Cloghan or Cloghaun is the name given to a set off stepping stones to make a river or a stream passable. In Joyce's Irish Names of Places the word Cloghan has the same meaning in all parts of Ireland which in itself is a little unique as certain names of that nature have different meanings depending on the area of the country. By JP Graham. The stepping stones for fording a river were a very important part of life in times gone by before the art of bridge building became possible and even as far back as the time of the Brehon Laws the importance of the Cloghan is underlined by the fact that those who specialised in creating them were highly thought off and the fee all those centuries ago was to set at "two cows". Those days of barter are long gone but the meaning of the Cloghan is certainly very appropriate as it demonstrates very succinctly just what the development of the new County Teams Training Centre is all about, a stepping stone to the future. The idea of the county committee having their own grounds for training and/or matches was first mooted back in the mid eighties when Monaghan as a county was performing particularly well in the National League thereby benefiting substantially from their share of the gate receipts. Other things then took priority and the idea was parked as it were for some time until it was resurrected a few years back during the chairmanship of Gary Carville. After some discussion and preliminary surveys of a number of properties it was decided that the farmland belonging to Thady Kelly at Cloghan, Annyalla was most suitable both from the point of view of size and price as well as its strategic location. At that stage the plans had been published for the new Castleblayney bypass which now runs along the perimeter of the new property thereby making it very accessible on the national roads network particularly for those travelling from Dublin. The initial step was to complete the purchase of the property and after some discussion and the convening of a number of special county board meetings it was decided to go ahead with the purchase and that the clubs would fund that particular part of the project. There were a few dissenting voices but ultimately everyone was on board and the purchase was completed. Work on the development of the site though did not start immediately although plans had been commissioned for a facility that would include five pitches and a new county board headquarters with all ancillary facilities. However when the project was costed it was decided to scale back somewhat on the provision of a major county board headquarters and instead the revised plan was that there would be a complex with four dressing rooms and all facilities as well a meeting room, kitchen facilities and some office space. On his election as chairman of Monaghan county board John Connolly made the development and the progression of Cloghan a top priority and it will go down as one of the signal achievements of any chairman in the history of Monaghan county board. From that time Connolly drove the project personally with support from the then county treasurer Liam Stirrat and the Assistant Treasurer Marion Donnelly as well as county secretary John Scully and a special committee that was set up to co-ordinate the whole project. The revised plans were submitted for planning permission which was achieved without any undue delay or conditions and when finance was arranged work started in earnest in March 2004. Prunty Pitches was entrusted with developing the five playing pitches, two of which were full size and completely floodlit while McGuigan Builders, Clontibret were taken on as contractors to complete the construction work on the dressing room complex. Francie McGuigan had already been acting as the agent of Monaghan county committee in overseeing the work and with a great run of weather in the summer of 2005 the development of the pitches made even quicker progress than was anticipated. A major milestone was reached and the development took a major step towards being in full use with the handing over of the keys of the newly completed complex by Francie McGuigan of McGuigan Builders, Clontibret, on Wednesday November 1st last to Monaghan County Board chairman, John Connolly. It was an occasion that marked the transition from agriculture land to a state-of-the-art location for the promotion and development of gaelic games. In accepting the keys John Connolly described the occasion as "a milestone, and not only from a county board point of view but for me personally. I made this a priority when I took office and it gives me great satisfaction to see it at this stage." He complimented all of the contractors and subcontractors who had worked under the supervision of Francie McGuigan to bring the project to the stage where it is now ready for use. "I have to congratulate the main contractors, McGuigan Builders and Prunty Pitches for the excellence of their work and their attention to detail. A few things were changed as we went but the changes were all for the better and will mean optimum use of the space we have both outside and in the complex. In his words of welcome to all of the guests he described the new centre as "a great facility for everyone involved across the whole spectrum of gaelic games activities. It gives our players at all levels the best opportunity for training and coaching. But it's not just for county football. Our hurlers will benefit, our county minors and U21 will be the better for this, our development squads have the best facilities we can provide and it will benefit our schools and colleges. On top of that ladies football will have use of the facilities, they came on board when we were arranging finance and they are contributing to the project so as such it can be seen as the implementation of the new integration policy that is the future for the GAA. Our camogie teams will also have use of the pitches so that the widest spectrum of those actively involved in the development of gaelic games have proper facilities to work with." President of the Ulster Council, Micheal Greenan who was there for the keys ceremony in congratulating Monaghan County Board on reaching this milestone picked up on the integration theme and also expressed the hope that the opening of the new centre would be the first step on the road for Monaghan getting back to the strong position it occupied in the games in Ulster and indeed nationally in the 1980's. "Ulster needs Monaghan and indeed Cavan to match up to the Tyrone's and Armagh's and when these facilities are in full use not only will it be a showpiece for the GAA in Monaghan and but a great facility to help all players to reach their full potential in sporting terms." Francie McGuigan of McGuigan Builders used the occasion to pay tribute not only to the county board in taking the initiative to develop Cloghan, but also to the various contractors and subcontractors that had worked on the project with him and whose professionalism had made his job as "the eyes and ears of the county committee" that much easier. He went on to urge the committee to keep "their shoulders to the wheel" as it where and finish the job completely so that the facilities would be of the highest standard possible and a testament to the GAA in the county. The centre consists of five pitches, two of which are floodlit, along with all ancillary facilities in what is a state of the art development. When completed the project will have cost over two million euro and speaking on the financial aspect of the development. Liam Stirrat who was centrally involved in the early stages of the project including the purchase of the original ground spoke of the promises made by government ministers regarding funding for the project and then reneging on those promises. "It was very disappointing on a number of occasions that an organisation like ours that is providing facilities for the youth were treated badly. I urged everyone who had any influence in political circles to use it to rectify this unacceptable situation and things improved when we got some very encouragement signs from Sports and Tourism Minister John O'Donoghue when he was in the county opening the new Monaghan town Leisure centre". The Minister promised to look at the situation and he did with an announcement on Friday December 8th that he was allocating a grant of one million euro to the project. County chairman John Connolly was over joyed with the news as the grant will help off set some of the debt that has been accrued to get the project to where it is now, operational. Monaghan County board also got financial help from both the Ulster Council and Croke Park. "That was a big help because it helped us get the project off the ground but we will have to get some major fund raising initiatives going," Marion Donnelly told successive county committee meetings. It will take a lot of money to keep the place running as well and we have to be business like in these matters. The grant from the Dept. of Sport and Tourism will mean that the facility can be finished to the very highest standard in things like perimeter fencing, car parking facilities etc as well as lessening the borrowings that we have had to make." The dressing-rooms and other facilities are now complete, the pitches are in perfect condition and with access from the new Castleblayney bypass making it totally accessible the centre promises to be a hive of activity in the months and years ahead. The first activity on the new pitches, the unveiling of the service, was a floodlit challenge game between Monaghan and Armagh on Tuesday November 14th. For the record Armagh won the game by two points and the honour of recording the first score on the new pitches fell to Nicholas Corrigan who got Monaghan off to a great start with a goal after about four minutes. Since that it has hosted training for the footballers and hurlers as well as being the venue for a number of schools games and the final of a colleges competition. The stepping stones are firmly in place it is up to everyone to make maximum use of the ford of the future. It is planned to have an official opening some time in the not too distant future but the most important date has been reached when players are using the centre. Cloghan will be a testament to those whose foresight developed it but it cannot be seen as a monument. It must be a place of activity where those who will keep the games alive and central to Irish life will get the tuition and training to achieve that. If success and silverware follow that will be a bonus. Tweet

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