Louth gaa grounds

southlouth type

I see the GAA in north Louth have finally got there way and are moving Louth games from the county grounds and home in Drogheda to a proposed new stadium in Dundalk . Very sad day for the town and a real slap in the face for lots of hardworking folk . Once again shafted by the north of the county :mad:

MugMugs

This is your second thread stating preference being given to North Louth. Are you trying to fulfill your username?

doncarlos

southlouth type wrote: »

I see the GAA in north Louth have finally got there way and are moving Louth games from the county grounds and home in Drogheda to a proposed new stadium in Dundalk . Very sad day for the town and a real slap in the face for lots of hardworking folk . Once again shafted by the north of the county :mad:

Cry me a river. Nearly all of your posts are anti-Dundalk. Should it not matter what was the best solution to have our first proper county ground or would you rather we remain and stagnate in the o'raghallaighs owned ground?

Slap in the face for lots of hardworking folk??? come on seriously?

Nesta99

southlouth type wrote: »

I see the GAA in north Louth have finally got there way and are moving Louth games from the county grounds and home in Drogheda to a proposed new stadium in Dundalk . Very sad day for the town and a real slap in the face for lots of hardworking folk . Once again shafted by the north of the county :mad:

Oh lose the chip!! Have you forgotten that St Brigids Park, Dowdallshill GFC, in Dundalk was the designated County Ground for many years until capacity issues kicked in. The ground in Drogheda fell victim to similar restrictions on health and safety issues. DKIT is the obvious choice as the most accessible point of the county (Louth continues out to Cooley, it does not stop at Dundalk!).

Shafted by the North of the county??? Jesus wept........

Can we have your hospital?

Jacknory

"o'raghallaighs owned ground?"

The O'Raghallaighs do not own the gaelic grounds in Drogheda as its on a sports lease (99 years) to the club. To date Drogheda has been the most accessible of all the grounds that Louth have used and should have been developed further years ago. The problem here is that the North and South of the county can't agree on anything and until that happens our county grounds will remain a laughing stock!!!

Nesta99

Jacknory wrote: »

To date Drogheda has been the most accessible of all the grounds that Louth have used and should have been developed further years ago. The problem here is that the North and South of the county can't agree on anything.

I agree totally, but if/when the DKIT project goes ahead the Gaelic Grounds will be superceeded in most if not all aspects including accessibility! Its hardly surprising that the north and the south of the county cant agree if Southlouths type's attitude is anything to go by! The paranoia is astounding and the blame cannot be thrown at the door of government ministers based in Dundalk now!..

kormak

Why couldn't they "develop" a new ground in Dunleer or upgrade Lan Leire?!
It sems very simple, easy to access and appeases both North&South of the county...
Jees' takes a Meath man to sort yee Wee County wh*res out!

Jacknory

That's too much of a sensible solution for the Louth county board Kormak If we had to have Barney Allen leading this group of fools we'd probably have something decent in place at this stage. Saying that, I see that Parc Tailteann has had its capacity downsized due to health and safety.

Nesta99

kormak wrote: »

Why couldn't they "develop" a new ground in Dunleer or upgrade Lan Leire?!
It sems very simple, easy to access and appeases both North&South of the county...
Jees' takes a Meath man to sort yee Wee County wh*res out!

Money! and that option Darver was rejected. DkIT in partnership will be paying for a large chunk of the cost. To develop an existing GAA ground the County Board would foot the entire bill bar contribution from Croke Park. In addition the facilities that already exist at DkIT eg catering, function rooms etc can be utilised on match days saving on further development cost. Car parking and general services - appropriate lighting, sewage and water and so on exist for large capacity of people which dont exist elswhere and subsequently to install greatly add to cost. Tis a no brainer and as such the vote was 96 to 21 so hardly a close contest and an almost 5 to 1 consensus was agreed upon. Hardly a close contest:rolleyes:

indiewindy

Why are DKIT funding a stadium which is exclusively for Gaelic football?

Nesta99

indiewindy wrote: »

Why are DKIT funding a stadium which is exclusively for Gaelic football?

Ah now thats an entirely different debate. The newly built facilities will be multi-functional and in use by the college. Lecture theatres with raked seating will double up as warm up areas for example and available for indoor sports. The project would have gone ahead with eg Dundalk RFC as a possible anchor tennant if the GAA had rejected the option (in fairness Louth GAA are most in need). Im sure if the likes of Dundalk FC needed to move from Oriel Park for a European match (not likely) that DkIT could be a temp option rather than move a match to Tallaght - but that is all way down the line!!

southlouth type

doncarlos wrote: »

Cry me a river. Nearly all of your posts are anti-Dundalk. Should it not matter what was the best solution to have our first proper county ground or would you rather we remain and stagnate in the o'raghallaighs owned ground?

Slap in the face for lots of hardworking folk??? come on seriously?

How are nearly all my posts anti Dundalk ? I am stating a fact that people involved in the GAA in the south of the county feel shafted by Louth Gaa and have felt this way for a long time ? Its undeniable that not enough work was done to keep the gaelic grounds in Drogheda :eek: I would love to see the reaction if the shoe was on the other foot and it was removed from Dundalk ?

10green bottles

southlouth type wrote: »

How are nearly all my posts anti Dundalk ? I am stating a fact that people involved in the GAA in the south of the county feel shafted by Louth Gaa and have felt this way for a long time ? Its undeniable that not enough work was done to keep the gaelic grounds in Drogheda :eek: I would love to see the reaction if the shoe was on the other foot and it was removed from Dundalk ?

I will ask you a stupid question SLT , Did you ever go to a County match there?
I did and i took children with me.It was the pits and although i have been back, i have never taken children back to that ground.(i did in in Navan )

You could never enjoy the game there(Drogheda) because you would be watching the kids the whole time in fear that one of them would be injured.That is not the way to enjoy GAA or indeed it is not the way to watch any sporting event.
A new County ground has been on the back boiler for year's.its siteing fairly unclear,but for once the GAA seem to have gotten it right in going for the DkIT solution.

As Nesta99 pointed out,

Tis a no brainer and as such the vote was 96 to 21 so hardly a close contest and an almost 5 to 1 consensus was agreed upon.

Ratified without hardly a dissenting voice.

The sooner that this Killanaskully V Bally "parish pump" kind of politic is removed from the Country then the better for all.

Jacknory

"You could never enjoy the game there(Drogheda) because you would be watching the kids the whole time in fear that one of them would be injured.That is not the way to enjoy GAA or indeed it is not the way to watch any sporting event.
A new County ground has been on the back boiler for year's.its siteing fairly unclear,but for once the GAA seem to have gotten it right in going for the DkIT solution."

I'm not sure how you'd be in "fear" of your kids getting injured........maybe if they fell on the grass bank and got dirt on their clothes!!!! The banking is not ideal in any ground and needs to be replaced but unwatched kids can get injured in any modern gound in the country......including Navan (not that its modern).

lucernarian

It might be fine to say that the DKIT site was the best out of what was proposed, and I personally agree with the county board there. But there's no point denying that the large majority of members of the county board are from somewhere north of Dunleer. That says a lot by itself.

But this thread is about the new county grounds and I say the sooner it's built, the better! Thankfully Darver was ignored as an option.

southlouth type

10green bottles wrote: »

I will ask you a stupid question SLT , Did you ever go to a County match there?
I did and i took children with me.It was the pits and although i have been back, i have never taken children back to that ground.(i did in in Navan )

You could never enjoy the game there(Drogheda) because you would be watching the kids the whole time in fear that one of them would be injured.That is not the way to enjoy GAA or indeed it is not the way to watch any sporting event.
A new County ground has been on the back boiler for year's.its siteing fairly unclear,but for once the GAA seem to have gotten it right in going for the DkIT solution.

As Nesta99 pointed out,

Ratified without hardly a dissenting voice.

The sooner that this Killanaskully V Bally "parish pump" kind of politic is removed from the Country then the better for all.

To answer a stupid question then " YES " . I have been many times . The point you seem to be making is that the county grounds where old , run down and a health hazard ? Well you seem to making my point for me , they should have been renovated , some money spent of bring the existing county grounds up to scratch instead of moving the County team out of Drogheda and into Dundalk . There are various people on the county board who just couldnt wait for this to happen regardless of the proposed venue , as long as it was out of Drogheda .

dw_newtown

Being a Meathman, I'm glad the Louth GAA are making this move. Having the qualifier match in Breffni was of no advantage to either county and it took from the atmosphere it could have been in a venue closer to home.

However, I always find it funny that a proposal for a new county ground in Louth always has to be Dundalk or Drogheda when Ardee is central between the two towns and just as easy to access with the road network now established.

Ardee is the best venue regarding this whole north-south disargeement and i cant believe that there isn't more input on the county board from the Ardee based clubs, particularly the Marys. There is obviously huge issues between the "the three big towns" and it makes more sense now why Louth are under-achieving at inter-county level when the archetypal GAA tribalism is so strong .....

10green bottles

Cost and Capacity won it for dKIT.

AN otherwise uneventful annual Convention was always likely to go out with a bang and so it proved as the DKIT county ground proposal received overwhelming support from clubs and county board officials at the Fairways Hotel on Sunday afternoon.
Having already received a big thumbs up from Croke Park, the proposed 12,000 capacity arena sailed through it's final test with flying colours, as delegates voted 97 to 21 in favour of the €6m project.
With a number of clubs failing to send all three designated officials to convention, the final verdict roughly equated to over 30 clubs in favour of the DKIT project, with less than 10 pledging their support to the plan to redevelop the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda - the third option of developing Darver mysteriously disappeared from the process prior to the vote.
Before casting their votes delegates opted by a large majority not to venture into any further discussion or debate on the issue and Chairman Padraic O'connor revealed that two proposals to postpone the vote had been discussed by management, but ultimately ruled out of order.
Dundalk Young Irelands secretary, Pat Hamilton also made a last-ditch bid to halt the process, by pointing out that the county committee could be breaking its own rules by declaring a new county ground at Convention.
However, it was decided to press ahead with a vote, with delegates coming down heavily in favour of the DKIT proposal.
Speaking afterwards, Padraic O'connor insisted he had no personal preference, but was relieved to see a clear majority.
'We were hoping that regardless of which option was chosen we would get a clear direction on which way to go and we now have a decision to move forward,' he said. 'We have a clear mandate, it was 97 to 21, with one vote spoiled, so that's pretty decisive.'
However, he also stressed that the vote was merely the first step in a lenghty process and warned that Louth GAA will not be contributing more than €1.5m.
'We now look forward to getting into close negotiations with Croke Park, Leinster Council and DKIT to finalise a budget and a plan and as I say the biggest thing for us is to make sure we have our own budget in place.
'The first thing we have to do is decide how we are going to raise the funds. We have to have a firm and concrete proposal to put to Croke Park.
'But one of the things I have said from the start is that we will not be exceeding €1.5m simply because we cannot afford to exceed it. It puts certain restrictions on us to make sure we keep within that budget. We certainly hope we come in under the budget and not over it - but if it does go over we will not be making any additional contributions.'
The St Patrick's clubman added that the next step in the process would be to nail down a budget.
'This is going to be a work in progress for us all. I think the clubs put their shoulders to the wheel here when we asked them if they wanted a new county grounds - they have told us quite clearly that they do by a huge majority.
'I think it will be done very quickly now, because whatever proposals are in place will have to be concrete. They cannot be cash projections or any of that sort of airy fairy stuff, they will have to be actual concrete proposals and we will come back to clubs very quickly with firm proposals for their approval. At that stage then we have to go to Croke Park for approval and then we'll sit down with all parties and try to get the project off the ground - subject to the approval of the
county committee.' With Croke Park having already pledged their support for the project, Mr O'connor conceded that the the powers-that-be are likely to stand over the project.
'Yes, Croke Park made it quite clear that this is their preferred option. They made it clear that, taking the emotion out of the argument, when they compared the facilities that there was no comparison. But that wasn't up to me to decide, I was there to facilitate the process and bring it to a conclusion here tonight.'
While Drogheda will no longer be the official county ground Mr O'connor said Louth gaels owe a debt of gratitude to the O Raghallaigh's and must still meet their responsibilities in regard to mantaining the Drogheda venue.
'We do owe Drogheda a debt of gratitude. They looked after our grounds and we also have a responsibility to the Gaelic Grounds to maintain our interest there and upkeep the ground as best we can with the O'raghallaigh's.'
However, in relation to financing DKIT he continued to stress that the biggest challenge will be financial and that the county committee will have to get behind the fund-raising drive from the off.
'We have to make sure we can do it in the next 6-9 months. Croke Park and DKIT will provide funding on a staged basis and we will be expected to pony up our contributions at the same time, so there will be an immediate requirement for us to have funds available at any stage of the process,' he warned.
- JOHN SAVAGE

http://www.argus.ie/sport/gaelic-football/dkit-plan-passes-final-exam-with-flying-colours-2963268.html

However, he also stressed that the vote was merely the first step in a lenghty process and warned that Louth GAA will not be contributing more than €1.5m.

macadam

The gaelic grounds are a mess, the pitch never gets any much needed attention and their is a hole in the guttering on the stand over 6 years which pi$$e$ onto the side line and makes the pitch even worse, the stand was also built on the wrong side as it would have been more accessible closer to the main gate and the bank the other side was much easier to stand on.
Fair play to the RATS for bailing out the County board all those years ago, but it was just not viable to continue with Drogheda as our gaelic grounds when an offer like the one from DKIT came up as said before its a No brainer and Im from South of the county, but I can travel to Dundalk in 15 minutes where as it takes me that long to get into Drogheda.
Time to build another BRIDGE and get over it..

Nesta99

Ok so we have a Dundalk Young Irelander, move to block the vote!

Croke Park, whom i'd assume dont give a monkeys where the ground is built in a county where nobody is much more than 20-30min travel from any point at a push. They indicated their preffered option (an impartial opinion perhaps?).

Some clubs didnt use their full compliment of votes - it would be interesting to know who!

GAA has been accused of being too parochial and self serving at times, strangling development, no more so than in Louth. We have a transparent and democratic process here and a clear majority decision made. But the insular continue to grumble:rolleyes:

@ SLT the designated County Ground was moved from Dundalk to Drogheda in the past. This as mentioned was for pragmatic money generating reasons(capacity), health and safety, and prohibitive cost in addressing these problems - ditto the Gealic Ground. At the time there were very few dissenting voices on the decision. (As an aside Dundalk hosted a Hurling All-Ireland semi-final and quarter final late 1980's)

Most importantly if the County Board will only raise €1.5mil how much do people think that amount of money would achieve be it at the gaelic grounds, Dunleer or Ardee? It would be a push to get a 1000 capacity car park for that money as crazy as it sounds. Ok the Gaelic ground has the HSE car park available(but lose out on that revenue). The Louth County board need the the financial assistance that comes with the DkIT project, if any other proposal can provide similar fiscal help lets hear it??

Anyhow we all know that Dundalk is a vastly surperior town than the Louth\Meath town of Drogheda!! We are much better and deserve everything!!! Now give us our entitlements...the top hospital in the region, we want our regional Garda headquaters back! We want our government minister returned to the north of the county regardless of who they are! Fergus O'Dowd if you have any sense you will move to Dundalk were we have everything!!! We will get even more when you cop on and move up here yay!(you can have our Dermot in exchange). Ok the County Ground is a start....beware the slippery slope Ohhhhhhhhhhh :P

(Just in case the last paragraph im jesting;))

kormak

Imagine having Dermot Ahern as your local minister??!
Ohhh the shame.... :pac:

Nesta99

I know its a bump! Southlouth type has been quiet:p

See yiz in McGeough 'park' this weekend!
Kilkenny county board should be fined for not fielding a team this w/e!

southlouth type

That game is called off , apparently they cant field a team .

Nesta99

Playing Down in a challange match are they not instead of Kilkenny in the O'Byrne cup.

southlouth type

Down have pulled out aswell i heard