The new pitches at Pairc Carmel which was previously the grounds of the Carmelites Monastery
New playing fields at Firhouse are badly needed
THE pitches being developed by Ballyboden St Enda’s at the Carmelites in Firhouse are almost finished with the first stage of construction.
Boden acquired the site a number of years ago for a figure reported to be around the €750,000 mark at the time.
Since then being renamed as Pairc Carmel, much development has taken place with two pitches set to alleviate the club’s growing problem with overcrowding.
Member John Ryan has been overseeing the development of the project.
“It’s something the club so badly needed. We’re bursting at the seams. The club has over 200 teams.”
While the development and construction of the pitches has gone smoothly so far, the actual process of getting planning permission was a tougher endeavour.
“The biggest challenge I suppose was getting the planning initially.
‘To be honest you go through quite a rigorous program in terms of delivery of required documents they need. It’s quite an expensive process to be honest with you. Getting the planning wasn’t easy.
‘We dealt with all of that to the satisfaction of the council and I think they are quite pleased with the outcome.”
The completion of the pitches will mark the end of what Ryan referred to as the ‘first phase’. Other amenities may be added on at a later date but that second phase will be some time down the line.
“We have planning for dressing rooms but that’s probably on stage 2 so we’ll have to do some fundraising for that. A project like this, as you can appreciate, is quite expensive. We’ll have run out of money after the first stage so in the second stage we’ll have to do fundraising.”
By the end of the first stage the club aims to have the two pitches constructed and suitable along with having a 68 capacity car park in use which is able to facilitate the pitches. Ryan spoke to The Echo about when the first stage would be finished.
“I’d say the bulk of all that work will be done in about a month, there or thereabouts.
‘The decision is not yet made whether we’ll open it this summer or not. The longer you leave the pitch for growing the more longevity you will get from the pitch.
‘We’ve yet to make an executive decision on what will be done.”
Ryan spoke further about the need the club has for extended playing facilities and why the introduction of two new grass surfaces in particular are so vital.
“There’s a group put together in the club who manage the allocation of pitches on any given day, especially September or October time.
‘There could be anything up to 100 texts and they have to try and facilitate each team. It almost became an impossibility.
‘We have one full size all weather pitch and three juvenile pitches for something like 230 teams now. It was an impossibility to manage it. We have about 28 adult teams alone and they all need full size pitches.”
“Young kids from about the age of 12 or 13 onwards don’t want to be training on an all weather pitch.
‘To hone your skills in hurling and even in football you need to train on a grass pitch.
‘To appreciate the run of a ball, the flight of a ball and all those issues and if they go from training on an all weather pitch to playing matches on a grass pitch they aren’t ready for it.
‘They need to train on a grass pitch so we need to provide that facility for them and offer a grass pitch for them when they are out of juvenile level.”
“It will be a gamechanger for sure and the quality of the finish will be top class.”
