Long-awaited artificial pitch destroyed

Two Limerick secondary schools have been left reeling after losing their long-awaited artificial hockey pitch to Saturday’s floods.

Laurel Hill Coláiste FCJ and Laurel Hill Secondary FCJ had been sharing the facility at the Dock Rd, which was opened in September 2012 after years of planning and fundraising.

But with the Shannon bursting its banks on Saturday morning, causing what Limerick city and county manager Conn Murray called “extraordinary, unprecedented flooding”, up to 1m of water entered the grounds, submerging the entire pitch.