Big announcement due on Faithful Fields

Published: Wed 7 Sep 2016, 12:16 PM

Last updated: Wed 7 Sep 2016, 1:27 PM

A “big announcement” on Offaly GAA’s new €2.5m centre of excellence in Kilcormac is due within the coming days. Preliminary works have begun on The Faithful Fields site in Kilcormac and the county board is due to make announcement regarding the construction phase of the project in the next week.

Speaking to Offaly Independent, a GAA source said that that there will be a “big announcement regarding the final phase of The
Faithful Fields”.

Launched with much fanfare in Croke Park last October, when constructed the centre of excellencewill comprise of four floodlit, full-sized training pitches, a complex of six modern dressing rooms, a meeting room/dining area and a weights/circuit training room.

The development will be located in Kilcormac on the main Birr to Tullamore Road. While the overall cost of the project is estimated at €2.25m, €750,000 has to be raised locally. To date over 80% of the local contribution has been raised. In June, Offaly County Board, launched the final phase of the fundraising drive in Dublin.

Speaking at the Dublin event, Faithful Fields chairman Kieran Keenaghan said that the construction of the centre of excellence will benefit Offaly GAA players for generations to come and help the county regain its competitiveness on the national stage. “We want to raise €250,000 between now and the end of the year so we can have a debt-free training facility that will serve generations of Offaly GAA players into the future. We have over 16,000 GAA members in Offaly and 41 clubs; we want to turn that participation and enthusiasm into a success story and this project is central to that ambition.

“The centre of excellence will give our players a sense of pride in Offaly facilities and the professional approach that is being taken in the county. It sends out a clear message that players matter and that they must be given every chance to be successful. We are a small county and we have to give ourselves every advantage when it comes to competing with large competitive counties,” Mr Keenaghan said at the project event last October.