New community development taking shape in Nenagh

An exciting new development for the community in Nenagh is progressing apace on the outskirts of the town.

Nenagh Éire Óg is creating a new playing pitch on a 10-acre site at Stereame, which will be circled by a 2.5km walking and jogging track. These are elements of a €1.3 million expansion by the local GAA club that has already seen the development of a hurling wall and astro-turf training pitch.

The Stereame site will be fully fenced and floodlit, and there are plans to provide new dressing rooms and car parking space there in due course. There will still be room for to create an additional facility at the site; a juvenile playing pitch is a workable option.

For now, however, the club is concentrating on finishing the sand-based playing pitch as the centrepiece of a development that will breathe new life into a hitherto neglected part of the town periphery. Originally intended as a massive private housing site, which was abandoned shortly after the economic crash of 2008, the area was criss-crossed with footpaths and service infrastructure that is now being broken up and levelled to make way for the new development. As much of the path material as possible is being reused as ‘804’ dry fill, while the old lamp posts can also be made use of for lighting the walkway.

As recently highlighted in this newspaper, Nenagh-based school food providers the Lunch Bag donated a large volume of topsoil to the Éire Og development. This came from site clearance works to make way for the Lunch Bag's expansion at Lisbunny Industrial Estate.

Éire Óg Chairman John Tooher again took the opportunity to thank the Lunch Bag for this donation, and he said the club is still looking for more topsoil to complete the development. There is still a funding shortfall of around €75,000 to make up, and Mr Tooher also appealed for financial support in helping to get this stage of the development over the line. He expected that the pitch would be sown in late September; it will be another 18 months before it can be played on.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Mr Tooher thanked the residents of the housing estates surrounding the new development - Coille Bheithe, Monaree, Carrig Rua and Castle Oak - as well as everyone at Wilmots Childcare for their co-operation. He assured that disruption will be kept to a minimum at all stages of the development.

The new pitch will be positioned in such a way as to limit impact on local residential amenity. No competitive matches will be played on it so there will be no crowd noise or traffic problems.

The club chairman praised the goodwill of the local community in general and in particular the support of local businesses. Éire Óg will be launching a community fundraising campaign in due course and the club will be seeking Leader funding for the walkway, construction of which Mr Tooher hoped to see commencing early next year.

This eagerly-anticipated addition to Nenagh's amenity offering will offer people a new 2.5km level-surface walking and jogging option. It will be accessed from a gate on the Wilmots side of the site and does have the potential to provide a new pedestrian link with the Stereame side of the town.

It is a closed site at the moment but people will hopefully be able to come and enjoy this new amenity in the near future. Éire Óg is very much “one club and one community” in outlook and wants people to share in this project. With a present membership of between 500 and 600, the club hopes its new facilities will encourage all the more involvement in sport in Nenagh.

Mr Tooher took the opportunity to thank Tom Boland and Niall Cahill, chairmen of Éire Óg's camogie and juvenile divisions respectively, and also professional consultants James Dwyer and Brian Grace for their help with steering this new development for Nenagh on a successful path.