With work starting on the Meath GAA site at Dunganny, near Trim last summer, the ambitious development project will provide the best in training facilities for county footballers and hurlers. However, massive strides have been made in this field over the last couple of decades. The association is now 120 years old and for the most of its existence facilities were rather primitive. In the early days it was not unusual for teams to walk a few miles to games, carrying the goalposts under their arms. There were also instances of the uprights being hid at one end of a field and when a group of players would arrive at the venue for a practice sessions, they would move the cocks of hay to the side and bring out the posts and erect them. At the end of the 19th century the main pitch in Meath for important games was Tom 'Strong' McNally's field in Athlumney, about a mile from Navan. A number of Leinster football championship games, including a final, were played there and according to Michael O'Brien's Loyal and Royal history book "timber and galvanised wire were used to erect a fencing around the field of play" for the replayed provincial decider of 1894. Although hundreds of Meath supporters travelled eight to ten miles to see their team take on Dublin - the first ever final clash between the famous rivals at Clonturk had finished in four points apiece - and after Tom McNally received three pound, ten shilling for the rent of his land, the Dublin team did not turn up. The re-fixture at the same venue ended at 0-2 each before Dublin won the third tie, at Clonturk, by 1-8 to 1-2. The Showgrounds (now Pairc Tailteann) staged its first game in December, 1903 when Dublin beat Louth by 1-6 to 0-2 in a Leinster championship clash. The Brews Hill venue hosted the Leinster finals of 1910 and '12 with Louth defeating Dublin in both deciders. The first Meath senior football final to be played at the Showgrounds was in February, 1905 when Castletown beat Kilmessan in a replay to take the 1904 title. The grounds then known as the Jumping Enclosure (now the Navan O'Mahonys home patch) were opened in June, 1910 but for many years the GAA had to depend on the generosity of the Royal Meath Agricultural Society and the Co Meath cricket club before fixing games for either venue. It was not until 1933 that the present county grounds became the property of the Meath GAA board. The official opening of Pairc Tailteann took place on September 8th, 1935 with the then GAA president Bob O'Keeffe performing the duties. Two inter county football challenge matches were staged with Meath defeating Kildare by 5-5 to 2-4 and Cavan conquering Louth on a 4-8 to 2-3 scoreline. For the bigger part of the first hundred years of the association, Meath had few grounds in their own possession and clubs depended to a large extent on the generosity of local farmers for playing facilities. Players changed under trees or hedges and there were occasions when after games they found their trousers having been chewed by a hungry cow! Kitbags were still a few years further down the road. Outside of the main towns, Skryne and Kilmessan were among the early country pitches to be enclosed and then in the '60s and '70s grounds like Kilberry, Martry, Seneschalstown, Duleek and Dunshaughlin were in popular demand for club games. Since those decades new parks have sprung up all around the county with Dunsany becoming the second most used venue for SFC since the turn of the new century. After the Meath senior football squads prepared for All-Ireland football finals at Ringlestown, Kilmessan and Gibbstown back in the Fr McManus and Fr Tully eras, Dalgan Park was a popular haunt for the successful teams of the '80s and '90s. With only two pitches available at Pairc Tailteann, the county board decided to purchase a 28-acre site about three miles from Trim on the Navan Road in the autumn of 2001. The board had been on the look out for such a piece of land for a few years and the field was bought from Patsy McGearty, the goalkeeper on Meath's All-Ireland winning team of 1954, with the ground being intended to be used mainly for training county hurling squads and underage football groups. Later another 26 acres (a second field) became available and the decision was taken to use the facility for the training of county teams in both football and hurling. This was the latest move towards improving the association's facilities in the county spearheaded by Chairman Fintan Ginnity. There were suggestions that the long serving leader would step down at the end of 2001 but with another big project in the pipeline, he was determined to stay on board for another while and possibly until the development at Dunganny was complete. When the first 28 acres was purchased it was initially thought that the first phase of the development would be completed in approximately three years. But, of course, there are usually teething problems with such major projects and work at the site only began at the end of last June. It will take a lot of money to fund this ambitious undertaking and Fintan Ginnity has suggested that the overall project will cost over E10 millon. A small step was taken with a draw with cars as the main prizes last summer and the clubs rowed in support with the venture raising E300,000 in profit. The facility will provide badly-needed extra pitches for teams to train on and the first phase of the development will provide three full size Prunty sand pitches with training lights and an astra turf pitch with floodlights. There will also be a multi purpose training area and changing rooms. Chairman Ginnity said that it is hoped to have the first three pitches ready by the end of 2005. The county board will be hoping for substantial funding from the National Lottery and when the project is complete there will be four pitches to supplement the main pitch. The latter will be good enough to stage club and inter county matches and it is hoped to have National Hurling League ties at Dunganny. "We aim to have training facilities for all Meath teams from underage up to senior. At the moment the only pitches that we have are in Pairc Tailteann and the one at the back of the stand. Such a situation is not acceptable any longer to the people who are training teams. Neither can we expect clubs to go on putting their grounds at our disposal," said Ginnity. The chairman said that the new facility will not replace Pairc Tailteann for the big games but it is hoped to take all the training away from the county ground. Dunganny will also be able to cater for the county camogie and women's football squads. "In the main building as well as the indoor training we hope to have a place where a full time physio can operate. The clubs are firmly behind this major development and when completed it will be an invaluable asset to our games in Meath," he added. Meath county board treasurer Colm Gannon has his share of headaches, wondering where the money will come from the fund the ambitious project. "The car draw was a success and the clubs were very supportive. However, the clubs have their own financial worries and they have to do their own share of fundraising to cover their own expenses, It's not fair to be going back to the same people looking for money too often," remarked the Summerhill clubman. Also there have been rumours that Pairc Tailteann could be upgraded as a modern venue for hosting Leinster SFC games and All-Ireland qualifiers which would not be expected to attract much more than 30,000 spectators. Such a facility would take the pressure off Croke Park and would entail the knocking of the old stand which was completed back in 1953 and putting in terracing behind both goals. However, if that plan gets the green light, the improvements might not start until five to ten years down the road. A lot should be done at Dunganny by then but as Colm Gannon pointed out, serious financial assistance is needed to make the dream become a reality. What the GAA in Meath needs is a rich and generous benefactor (is there a J. P. McManus type supporter out there?). But it is probably more feasible to think of innovative fundraising ideas and Fintan Ginnity, Colm Gannon and co will be wracking their heads in search of brainwaves. The National Lottery looks a more likely winning bet while the Central Council and Leinster Council should also offer support. The clubs will probably called on again for support and hopefully come this time next year people travelling between Navan and Trim will notice fine progress at what the GAA 'top brass' in Meath are calling a centre of excellence. Exciting times lie ahead for the association in the county and hopefully the new facility will be the forerunner of renewed success on the playing fields of Ireland. Tweet

Most Read Stories