Banner GAA chiefs back Cusack Park re-development plan

CLARE GAA delegates have backed a half million euro re-development plan for county headquarters, Cusack Park in Ennis.

With plans for a move to a greenfield site on hold, delegates at the March meeting of the county board backed proposals to reinvest in on and off field work.

Facilities committee chairman John Fawl outlined the work scheduled for completion before the end of May.

“We need to do a complete drainage job on the pitch. The north covered terrace also needs to be redone. It’s in a bad state of repair and we will have to replace the roof, the pillars and the stack.”

Other planned works include the upgrading of press facilities and the building of a new perimeter fence.

The drainage work on the field and the building of the new terrace covering will not commence until after April 20, the date of Clare’s National League tie.

Meanwhile Banner legend Ger O’Loughlin has stepped down as manager of back-to-back winning Limerick SHC champions Adare. The Clarecastle and Clare great joined the Maiguesiders ahead of the 2007 season and during his two-year term guided them to a brace of county championship wins. “At this stage, winning county titles is grand but Adare are a team with the potential — as evident from their county wins at U-12, U-14 and U-16 last season — to take their place on the bigger stage, and by that I mean setting goals for themselves in terms of winning a Munster and All-Ireland Championship.

“With the right commitment and attitude, these targets are achievable,” he told 300 guests at the club’s social in Fitzgerald’s Woodlands House Hotel.

Adare expect to announce a new management team within the next few weeks, certainly ahead of the commencement of the All-County Hurling League in April.

Limerick will again be skippered this season by double All Star recipient Mark Foley, 33, who is joined on the panel by Adare clubmates Wayne McNamara, Conor Fitzgerald and Donncha Sheehan.