Camogie player Lucy Bourke, 11, has earned herself a new nickname after nearly striking US President Joe Biden with a sliotar during a GAA demonstration in Dublin on Thursday, April 13.
“They’re calling her Lee Hurley Oswald,” Willie Bourke, Lucy’s father, told the Irish Times the day after the viral incident.
The nickname, of course, is a play on Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who assassinated US President John F. Kennedy on November 12, 1963.
A clip of a sliotar whizzing by Biden circulated online on Thursday afternoon after he and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar attended a GAA demonstration at Farmleigh House during the US President’s visit to Ireland.
The clip shows Biden move to go get the sliotar, but a camogie player runs past him instead to retrieve it.
“I thought everyone was going to be giving out to me because it was such a bad shot," Lucy told the Irish Times, "but instead everyone was laughing.”
US President Joe Biden had a near miss when a stray sliotar went his direction while watching a camogie demonstration by young players at Farmleigh in Dublin | Read more: https://t.co/W34QbbYZWf pic.twitter.com/A3dor7yhGv
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 13, 2023
Lucy plays with St. Brigid’s U12 Camogie team in Dublin, who were invited to Farmleigh House for a GAA demonstration for the visiting President along with teams from nearby Castleknock and St. Oliver Plunkett’s GAA.
According to the Irish Times, an email arrived late on Sunday, April 9 looking for 14 camogie players under-12, and seven club members from two other Dublin GAA clubs.
“We had them all into the dressing rooms on Wednesday night to make sure their kit all matched,” Lucy's father told the Irish Times. Two coaches accompanied the 24 young GAA players who were taken by bus to Farmleigh.
“I think half the excitement about the day was there were no parents around," Willie remarked.
Afterward, St. Brigid's said it was a "very proud day" for their club. Two players presented President Biden with a sliotar, the club's red and white striped bobble hat, and a St. Brigid's cross.
A very proud day for our club as a number of our juvenile camogie players from our u12 group were honoured to attend...
Posted by St Brigids GAA Club on Thursday, April 13, 2023
On Reddit, Lucy's "Lee Hurley Oswald" nickname has given way to even more gags about the incident.
"So Lucy. Where you November 63?" one person wrote.
"Hey Kids, we are going to Disneyland! Well not you dear, the Secret Service won't let you in the country," another riffed.
"The 12 year old Irish girl would automatically become the President of the United States," another hypothesized. "That's how that works, right? I, for one, welcome our new preteen overlord."
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