Final whistle in sight for Ballincollig soccer club's 23-year lease saga

If approved, it will allow Ballincollig AFC to apply for national sports capital grants for the first time in its long history

Mon, 01 Apr, 2024 - 19:12

Eoin English

The soccer club which helped produce former Irish soccer stars Colin Healy and the late Liam Miller is finally poised to secure the deeds to its home ground more than two decades after it was promised.

Next Monday, Cork City Council is to vote to dispose of just over 2.8 hectares of land known as The Landing Field to Ballincollig AFC, by way of a sporting lease subject to a nominal annual rent, if demanded, of €10.

If approved, the disposal will give the 650-member club, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in May, a legal address which in turn will allow it to apply for national sports capital grants for the first time in its long history. It will also allow the club to plan for infrastructural developments.

Club stalwart, Gerardene McNamara, welcomed the listing of the disposal for approval at next Monday’s council meeting but sounded a note of caution. “Until we have the deeds in our hands, the club won’t be making any announcement about this,” she said.

“There has been a lot of people working on this for years. We have been trying to put the pressure on to get it resolved for 23 years.

“We have been close to getting it sorted before but something has always cropped up at the last minute.

“We are nearly there now, but we won’t celebrate until everything is signed, sealed and delivered.”

The club was promised the deeds to their Landing Field grounds by the then-minister for defence in 2001 around the time the town’s former Murphy Barracks lands were being sold for development.

The land was assigned to Cork County Council with the intention that it be leased to the club but the legal transfer of the lease never happened. Ms McNamara said the lease issue has cost the club hundreds of thousands in lost grants over the years, and hampered the development of its facilities.

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The issue became the responsibility of Cork City Council following the 2019 city boundary extension.

The matter was almost resolved earlier this year but a last-minute issue with Uisce Eireann emerged in relation to the availability of adjacent lands close to its Ballincollig wastewater treatment plant and pipe network, and access rights to that land for it to carry out essential maintenance and upgrade works.

But local Fianna Fáil Cllr Colm Kelleher said following several meetings and an examination of maps and the utility’s future requirements, everything is now cleared for the disposal to come before councillors next Monday for approval.

“After almost a quarter of a century since the deeds to the Landing Field were promised to Ballincollig AFC, the club are finally set to get their deeds,” he said.

“There have been many false dawns since then but I’m delighted to say that on Monday next, a property disposal will go before the council for approval of the title deeds to their home and the club will finally have ownership of their home.

"I’m delighted to say that this saga is now finally over.”

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