GAA President set to officially open Éire Óg club facilities
Bank Holiday Monday, May 2, will be a red letter day for Nenagh Éire Óg as the President of the GAA, Larry McCarthy, will be in town to officially open the first phase of the club's highly ambitious project to provide a state-of-the-art sports and amenity facility that will ultimately include a third GAA pitch, gym, coffee shop, and a walking and jogging route on its grounds stretching from Gortlandroe to Stereame.
Once fully completed, the impressive complex will undoubted be the envy of many towns, promoting sport and physical and healthy activity for the entire community.
And the club is already a long way into realising its targets, with phase one, costing almost €230,000, already completed.
A new hurling wall with astro-turf surface has been constructed and the existing main pitch - for decades regarded as one of the best playing venues in the country - improved even more.
The wonderful achievements to date would not have been possible but for the wholehearted support of the local community, according to Club Chairman, John Tooher, who revealed that the GAA President will unveil a large glass plaque on the club grounds, inscribed with the names of all of those individuals and families who gave their financial support to the project.
“The glass is inscribed in the shape of a jigsaw to symbolise all the various pieces of the community - our people - who came together to deliver this whole project for the town,” John told The Guardian.
“Thankfully, phase one is now done, but we want to press on and deliver a top-class amenity for the community. But to do that we need the community behind us all the way.”
A CELEBRATION
Already so much has been achieved in a few short years, and the club feels that's something to sing and dance about. And so, there's going to be a celebration on this coming Monday, with musicians on hand to provide entertainment and a host of side events, including a “golden oldies” match played by men and women aged over 40 on the main pitch, followed by a bit of a nosh up.
The day will also mark a great coming together of entire club and its 600 members as the GAA President will witness the signing of what is called a “One Club Agreement” that will see greater unity and more equal representation at the highest level for all its sectors - the senior, juvenile and camogie clubs that all play under the Éire Óg banner.
PHASE TWO
With phase one now completed, the club is already preparing for phase two and three of the project, the former involving the development of a sand-based third full-sized playing pitch, and the latter a fully-lit 2.5km walking and jogging all-weather track wrapping around the existing grounds and new lands the club has acquired from Tipperary County Council on the Dark Road and Stereame end of the grounds.
“The entire goal of what we have achieved so far is down to local businesses and local people supporting us,” says John, who adds that the job of getting in funds to make the project happen had been helped greatly as a result of tax incentives available due to the club's charitable status.
As well as working to provide a wonderful facility the town can be truly proud of, John says Éire Óg likes to give something back to other individuals and voluntary groups who, like the club, are working to make life better for the citizens of Nenagh and surrounds.
“We are big into supporting people who support us,” says John, revealing how the club sets aside €500 from its community lotto every ten weeks to donate to local good causes.
The benefits of that scheme will come come sharply into focus at this Monday's celebrations when the club presents €500 each to the charity Carmha, the local group that provides a free counselling and peer support services for people with co-existing addiction and mental health issues, and the Nenagh committee of Pieta, the voluntary group that provides help to those who are suicidal or engaging in self-harm.
“Already, to date, we have donated a total sum of €4,500 to deserving causes in the community,” says John. Among those benefiting so far is the group working to make Nenagh an autism-friendly town, as well as frontline workers in the local hospital over the course of the pandemic who were put in a draw for prizes of five individual €100 vouchers.
THIRD PITCH
The club is already well on the way to providing its third playing pitch, having secured a maximum grant of €150,000 from the Government's Sports Capital Grants scheme. But again the delivery of the pitch will be heavily dependent on financial support locally as the all-in cost is estimated at up to €320,000.
The target is to get work started by autumn at the latest and have the pitch seeded by September, and ready for playing on in early 2024.
The development of the walking and jogging track will incorporate an all-weather cinder surface of 1.2 metres width, taking in a route around the existing pitches and the new pitch. It is expected that work on this route, which will also be used for jogging, will start in the autumn of next year, depending, of course, on grant aid from the Tipperary Leader group and donations from the community.
“We got a hugely positive response from the communtity when people heard we were going to develop the walking route,” said John.
“People who may not have been that interested in hurling or camogie, but who wanted a traffic-free area in which to walk, willingly gave us donations for the hurling wall because they know they are going to benefit in the long run when we get around to developing the walkway.”
OTHER WORKS
Other works being planned include a tarmac resurface of the existing parking facilities within the grounds, the development of an on-site coffee shop, gym and physiotherapy service, all of which combined with the other amenities will result in a truly marvellous facility for the entire community to enjoy.
John says that helping greatly in ensuring everything at the grounds runs smoothly are a team of dedicated Community Employment Scheme workers who are vital to the club's efforts in providing a top-class facility.
PRESIDENTS MEET
A prelude to the celebrations at MacDonagh Park on Monday will be “A Meeting of the Presidents” when the GAA President will sit down to lunch in the Hibernian Inn in Pearse Street with the four Honorary Éire Óg Presidents, Mick Burns, Mick Hynes, Jimmy Morris and Paidi O' Kennedy.
The GAA President is due to arrive afterwards at the park at 2pm where there will be on-stage musical entertainment as part of a ceremony conducted by RTÉ GAA reporter, Damian Lawlor.
Among the special guests will be the club's main sponsors, Specsavers and co-sponsors of its schools hurling academy, A Sportman's Dream in Kenyon Street and Albany Paints in Pearse Street. It should be one hell of a celebration.