Plea by Minister for pitches to be made available for women's teams
Another chapter opens for GAA Centre of Excellence in Dunganny as three new pitches are to be provided
Sean Wall
MINISTER for Justice Helen McEntee expressed the wish that when completed the three new pitches at the Centre of Excellence in Dunganny would be made available for ladies' as well as men’s teams.
The Meath East TD was speaking at the turning of the sod ceremony for the three new irrigated system training pitches last Friday.
The attendance included a host of local public representatives, Meath GAA officials, senior team manager Colm O’Rourke and player Aaron Lynch as well as county senior hurlers Mickey Burke and Damien Healy who brought along the Christ Ring Cup.
The €1.2 million development is being supported with €256,000 of Sports Capital Grants and Minister for Sport Mr Thomas Byrne who also spoke at the ceremony pledged the Government’s continued support for the project.
Development work has already commenced with bulldozers, diggers and earth moving equipment presently on site with the project being undertaken by Tony Patterson Sports Grounds, Co Down.
When ground work is completed the pitches will be seeded in August and it is hoped to have them ready for use by June/July 2024.
County chairman John Kavanagh said the sod turning event was another landmark in the long and proud history of Meath GAA.
The chairman outlined the background to Dunganny with the then county chairman Fintan Ginnity spotting a sign along the road for land that was up for sale when travelling from Trim to Navan backing 2001.
At the time Meath GAA were in need of facilities to cater for all of their county teams and Fintan Ginnity, never to pass up on an opportunity knew the owner of the land, Patsy McGearty who was goalkeeper when the county won the 1954 All-Ireland title. According to Kavanagh Fintan went on ‘a sole run’ and struck a deal for the purchase of the land.
The first stage of the Centre of Excellence development was three grass pitches as well as a full length 3G pitch, along with floodlights and cabins which acted a dressing rooms.
In 2013 then chairman Conor Tormey set up an infrastructure committee which included Noel Dempsey and Liam Mulvihill and they recommended plans for the present building which includes six dressing rooms, office and meeting space, gymnasium, referees room, medical room and a canteen. It is now the main office for Meath GAA as well as Meath coaching & Games. The total cost was in the region of €6.5 million and was officially opened in September 2015.
National Lottery funding, contribution from Croke Park and Leinster Council as well as a substantial bank loan financed the project. Kavanagh said that presently less than €300,000 was still owed which was a great credit to everyone in the county.
In 2021 an ambitious underage development plan was embarked on to coincide with the increased participation in GAA as well as the success of the LGFA in the county. It was felt that more facilities were needed to cater for these demands.
“Dunganny has become an integral element of Meath GAA, all our county squads use it for training and trials, our CCC use it for club matches and our inaugural Regional Football Championship was held here last November, our schools use the pitches and whenever possible our ladies and camogie teams use the facilities as well” Kavanagh continued.
“All the players and everyone involved with Meath GAA will testify to the importance of Dunganny as a training base and for match preparation. It is incumbent on us as Meath County Board to improve and to extend our facilities and I’m excited to see this next phase of the project starting up. As well as providing more pitches the new development will allow us rotate the existing pitches so that we won’t have to close them for repairs for lengthy periods.
“Ultimately we are going to have to add more dressing rooms and gym facilities but that is for another day and I think it is prudent that as a county board we don’t put everyone in unwanted financial debt.”
Kavanagh said such an undertaking involves a lot of planning and work behind the scenes and he thanked former operations manager Seamus Kenny, Pat Reynolds, elected representatives, national and local, and also Meath County Council for all their assistance. Central Council delegate and Leinster safety and facilities Officer Jason Plunkett and treasurer Gene Smith who are spearheading the present project were also thanked as were the clubs of the county.
“We are committed to providing the best facilities for all our codes and our clubs are paramount to this and I thank them for their continued support of this development here in Dunganny. These are exciting times for Meath GAA and we are here today to further develop our training facilities and we hope to have some positive news in the next four to six weeks on our Pairc Tailteann development,” Kavanagh concluded.
Following the turning of the sod ceremony Fr Paul Crosbie PP Trim performed the official blessing.