Kerry not resting on laurels as future starts to take shape

In a quiet rural corner of Kerry, far from the celebrations of Sunday’s All-Ireland successes, the foundations are being poured to aid the development of future generations of Kingdom footballers.

Heavy machinery and scores of workers are transforming fields at Currans, near Farranfore Airport, from pasture lands into a plush facility which will become the training centre for the county’s elite teams and players.

Coupled with a Centre of Excellence planned for IT Tralee, the multi-million euro project is an ambitious scheme by county board chiefs.

The work in Currans is the first phase of the strategy, and development officer Tim Murphy is delighted at the progress already made.

He said: “This phase involves the enabling works, forming the entrance and the entrance road, some overhead line diversions and the construction of two sand-based pitches. All going well, and weather permitting, we would hope this phase will be completed by mid October. That is as much as we intended doing this calendar year.

“We hope to proceed next year with the construction of a building that would facilitate these two pitches. That would be our immediate plan for 2014/2015 and we envisage possibly adding additional pitches in the spring of 2015 subject to fundraising efforts and our finances generally.”

But training sessions are still at least a year off.

“Our intention would be that once the pitches are seeded they would be left for 12 months. We expect lighting to be installed next summer, with the view to having the first teams using this facility around October 2015. Our ambition would be that we have the two pitches and a functional changing room facility available for the winter of 2015 and the spring of 2016.

“It is hoped the McGrath Cup squad of 2016 will be training there. So it is very pleasing at this stage to have the project up and running. It has been a hard slog for various reasons but ultimately very satisfying.

“Our plan is to keep things going over the next few years and in due course we are confident that this development will serve the needs of many future generations and do justice to all our Kerry teams.”

But Murphy is keen to note that Currans is merely one part of the future-proofing work, with a centre of excellence at IT Tralee a key part of their policy.

“The intention is that the centre of excellence will always be in IT Tralee. The facilities in Currans will, I suppose be complimentary to the Centre at IT Tralee, and Currans will provide the playing pitches, so badly needed for all our inter-county teams in hurling and football.

“IT Tralee will be the hub and Kerry GAA will have our own dedicated playing pitch here with a number of dressing rooms. The tie in with the sports science section of IT Tralee is a fundamental aspect of this development.”