Centers of excellance

[The Insider]

In the last couple of days the the center of excellence in Sligo has been abandoned while in the process of being built, the proposed one in Longford has been abandoned before machinery moved in . Last time i passed by the Leitrim one , it to looked like it was at a standstill with the dressing rooms yet to be completed . Should any other project like these ever  be allowed to go ahead again by Croke Park ?. Would be aware of the Longford situation , they purchased 42 acres apx around 2006/2007for around €320k .since then they have spent about €70k in planning and consultancy fee's. The projected costs of the project as disclosed to meeting last night would be north of €3,000,000 . Promised grants were in the region of €1,250,000 leaving a minimum shortfall in the region of €2,000,000 . In the current climate the present executive felt it was unsustainable to proceed any further at this time, a correct decision i feel . If the land is sold in the future  I would expect 70/80% of purchase price could be recovered leaving a loss in the region of around €150k and not the €400k as reported on various websites today .
No more than the Banks there was a system of checks clubs and counties had to go through when seeking to borrow/invest . There was 3 levels , at first level a county board could give permission, above a second level of spending it had to go to provincial level and after that Croke Park had to approve . All these committees change every 3 to 5 years , is it not about time that a specific full time management team is put in place to sign off of any project exceeding €100,000 . Latest rumour in the corridors of power is that 16 counties are now being moniterred by the finance committee in hq.

[Syferus]

The Oran one here is in (non) development hell too.

Hopefully now the Bekan centre is done Connacht GAA can figure out ways to help the individual counties complete their own centres.

[Qwerty28]

What a waste of money so...all the hassle with the planning position and the local head the ball and now nothing to show for it...

http://www.longfordleader.ie/news/local/plans-for-3m-longford-gaa-centre-of-excellence-scrapped-1-5484595

[Catch and Kick]

We mightn't be very successful on the field but Carlow's Centre is now open, granted it is scaled back. But it does boast superb state of the art floodlit pitches. Location not to everyone's satisfaction but couldnt' be much closer to the centre of a small county!

[Don Corleone]

I'm curious. When are the players coming?  Recent papers report of "duelling" between teams at Junior Football.

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

After a protracted mess (Celtic tiger related stuff), Kerry's centre of excellence finally got the go ahead this year and the funding is in place I'm told. Not as badly needed as it might be elsewhere, but still a very welcome and hopefully beneficial development. It is to be situated in Currans, near Farranfore approximately halfway between Tralee and Killarney.

[North Longford]

Why do these places need so many pitches. ...cavan have the 3g and half size training pitch behind breffni and I'd say
its loads. Was at the Louth one last year and there must have been 5 mostly  flood lit pitches.  When are even 3 of them used at the same time. .....

[screenexile]

We've had our centre of excellence for the best part of 20 years. It recently got a revamp as well and it's a fine facility. Not so much for the training of County teams or the hosting of the big club games but the sight of Owenbeg on a Friday night hosting 30+ Under 8 football teams is a joy to behold!!

[Walter Cronc]

Owenbeg looking well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdigKtLzVz0&feature=share&list=UUWiJQ0ICSS8ZxdyreZ8A8gA

[Shamrock Shore]

On one hand the waste of money in Longford is a disgrace - on the other hand thankfully there was enough sensible people on board to call a halt to this madness before good money was thrown after bad.

AFAIK the 42 acres were close to the Royal Canal in Killashee.......and then the initial survey was done the canal was more or less dried out.

Lo and behold with works done in other areas to revitalise the whole waterways system inland the canal beside the proposed CoE became filled with water again and started leaking out into the 42 acres meaning that the land would need far far more work done to get it to a usable level.

I said it before that neighbouring counties need to consider a pooling of resources and share facilities like these to spread the cost and maximise the use of any Centre of Excellence. But that may be pie-in-the-sky. Wouldn't want training ground routines being spied on by the near door rivals.

So - anyone here want to buy 42 acres of prime Longford land with free thistles and buhalawns and handy access to the Royal Canal?

[Rossfan]

FFS The correct spelling is
CENTRE   and excellEnce

[Bingo]

The big problem with these centres is that, unless you down the Owenbeg model, they will have no income to match the huge outlay.

The ones in the North can be largely grant funded, while the ones in the south rely on a decent chunk of grant funding, but the ongoing costs and debt will have no income against them. Its all coming out of the same pot which is already well stretched.

Owenbeg will host games and there will be money coming in - previously this would have gone to clubs hosting the matches as a % of the gate I assume.

While they will save effort and pitch rental costs, going forward these places are going to need serious funding to keep going.

[magpie seanie]

Don't think ours has been abandoned has it?

[rodney trotter]

Don't think ours has been abandoned has it?

According to the Indo work has stalled., 3.2 million development. Thought O'Hara mentioned that, on TSG rant.

[AZOffaly]

Why do these places need so many pitches. ...cavan have the 3g and half size training pitch behind breffni and I'd say
its loads. Was at the Louth one last year and there must have been 5 mostly  flood lit pitches.  When are even 3 of them used at the same time. .....

We have 3 pitches in Thurles, in Dr. Morris Park, and there are certainly occasions when it is hard to get into them. I've had to bring development squad games to Templemore, Nenagh and Killea to get a free pitch at times. Tipp has Senior Football and Hurlers, Intermediate Hurlers, U21 Footballers and Hurlers, Minor Footballers and Hurlers along with U17, U16, U15 and U14 development squads in both codes. All of these would be looking to use Dr. Morris Park at various stages.

Depending on clubs to give you training facilities is a manager's heartache and headache. All clubs have loads of teams now as well, and with the ladies football and camogie expanding as well, it's tough to even get a loan of a club ground depending on the night you want, so a centralised, controlled centre with multiple pitches is not a luxury, I think it's a necessity.