gaelic football, rugby and soccer throughout Ireland and they have a growing and developing international customer base.

Following the introduction of a rule making helmets compulsory at all levels in hurling, O’Neills began the process of design and manufacture of helmets.  Hurling is one of the fastest field games in the world, played with a stick made from ash and hard leather coated ball. 

The helmet is required to protect players from striking with stick or the ball, struck at speeds of 100mph. Here at Crossen Engineering we worked closely with the design team from O’Neills. We provided the initial design and manufacturing expertise and we had significant input on the materials, construction and manufacture of the product. From the initial design we were able to develop the tool design and product assembly

The tooling combines multi-part cavities with several processes including over-moulding. We mould the parts on a range of colours and supply them to O’Neills where they are assembled and customised according to customer specifications and preferences.

One of the primary advantages for O’Neills is that we are a local firm, so there is an opportunity to retain local employment and logistically it assists greatly in problem solving and ongoing product development.

The O’Neills helmet construction offers a number of safety features to comply with NSAI IS 355 (2006) safety standards. Our input on the materials and construction was a key contributing factor in the success of the product.