OK, 3 objects identified as sling pouches are currently at the National Museum of Ireland. They were identified by a Dr, Andy Halpin. who works in the Irish Antiquities Division.
  Basically, they are elongated leather diamonds, about 10 cm long. Each one has a hole at each end, although one has had the end torn off. One is plain, one has 4 vertical slashes on it. The last has 6 longer vertical slashes on it.
  Their numbers  are E 180:7033  E190:6006  E:7007
  They were found in Dublin, in an area called Southgate and Fishamble st, and date to the 10-11th cent.

There are 5 other sites in Britain that yield similar types of finds, yet not all of the people there are ready to call them sling pouches. All are about 10 cm and have the diamond pattern, some with a hole broken through. All seem to be associated with Anglo Saxon sites.  If anyone would like a list of the other sites, I'll send you what I have.

  Also, from the Fenian Cycle, Battle of Ventry
  " And 2 Foreigners were set against them that day. And Conncrither siezed his long sided sling (an tabhaill) and put a straight even stone in it, and gave a straight well directed cast, so that it went into the forehead of his adversary, and took the brain out as a lump of blood out the back of his head."
   I think it's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

Before the puny humans were in Ireland, there were races of God like beings. Two of them were the Fomors, a race of giants, and the Tuatha de Dannan, the beings that became the Irish gods.
  Of course there was a war over the land. The Fomors had a giant named Balor, with one eye. He had to have someone lift his lid, but when his eye was open, he killed anything he looked at. Basically an unstoppable weapon.
Lugh stepped forward, while the eye was only half open, loaded a tathlum into his sling, and hit Balor in the eye so hard he drove the eye out the back of his head. The eye, which was still potent, looked upon the Fomor army and killed them.
  The text
" A tathlum, heavy fiery firm
  which the Tuatha de Dannan had with them
  It was that broke the fierce Balor's eye
  Of old, in the battle of the great armies."

  The Battle of Moytura

Fig. 5.—Sling-Stone, from Aberdeenshire

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_2/January_1873/Art_...

http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/starobject.html?oid=145683

Very strange shape for a sling stone.

I wonder if there are any tathlum or brain mixed with lime as an archaeological find.

There is a river-ford in Westmeath called Athnurchar (The Ford of the Sing-cast).

http://books.google.es/books?id=4CUS2j5fw-QC&pg=PA240&lpg=PA240&dq=athnurchar&so...

Greetings.

Hi

I agree. It is a very strange shape for a sling projectile. I think that a ball or lemon shape would be more aerodynamic and much better as a weapon.

And they are very beautifully carved so perhaps has a ritualistic purpose.

Greetings.

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Finally I have found yesterday some photos of that type of sling made of one leather strap. This one is from Badajoz. Not far from the highlands mentioned above.

Overall lenght: 115 cm, widest: 6.5 cm











https://imgur.com/a/KTMrMVb

https://www.todocoleccion.net/antiguedades/antigua-honda-para-lanzar-piedras-ani...

That one-piece leather sling looks fantastic.  I tried doing this once but it didn't turn out anywhere near that nice.  It also didn't seem to work very well for me.  Granted, I was really terrible with a sling at the time.  Still am, but not as bad

Just estimating from the picture, it looks like the release and retention cords (are they still called that in a one piece?) are around 2 cm wide for most of their length.  Has anyone used a sling with wide cords like this?  Does this make the sling better suited for certain styles?

It was found in Viking age Dublin, so 10-11th cent.

I know a comic that depicts an Irish hero using a sling