Connolly on US mission to raise funds for stadium

THE magnificently refurbished Pearse Stadium in Galway has at last opened its doors to a wider GAA public, later than originally anticipated. But the challenge of paying for it continues to occupy the time and energy of former All-Ireland hurling captain Joe

Connolly. It sees him flying to America this morning for a promotional tour of three cities, with two other members of the fundraising committee.

Meanwhile, after playing host to the county football final and the Railway Cup football decider last weekend, it's the venue for next Sunday's county hurling final between holders Athenry and Sarsfields. For Connolly, who has co-ordinated the fundraising to date, the opening of the stadium represents the culmination of up to five years of hard work. While in America, the trio will visit Boston, Chicago and New York to promote their Patrons of Pearse Stadium scheme. "Hopefully, it will appeal to wealthy Irish-Americans,'' he comments.

"What we're talking about is lifetime plaques around the pitch dedicated to a loved one and people buying seats to use when they return or for relatives at home.'' To date, they have managed to sell up to 700 of the 1,000 seats available. He describes the response as "extremely encouraging" for the reason that up to recent times, they haven't been able to offer big games to build the sales. He is fulsome in his praise of the commercial backing which the stadium project has received. "Corporate Galway has been superb,'' he comments. "We had a £25,000 (pounds) package including a hoarding and ten seats in the stand and we sold 31 of those. That was away above our expectations. We also sold 25 separate hoarding packages (which provide four seats in the stand for every match over the next six years) at £10,000 each. You would have to say that corporate Galway certainly rallied brilliantly behind us.''

With a predictable overrun in costs, the eventual bill will come to around 12m, which will mean that a sizeable debt will remain and running costs will be significant. "We paid out 50,000 for an electronic scoreboard, which is interesting if you think that we opened the stadium originally for 34,000. Nothing was spared. I honestly believe it's fabulous value for what has been put in place.'' The county board raised a significant sum by selling property on one side of the pitch for private housing. Another initiative involved the sale of shares in four racehorses for three years of racing.

"It's reckoned that a million patrons will pass through in six years and a lot of high-profile games will be shown on television. It will be good exposure for firms, but it still represents a tremendous vote of confidence in the stadium,'' he added. Last Sunday's football final, in which Corofin were comprehensive winners over holders Annaghdown, was the first to be played in Galway city since 1986. And, while there is likely to be obvious resentment in Tuam to the loss of high-profile games, specifically at Connacht championship level, Connolly argues that the city has been kept out in the cold for far too long. "For the so-called cultural capital of Ireland you could not see a (big) hurling or football game for more than 15 years. It was crazy. I know from managing under-16 teams in Castlegar, if we were playing Liam Mellowes in a city league final, we would have to go 10 miles outside Galway. That was mad.

"It will be great to see the ground being used next year for (inter-county) championship matches. I know that we will definitely have Roscommon and Galway. But, apart from that, it's great that the young people have an arena like this to play in and to aspire to playing there. That has been sadly lacking for too long in the Galway city area.''

With the ground first having been used for games in June, there has been "a nice build-up" to more serious competition. Currently, there are no definite plans in place for an official opening, but Connolly feels that it may be organised for early summer possibly with Galway playing Tipperary and Kerry in challenges.