New dawn for Clon
Costing over €10 million and after a series of hiccups that threatened to derail the project, James Murphy of the Development Committee is relieved the official opening has arrived after “quite a journey for all involved”.
He said: “The committee that has been in place for the last couple of years certainly don’t want to come near anything like this for the next 50 years I can guarantee you!”
The seed for such a complex was sown in 2004 when an EGM was held late in the year to discuss the spike in underage membership, the birth of camogie and ladies football in the club and the sense that the adult men’s teams were underachieving and needed more than one and a half pitches to cater for the needs of nearly 1,000 members.
“It wasn’t near good enough,” said Ger McCarthy, Chairman of the Development Committee. “We bought 22 acres a mile west of the town after we sold the pitches on O’Rahilly Street for €8.6m. But that was only the start. We then had to go for planning and that was a long process.
We lodged the first application in September 2004 but it wasn’t until June 2007 that it was passed after something like 14 deferrals and a number of objections.
“The concept we were trying to establish was that it wasn’t just a GAA facility; it’s a community arena and it’s about serving their needs and we’re hopeful they can buy into that and support it because realistically we need everyone pulling their weight on this. Something like this doesn’t come cheap, McCarthy admits the club were ‘extremely lucky’ when they sold and bought.
“We probably got the best out of what was going on both accounts. We sold eight and a half acres for €8.6m and that went a long way to financing the new place, which we bought just as the recession was taking hold.”
Along with that came a National Lottery grant of €170,000 and a Munster Council Grant of €50,000 which were “small in comparison to what it all cost but welcome nonetheless because grants were being cut at the time.”
But to make up the shortfall, McCarthy predicts the hard work starts in earnest now.
“There’s a huge shortfall, other sporting organisations and clubs would have spent maybe €5m on upgrading facilities and probably received €700,000 grant or something in that region but we didn’t get anything near it so I suppose long term, financing will come from the pitches, once we’ve the all weather pitch built and the gym, functions in the bar and renting out meeting rooms is where the funding will come from.
“If it was five years earlier or later we’d have had plenty funding but the money just isn’t there anymore.”
The complex boasts four full-size pitches (one floodlit), an underage pitch, changing rooms for 10 teams, a gym, meeting and conference rooms, a covered stand with a 1,000 seated capacity, ample parking facilities, sports injury clinic, pilates studio, a public amenity walk (2km), full bar and catering rooms and a host of ancillary facilities.
The official opening takes place tomorrow with a special mass at 10.30am, followed by the cutting of the tape by GAA President Christy Cooney at 1.30pm. NFL champions Cork face Limerick in a challenge match at 5.30pm
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