Clare board gets ‘serious offer’ for Ennis ground

CLARE County Board expects “a second serious offer” this week for a new stadium in Ennis in return for the sale of Cusack Park for commercial development.

Clare hope to finalise an agreement similar to that negotiated by Nemo Rangers in Cork, who gained a multi-million property from the developer who bought their old grounds.

Board chairman Michael McDonagh confirmed at the weekend that the clubs will have the final say in the deal.

Speaking at a gala sports awards banquet at the Armada Hotel in Spanish Point, he told guests he was confident they would receive a second offer, believed to be coming from the Lynch Hotels group, this week.

Mr McDonagh admits to favouring a move: “I believe we have a very good chance. I don’t believe we will get a second chance.”

He had raised the possibility of vacating Cusack Park in his address to annual convention last December.

“We had already bought 70 acres in Tulla for a training facility. Our next option was a stadium and we decided to see what our options would be,” he explained yesterday.

“We looked at the Nemo project in Cork and asked ourselves the question, ‘would there be a developer who could build us a new stadium in Clare?’

“I never thought this would happen, but three weeks ago I was contacted by three developers, who offered to build a stadium in Ennis for us. I believe we are going to get a second offer and basically we will look at these and see what our best options are. It may not happen, but it’s an exciting possibility.’’

Mr McDonagh, a detective sergeant who is in his last year as chairman, revealed that in addition to getting a stadium with a 42,000 capacity (with seating for 10/15,000), the deal would include the construction of a 5,000sq ft office for the board.

“On top of that, we would be looking for an all-weather pitch and probably have our development in Tulla looked after as well.”

Conservative estimates value the Cusack Park property at around €30m.

“There are nine acres there, but I think the ‘air space’ is more valuable. If they could go up three storeys, you would have 27 acres.

“We are surrounding ourselves with the best available expertise,’’ he added.

“The principal advantage of moving to a greenfield site would be that Clare would be in a position to host Munster championship games.

“It would be great to have a stadium we could be proud of.”