What clubs have the best GAA facilities in Ireland?

Lostinspace

Hi,

I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what clubs have the best GAA facilities in Ireland/Northern Ireland? In Cork, I know Mallow, Nemo and Clonakilty have excellent facilities. What about other clubs? And why? Maybe a link to their website if you can.

Thank you

RHunce

Being from Limerick I've played a few county games down in Mallow and it is without a doubt one of the best sporting facilities I have ever seen! It was fantastic!

One that stands out for me in Limerick is Staker Wallace GAA Club. Great facilities.

Pride Fighter

Never seen them personally but from what I hear, Kilmacud Crokes have the best in Dublin.

ontheditch2

In Dublin, in terms of good pitches, all weather facilities, hall, bar, dressing rooms, i would nearly have to say St Brigids, Castleknock. http://www.stbrigidsgaa.com/
It has everything in the one location with full size floodlit astro, 2 full pitches, hall, handball alley, dressing rooms, pub, decent location.
The likes of Mallow is way ahead of anything else i have seen though, still haven't actually went to nemo, and didn't realise clonakilty had such a good looking facility.

I just can't think of anything in dublin that has all those things in one spot. Very few clubs have all those things in one spot.
Other clubs have nicer pitches e.g. Clontarf, Castleknock, nicer Bars/clubhouses e.g. Na Fianna, O Tooles.

Na Fianna would come closest to St Brigids, except with out the full size astro, it has 2 smaller ones though http://www.clgnafianna.ie/nafianna.aspx

Parnells will have the best set up though. http://www.cumannparnell.com/_aboutUs/aboutUs.asp
Read the history part, €22m development by 2012

ontheditch2

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Never seen them personally but from what I hear, Kilmacud Crokes have the best in Dublin.

A Crokes man must be feeding you that info

Mountainlad

I heard there was a club in Limerick that J.P. McManus had gotten the surface done by the former maintenance staff of Highbury! Meant to be unreal.

Last year, I played on a pitch in Limerick called Ballybricken or Ballybrick and they had very good facilitites and an excellent pitch, smack bang in the middle of nowhere! I think the place is near Ballyneaty.

hisholinessnb

Simonstown in Meath is very impressive

PARKHEAD67

hisholinessnb wrote: »

Simonstown in Meath is very impressive

Clarecastle and Doora-Barefield in Clare.

Hammer Archer

Both Simonstown and Donaghmore/Ashbourne would be the most impressive in Meath. Ashbournes is even more impressive because of the fact that it cost them next to nothing. A developer bought their old grounds during the boom, gave them the new grounds and built most of the facilities they have there. They were left with first class facilities without the debt a lot of other clubs got into (including my own)

Frank Spencer

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Both Simonstown and Donaghmore/Ashbourne would be the most impressive in Meath. Ashbournes is even more impressive because of the fact that it cost them next to nothing. A developer bought their old grounds during the boom, gave them the new grounds and built most of the facilities they have there. They were left with first class facilities without the debt a lot of other clubs got into (including my own)

Donaghmore/Asbourne is an incredible facility.

patmac

Padraig Pearses in South Roscommon have won a few awards and have excellent facilities.

wixfjord

That's one thing that the GAA has over other sports in the country like Soccer and Rugby. Many clubs, even small ones have very good facilities, whereas you could be getting changed in a trailer if you go to play soccer somewhere!

Lex Luthor

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Never seen them personally but from what I hear, Kilmacud Crokes have the best in Dublin.

only been to the juvenile area and wouldnt say it was the best I've been to

Been to Ballyboden St Edna or was it St Marys and I was impressed with their all weather pitches

Naas have a decent facility with one superbly maintained main pitch overlooked from the club house balcony, another secondary pitch in almost as good nick and a very good juvenile pitch with a 3rd senior pitch beside it. They've also just put in a ball wall and have plans for an exercise and gym room.

I think when Maynooth get their new clubhouse & pitches it will be a good facility aswell

rum and coke

St Lomans in Mullingar.A lot of county teams train there during the winter.because of the lights and its central location

CrabRevolution

Trim's facilities are just as good as Donaghmore/Ashbourne's in meath, and they have a better pitch too, it's just the lack of a stand that lets them down in comparison.

hisholinessnb

rum and coke wrote: »

St Lomans in Mullingar.A lot of county teams train there during the winter.because of the lights and its central location

Is that where the Dublin game in the O'Byrne cup was held?

Antisocialiser

Kickhams Creggan in Antrim have fantastic facilities.

http://www.kickhamscreggangac.com/content/?id=11&l1id=69

milosh

Clane GAA in Co Kildare. It probably helped that Charlie McCreevey is a member.

Lex Luthor

milosh wrote: »

Clane GAA in Co Kildare. It probably helped that Charlie McCreevey is a member.

Ya top place alright. Prob best in county. Sarsfields newbridge also very good

DRose1

Rathaoth in Meath is great.

flas

longford slashers have great facilities, 3 pitches, one just done up to be all weather, two pitches flood light, huge clubhouse that can host anything from 21st to a wedding, a ball room attached onto the bar ya see, and a 300 or so seated theatre attached onto it, the backstage http://www.backstage.ie/. http://longfordslashers.com/.

i know roscommon gaels have pitches all over the town in roscommon, which includes Dr.Hyde park!well the pitches and all the surrounding land and club house and all the stands bar the new one! the county board own that funnnily enough!

helps also the huge government grants and lotto grants that clubs have been applying for and actually getting over the last few years, not so like two local soccer clubs who in the last 5 years i know of personally have been awarded grants and not a penny seen but thats another story for another thread that i dont want to get into!

yesno1234

patmac wrote: »

Padraig Pearses in South Roscommon have won a few awards and have excellent facilities.

Tbh I would put St. Brigids faclities well ahead of Pearses. Big indoor gym, and clubhouse, number of new dressing rooms, new pitch (well in last 10 years or so) and the main pitch redone. Plus Brigids is the second venue for matches in the county after the Hyde of course.

May be slightly biased being my local club though

byhookorbycrook

Éire Óg (Carlow) have pretty good facilities.
http://www.gaelsport.com/html/club/club_home.jsp?c=1945

The_Kew_Tour

Mallow is unreal now, pity their teams are crap still for the size of the place.

Win most their matches in pub.

Gingy

ontheditch2 wrote: »

A Crokes man must be feeding you that info

We would never do such a thing!

Regards pitches, Clontarf is probably the best in Dublin club circles. I've seen the Parnell's plans and they look very impressive.

Drummerboy2

Just back from Feile in Mallow and the facilities there are wonderful. Nemo rangers is also very impressive. Have been to Newbridge, where Sarsfields and the Kildare County Boards facilities are both very impressive.

Lostinspace

Thanks for the replies to date. So just to put the replies into some shape here is what people think are some of the finest GAA facilities in Ireland (in no particular order).



There are still a lot of counties not represented. What about Galway, Waterford, Donegal? Any GAA clubs in those counties worth mentioning?

Arse Biscuits

ontheditch2 wrote: »

In Dublin, in terms of good pitches, all weather facilities, hall, bar, dressing rooms, i would nearly have to say St Brigids, Castleknock. http://www.stbrigidsgaa.com/
It has everything in the one location with full size floodlit astro, 2 full pitches, hall, handball alley, dressing rooms, pub, decent location.
The likes of Mallow is way ahead of anything else i have seen though, still haven't actually went to nemo, and didn't realise clonakilty had such a good looking facility.

I just can't think of anything in dublin that has all those things in one spot. Very few clubs have all those things in one spot.
Other clubs have nicer pitches e.g. Clontarf, Castleknock, nicer Bars/clubhouses e.g. Na Fianna, O Tooles.

Na Fianna would come closest to St Brigids, except with out the full size astro, it has 2 smaller ones though http://www.clgnafianna.ie/nafianna.aspx

Parnells will have the best set up though. http://www.cumannparnell.com/_aboutUs/aboutUs.asp
Read the history part, €22m development by 2012

Brigid's grass pitch is terrible it wouldn't even be in the top 10 pitches in Dublin

Sir Vival

yesno1234 wrote: »

Tbh I would put St. Brigids faclities well ahead of Pearses. Big indoor gym, and clubhouse, number of new dressing rooms, new pitch (well in last 10 years or so) and the main pitch redone. Plus Brigids is the second venue for matches in the county after the Hyde of course.

May be slightly biased being my local club though

Would definitely agree with this. Kiltoom is Roscommon's best venue. Pearses may have been considered to have good facilities 5/6 years ago but a lot of other clubs have passed them out in recent years like strokestown and roscommon gaels in lisnamult (when they get the dressing rooms finished)

Stinicker

Dr. Crokes in Killarney probably have the best club facilities in Kerry with three pitches and a club house; stand and seated outdoor stand on their second pitch. Alot of clubs throughout Kerry have very good facilities with dressing rooms, small stands, perfect pitches and overall vastly superior facilities to those provided by Soccer and Rugby.

John O'Donoghue as a TD was very good to Kerry in this regard and under his tenure as Minister for Sports during the boom years a ton of money was pumped primarily into the GAA in Kerry, I'm not a fan of the man, his party or his politics but you have to credit where it is due, he served Kerry well in this regard and has left a legacy of good facilities to the GAA right around the county.

theoneeyedman

Sir Vival wrote: »

Would definitely agree with this. Kiltoom is Roscommon's best venue. Pearses may have been considered to have good facilities 5/6 years ago but a lot of other clubs have passed them out in recent years like strokestown and roscommon gaels in lisnamult (when they get the dressing rooms finished)

suprised no mention of St Faileachs Ballyleague here.....tremendous development ongoing with 2 full all weather pitches plus a smaller grass pitch suitable for underage games, nice clubhouse suitable for functions, new dressing rooms just built (4 fullsize D/Rooms with anciliarl public tiolets etc) and all just at the edge of the village unlike some others mentioned which are located in rural settings. only drawback is the prevailing wind blowing off of Lough Ree but that can't be helped

Sir Vival

theoneeyedman wrote: »

suprised no mention of St Faileachs Ballyleague here.....tremendous development ongoing with 2 full all weather pitches plus a smaller grass pitch suitable for underage games, nice clubhouse suitable for functions, new dressing rooms just built (4 fullsize D/Rooms with anciliarl public tiolets etc) and all just at the edge of the village unlike some others mentioned which are located in rural settings. only drawback is the prevailing wind blowing off of Lough Ree but that can't be helped

Yeah they've definitely improved their facilities since a few years ago where there was a telephone wire running across the pitch!

I was unaware the new dressing rooms were finished, last time I was there which was not long ago, teams were togging out in a tiny shack beside the pitch.

They could also do with a ball stop behind the far goals on the main pitch.

I've never been down at the far pitch, presume it's in good shape though

theoneeyedman

Sir Vival wrote: »

Yeah they've definitely improved their facilities since a few years ago where there was a telephone wire running across the pitch!

I was unaware the new dressing rooms were finished, last time I was there which was not long ago, teams were togging out in a tiny shack beside the pitch.

They could also do with a ball stop behind the far goals on the main pitch.

I've never been down at the far pitch, presume it's in good shape though

'Bottom Pitch' now appears to be the main pitch form what i've seen lately....dressing rooms in use last 6 or 8 weeks; still a bit rough around the edges but will be a serious job when fully complete

Sir Vival

theoneeyedman wrote: »

'Bottom Pitch' now appears to be the main pitch form what i've seen lately....dressing rooms in use last 6 or 8 weeks; still a bit rough around the edges but will be a serious job when fully complete

Good good, they'll need a stand and a bit more designated parking if they're to get a lot of higher profile games on it. It's about time the more northern clubs got the bigger club games and some county games

yesno1234

theoneeyedman wrote: »

suprised no mention of St Faileachs Ballyleague here.....tremendous development ongoing with 2 full all weather pitches plus a smaller grass pitch suitable for underage games, nice clubhouse suitable for functions, new dressing rooms just built (4 fullsize D/Rooms with anciliarl public tiolets etc) and all just at the edge of the village unlike some others mentioned which are located in rural settings. only drawback is the prevailing wind blowing off of Lough Ree but that can't be helped

I the only person who thinks it should be a proper grass pitch not all weather shoite??

Sir Vival

yesno1234 wrote: »

I the only person who thinks it should be a proper grass pitch not all weather shoite??

It's still grass based.. just means it won't flood after a couple of days rain. I think your mixing up 'all weather' with astro-turf...

yesno1234

Sir Vival wrote: »

It's still grass based.. just means it won't flood after a couple of days rain. I think your mixing up 'all weather' with astro-turf...

My bad.

ShamoBuc

Lostinspace wrote: »

Hi,

I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what clubs have the best GAA facilities in Ireland/Northern Ireland? In Cork, I know Mallow, Nemo and Clonakilty have excellent facilities. What about other clubs? And why? Maybe a link to their website if you can.

Thank you

Having seen Mallow's and Nemo's they really are state of the art and very hard to beat. I don't think there is a sporting organisation ( professional or otherwise) that could even compete with the two of those.
Haven't seen Clon's but for it to compare well with the other two, it must be a savage setup aswell!

Stinicker

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Having seen Mallow's and Nemo's they really are state of the art and very hard to beat. I don't think there is a sporting organisation ( professional or otherwise) that could even compete with the two of those.
Haven't seen Clon's but for it to compare well with the other two, it must be a savage setup aswell!

Mallow has a lovely setup and Cloghduv have good facilities too in Cork.

rpurfield

on the meath front walterstown is nice too since they done it up.id say donaghmore/ashbourne is the top dog in the county though.st pats in stamullen are very close to moving to a new home looks top notch on the plans cant wait to get a look.heres walterstowns and pats websites

http://www.walterstownladies.com/index.php/our-clubhouse

http://www.stpatricksgaa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32&Itemid=80

Carthy303

Cloughduv in Cork have a great setup.They've made a fortune in the last few years renting out their all weather pitches to teams looking to get league games played off towards the back end of the year.Cork Senior teams have also been known to use the facilites from time to time.Also I've heard good things about Newcastle-West in Limerick??

Indie.

Carthy303 wrote: »

Cloughduv in Cork have a great setup.They've made a fortune in the last few years renting out their all weather pitches to teams looking to get league games played off towards the back end of the year.Cork Senior teams have also been known to use the facilites from time to time.

Wouldnt say they have made a fortune off it and would imagine that they are still a couple of hundred grand in debt. Good setup though in fairness

Carthy303

Indie. wrote: »

Wouldnt say they have made a fortune off it and would imagine that they are still a couple of hundred grand in debt. Good setup though in fairness

Well they've gone a fair way towards paying it back then.Grant money would have covered alot of the cost too.

Indie.

Carthy303 wrote: »

Well they've gone a fair way towards paying it back then.Grant money would have covered alot of the cost too.

From what i believe they have still a couple of hundred grand left to pay back and the grants have dried up. They were very fortunate to develop it when they did during the celtic tiger years. Got a good price for their old grounds and made a fair bit with their draw when people were willing to buy the tickets.

DH2K9

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Never seen them personally but from what I hear, Kilmacud Crokes have the best in Dublin.

There main pitch in silver park was so bad at the goals that they had to put a bit of astro turf in the large rectangle .So basically keepers are taking their kickouts on an astro turf section on a grass pitch. Great facilities...

ConTheCat

Just glanced at this thread- My ones might be mentioned.
The two best in North Tipperary are Toomevara followed by Nenagh ( Eire Og )
Another great pitch I can think of is Naas in Kildare.
Can't think of anywhere else too spectacular

thedownsgaa

obviously biased but -

http://hoganstand.com/Westmeath/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=154162

DoctaDee

Frank Spencer wrote: »

Donaghmore/Asbourne is an incredible facility.

I hear that St. Pat's Stamullen is also on a par with Donaghmore, due to open officially very soon .. if not already

tommyhans

Eire og in carlow is one of the best ive seen and ive seen alot

Frank Spencer

DoctaDee wrote: »

I hear that St. Pat's Stamullen is also on a par with Donaghmore, due to open officially very soon .. if not already

Really? I know of their development but I didn't think it was on the scale of the Donaghmore set-up. Maybe rpurfield can let us know.

AGC

Arse Biscuits wrote: »

Brigid's grass pitch is terrible it wouldn't even be in the top 10 pitches in Dublin

New floodlight grass pitch will be built