A Kerry GAA club is been forced to lock its gates at night in a bid to keep teenage drinkers off the pitch.

Ballyheigue GAA club have been left frustrated by the fact that cans and broken bottles are strewn across the pitch on a regular basis.

Club members are been forced to go through the pitch with a fine tooth comb to try and remove all across before someone sustains a serious injury.

Weekends are the most common time for the drinking to take place and a recent hurling match was delayed by an hour as player and mentors from both sides were forced to clear the pitch of broken glass.

Club chairman Jeremiah Slattery told the Kerryman that they have been left with little option but to lock up the grounds at night time.

"The worst part is that there's not a lot of we can do expect close the field and lock the gates to the public, which is something we've never done," said Slattery.

He added: "This is going on every weekend, basically because they have free access to the grounds. If we're at the pitch for training we're leaving 9.30pm-10pm, so it's completely unsupervised after that."

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