A new website dedicated to Gaelic games was launched in Croke Park yesterday. anfearrua.com is the brainchild of former RTE journalist Liam Cahill who is now media relations manager of Intel Ireland and has been up and running since last April. The launch was attended by the site's most colourful characters An Fear Rua and An Maor.

The website is mostly dedicated to comment and opinion as filtered through the perceptions of the above characters. An Fear Rua himself is a splendidly offbeat creation who comes complete with exhaustive biographical chronicles detailing his family background in Clonmel over the last century. It is complemented by graphic design which provides an atmospheric backdrop.

Other aspects of the site include interactive polls and discussion boards. Cahill hopes that the site can thrive commercially through advertising and the merchandise of anfearrua.com branded products.

Since coming on-line five months ago, the site reports a 300 per cent increase in traffic with 22,000 page hits and 5,000 unique visitors in August, approximately 10-15 per cent of which are from overseas.

Liam Cahill played hurling in his native Waterford and is now involved with the Kilmessan hurling club in Meath.