Laois €19m deal awaits go-ahead from HQ

PORTLAOISE GAA club is confident that Croke Park will approve plans to sell their existing grounds for a massive €19 million within the next month.

The Laois outfit has already purchased a new site over a mile away in the Ballymacken area and intends spending up to €10m on a state-of-the-art sports facility.

However nothing can be finalised until the GAA gives the green light.

“At this stage we have the county board’s blessing, the Leinster Council have approved it as well and we’re just waiting for it to be ratified by Central Council,” said club secretary Peter O’Neill yesterday.

“We have followed all the guidelines and procedures in doing this and it is something we have been working on for two full years.”

Though a number of clubs and county boards are mulling over the sale of their grounds, some high-ranking GAA officials remained concerned about the impact of vacating premises in town centres and relocating to green-field sites.

Plans to sell Cusack Park in Ennis and Cusack Park in Mullingar are both in the pipeline while Kildare delegates approved the sale of St Conleth’s Park and the switch to a new 23,000 capacity stadium on the outskirts of Newbridge last November.

Like Portlaoise, however, the Kildare venture has still to be officially approved by the GAA and both prospective moves are to be discussed at Management Committee and Central Council meetings.

O’Neill however is confident Portlaoise can allay any fears in that regard.

“We have looked into this. In the next 10 years we will actually be based in the middle of the town. Portlaoise is growing that quickly.

“We will still only be a mile and a quarter from the church (in the town’s centre) and we’re only a mile from our existing grounds. The reality is our new grounds will actually be more accessible, not less, as we will be based on the Orbital Road route around the town.”

Their new home is already based within the town limits although the club is investigating the possibility of running a shuttle bus service during the summer months to ensure the grounds are fully accessible.

With six full-sized playing pitches, another astroturf pitch, floodlights, hurling and football skill walls, state-of-the-art dressing rooms and leisure areas including a gym and a swimming pool, the new facility will be the best of its kind in the country.

Portlaoise officials used the impressive facilities in Nemo Rangers as a blueprint, visiting the Cork club on a number of occasions over the last two years.

“We’re very grateful to Nemo for all their help,” said O’Neill. “We were down there four or five times and they were unbelievably helpful and we hope to avail of their experience when the centre is up and running as well.”