Offaly GAA club have major €1 million development plans at three pivotal locations

SHAMROCKS GAA Club are in the process of finalising ambitious plans for a major €1 million development programme as they bid to upgrade and enhance their facilities to meet a growing demand.

One of the biggest clubs and one of the strongest dual clubs in Offaly, Shamrocks GAA have ambitious plans to provide vital additional facilities at three locations in the parish.

They have existing grounds in Mucklagh and Rahan and also have land at Killina – the nearby Killina Presentation Secondary School developed a GAA pitch there a few years ago, Shamrocks have access to this for training and games while they purchased land beside it some years ago.

Shamrocks came into existence in 1997 in a name change from St Carthage's/Mucklagh – these two clubs had amalgamated in 1994 and they currently compete in senior football and intermediate hurling, as well as fielding teams in other grades.

With a busy underage section catering for hurling and football and growing ladies football and camogie clubs in the parish, Shamrocks urgently need to expand their facilities and a development committee has been examining their options in recent years.

The first big development is the provision of an new astro turf pitch in Mucklagh as well as floodlights here later on, that will be suitable for football championship games and hurling training.

They have reached agreement with a company to take away the soil for the new pitch and after this, they will go to tender for the astro turf construction.

The Mucklagh astro turf pitch will be followed by new floodlights in Rahan, new gyms in Rahan and Mucklagh; equipment for both grounds including automatic lawnmowers, pitch lining machines and gym machine; an astro turf pitch in Rahan; floodlights in Mucklagh and the development of their land at Killina.

They have yet to finalise their plans for Killina but it is a very important, central part of their development programme. Their current playing facilities are woefully inadequate for the numbers and volume of teams they have to cater for – they were outbid for other land belonging to the parish earlier in the year at Killina but the land they have will enable the provision of additional playing pitches and facilities.

They are co-operating with Killina Secondary School in this whole area in relation to both school and GAA facilities – the school have built a very impressive new extension in recent years and are also catering for growing numbers as their reputation flourishes.

Shamrocks will finalise their Killina plans in the coming months and will also engage with local residents about concerns that some of them may have in relation to access and other issues – they hope to come up with something unique that will enhance that whole area as well as assisting the club in providing the facilities they need while solving some of the current issues in relation to this location.

Above: an initial impression of what the Killina land could consist of.

The entire project will cost over €1 million and it is a very ambitious project. Projected figures are:

Mucklagh astro - €350,000;

Rahan floodlights - €120,000;

Gyms – €40,000;

Extra pitch and gym equipment - €80,000;

Rahan astro - €150,000;

Mucklagh floodlights - €110,000;

Killina land development - €200,000.

They have current grants of €210,000 sanctioned and hope to access further grants of €230,000, leaving them needing to fund €610,000 themselves.

They have already come up with fundraising initiatives to meet this and the major ones are a donation scheme where people donate €1,000 over five years, a community draw and a big raffle at the National Ploughing Championships which take place soon in their Screggan heartland.

They have ambitious targets for all of these initiatives and are appealing to the parish for support and will also be approaching people and businesses from further afield.

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The Development Committee consists of a variety of specialists, who have experience in the relevant areas with this project. It is chaired by Enda McDonough and includes Jean Ryan, Allen Kenny, Kevin Bracken, David Reynolds and John Cunningham while others may be added.