New chapter for Sacred Heart as new all-weather pitch opens

SACRED HEART Football Club has begun a new chapter with the unveiling of their newly resurfaced all-weather pitch facility.

On Monday, Minister for Sport, Catherine Martin TD, attended the grand unveiling of the works alongside Francis Noel Duffy TD, who cut the ribbon, Republic of Ireland Under 21 manager Jim Crawford, Supt Ian Lackey from Tallaght Garda Station among dozens of others.

The Tallaght club was allocated €150,000 in the latest round of the Sports Capital grants, and it put an additional €70k to cover the cost of the €220k resurfacing.

“This is a great addition to the club,” chairperson of Sacred Heart FC, Alan Gibbons, told The Echo.

“We are very happy with the work of Synthetic Surfaces, which is a local Tallaght business, for resurfacing the artificial pitch.

“We essentially just resurfaced the pitch that we put down in 2008, so we got 14 years out of it.

“With the inclement weather, we have playing facilities seven days a week, 365 days a year so that gives us the ability to fulfil all our fixtures and provide a level of rental income through other groups renting the facility.

Francis Noel Duffy, TD with Alan Braekett, Robert DeCourcy (FAI) and Alan Gibbons from Sacred Heart at the opening of the all-weather pitches on Monday

“It’s important to note that this isn’t a new facility, we are just replacing the worn out artificial surface because it is a huge asset to the club.

“We are conscious that there is 600 new houses coming in to the left of us here and a new community centre, from South Dublin County Council, is coming on stream.

“Naturally our membership is going to rise with that and we have the facilities to cater for that.”

Sacred Heart, which has 200 members, plays a wider role in society by facilitating people interested in other activities.

Local schools, at both primary and secondary level, can freely use the all-weather facility while the likes of Dodder Valley Pigeon Club and Foroige have a base on site for their services.

Discussions are ongoing around introducing a Men’s Shed and Sister’s Shed at the eight-acre site in Killinarden, while there is also two Tús workers giving the club a dig out.

It is all systems go in the Killinarden club at present and they are always on the lookout for volunteers, to enable them to continue providing an outlet for people in the community.

Anyone interesting in supporting the club or volunteering can contact them through Facebook, at Sacred Heart FC.