Anybody driving along the main Trim - Navan road in recent times will notice the progress being made on a site approximately three miles from Trim which will, in time, become a tremendous asset to Meath's inter-county teams. The site - a work very much in progress - is the Meath County Committee's Centre of Excellence which is a very ambitious and expensive project undertaken in recent years in an effort to take the pressure off Pairc Tailteann in Navan and overcome the problem of clubs having to be asked to provide their facilities for the training of Royal County teams. With only two pitches available at Pairc Tailteann, which is also the scene of a lot of improvement work at the moment, including the erection of very impressive floodlights, the County Committee took the decision to purchase a 28-acre site on the Trim - Navan road in the autumn of 2001. They had been on the look out for a suitable piece of land for a few years and the site at Dunganny was purchased from Meath's 1954 All-Ireland-winning goalkeeper Patsy McGearty. More land later became available and it was decided to develop the facility for the training of county teams in hurling and football. This represented the latest push towards improving facilities in Meath, spearheaded with such enthusiasm and energy by then County Committee chairman, Fintan Ginnity. Having purchased the first 28 acres it was thought that the first phase of the project would be completed in approximately three years, but developments as big as this have a habit of running into teething problems and, as a result, it wasn't until June of 2004 that work got under way. Ginnity suggested at the time that the overall project would cost in excess of E10 million. A fund raising draw, with cars as the main prizes, was held in '04 and, with the clubs rowing in enthusiastically with their support, it realised approximately E300,000 profit for the development. It was revealed that phase one would provide three full-size Prunty sand pitches, with training lights, and an astro turf pitch with floodlights. A multi-purpose training area was also included in the plan, as well as changing rooms, and the hope was that substantial funding would be forthcoming from the National Lottery - something that regrettably hasn't happened up to now. The intention was to take all training away from Pairc Tailteann and reach a position where clubs aren't expected to put their grounds at the disposal of county teams, as has been the case up to now. The county camogie and ladies' football panels will also have the use of the Dunganny facilities. Sufficient progress had been made on the project for the first footballs and sliotars to be used at Dunganny in late spring/early summer of this year when a large group of under-14 hurlers trained there. The sound of the clash of the ash being created by some of the county's future senior players was surely a sign that good progress was being made on the long road to the final completion of the facility. Also, the Meath senior hurling panel, who are the intended anchor tenants of Dunganny, used its facilities for a training session and, encouragingly, it received a thumbs-up from players and management alike. By July of this year the County Committee had secured a loan of E2 million to carry out further improvements at Dunganny and Pairc Tailteann and chairman Brendan Dempsey told delegates at a committee meeting that, after negotiations with their bank, the loan will be available to be used "if absolutely necessary." County Committee treasurer Colm Gannon pointed out that the first E1 million of the loan was largely covered by grants and the second million will be paid off over 10 years, "unless we find a generous benefactor in the meantime." It was proposed to install a full-size, synthetic all-weather pitch, including floodlights, at Dunganny and in September club delegates gave their backing to this very ambitious and worthwhile part of the overall development which has a hefty price tag of E1 million. "We have the three full-size pitches floodlit and are starting work on the full-size synthetic, all-weather pitch on 20th November," chairman Dempsey said when he spoke to Royal County in early November. "It is reckoned that it will take 20 weeks to complete this work but, of course, that depends very much on the weather. However, the weather can be quite good at this time of year. "We have applied for planning permission for three double dressing rooms and, hopefully, they will be up and running by the New Year." These dressing rooms are temporary structures, but the chairman is of the opinion that if they are up to the standard that they are supposed to be, there is no reason why they can't be used on a long-term basis. "These dressing rooms will cost E200,000," he added. "If we put up a permanent building it will cost in the region of E4 or E5 million. That's a lot of money and if the temporary ones are as good as they are supposed to be, then hopefully they will do. "At the end of the day, the most important things are the playing facilities and good floodlighting. Flash dressing room facilities aren't needed." The chairman revealed that the guts of E3 million had already been spent on the Dunganny project at the time of writing and added that "clubs are using the facilities for training on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, while they are also being used by some under-age teams. That's bringing in some revenue." Of course, money is always such a huge factor in projects as ambitious and big as the Dunganny development and it was surprising to hear Dempsey reveal that the County Committee had received only E260,000 from Croke Park and Leinster Council, which seems very small in light of the benefits the facility will have for the promotion of the association's games in the future.. What has been even more disappointing is the failure to secure any funding from the National Lottery, with Dempsey revealing that the reason for this is that the project is not community-based. "We applied twice to the National Lottery for funding and got nothing," he said. "I'm not going to apply this time." Instead, the committee is set to concentrate its efforts on getting the corporate sector involved in a bid to generate the sort of funds that will help defray the massive costs associated with the development. Certain tax reliefs are available for those contributing to such project in this way. "Our intention at this stage is to get the corporate sector on board and we are looking for somebody to give us E1 million for the naming rights at Dunganny for maybe five or 10 years," he added. "We don't want to go back to the clubs. They have already been very good." While the chairman commented that it was "impossible to say when the entire Dunganny development will be fully complete," he said that by the summer of next year the plan was to have the synthetic all-weather pitch, the three main pitches and the dressing room facilities fully up and running and to have things like sewage works sorted out. The Dunganny project has been a massive undertaking by the County Committee in an effort to enhance facilities in the county, bringing with it massive costs, but the people behind it have a passionate desire to see it through to completion and when that stage is finally reached it will undoubtedly be one of the most impressive facilities of its kind in the country and a tribute to all those who have worked towards it and supported it. Top class facilities are essential in this era of very advanced training methods and the players who put so much effort into their preparations and don the Meath jersey in a bid to bring success to their county deserve only the best. That's exactly what they will get at Dunganny. We all want to see Royal County teams winning Leinster and All-Ireland titles in the various grades on a regular basis and providing such top class facilities for the use of these teams at Dunganny's Centre of Excellence can only enhance the prospects of that happening. It's a huge undertaking, with the potential for huge benefits in return. Tweet

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