Louth GAA guarantee end to '60 years of broken promises' with new Dundalk stadium

Louth GAA's planned new stadium in Dundalk.

Louth chairman Peter Fitzpatrick has guaranteed that construction work on their new stadium in Dundalk will begin in September, even if they have to "beg, borrow, or steal".

The brand new 14,000-capacity stadium will cost between €10m and €12m and while the majority of that funding hasn't been tied down, Fitzpatrick is determined to push ahead.

The independent TD and former Louth football manager said that after 60 years of broken promises regarding a new ground: "If we promise we'll do something we will do it."

A house draw that will climax in April is expected to raise up to €1.3m, which should allow phase one of the project to begin.

Louth need to raise a total of €4m themselves and they hope to secure the remaining €8m or so through central GAA funds and a Government sports grant.

Speaking at the launch of Louth GAA Strategic Review 2021, Fitzpatrick said work will begin in September regardless of whether the GAA and Government money has been secured.

"We're going to have diggers, we're going to have everything in that stadium," said Fitzpatrick. "We promised the people of Louth, in September 2021, we will start building the stadium and we're going to be in the grounds, beg, borrow, or steal.

"We'll have the guts of a €1m or €1.3m maybe at that stage and we're going to start with the actual pitch itself and the surrounding areas.

"If you don't make a start, it'll never happen. For over 60 years, we've been promised a stadium in county Louth. I'm chairman of the County Board and we've got a fantastic management committee there at the moment. We don't want to be like everybody else, coming in and promising. If we promise we'll do something we will do it."

Fitzpatrick said that he has spoken to Sports Minister Jack Chambers about the project as well as new GAA president Larry McCarthy and revealed that the GAA has committed to the project.

"We've got a commitment from Croke Park that we'll be number one on the list going forward and I will hold Croke Park to that," he said.

The 2010 Leinster final manager also said that a number of private individuals "have contacted the county board and are willing to help" financially.

Louth's current home is at the Ó Raghallaighs club grounds in Drogheda which has one small stand and a capacity of around 3,500.

"What we decided was two things; we were going to be ambitious with our football team and we are also going to get our home grounds," said Fitzpatrick, who pulled off a major coup by attracting Mickey Harte as senior manager.

"There's no point whingeing and crying, my ambition is to get Louth back to a Leinster final and to win a Leinster final. I think the structures we're putting together over the next year or two will help us to achieve success on the football field."

Development officer and former Louth footballer Derek Crilly headed up the strategic review and presented a 32-page document at a media briefing, focusing heavily on schools and underage activity.

A total of 670 figures within the county, from club managers to youth players to 113 current and former inter-county players, were surveyed.

Crilly, a sub on Louth's Leinster final team in 2010, said things have "drifted for 10 years", revealing that between 2008 and 2017 Louth used 87 different senior footballers and that another 27 have made Championship debuts since.

"You can see the turnover of players is massively high so we need to work at reducing that, our near neighbours Monaghan would have a much better retention rate."