New facilities coming on Stereame for Nenagh

By Thomas Conway

Whatever happens this Sunday in Thurles, whatever narrative arc this county final takes, the Nenagh Éire Óg faithful will remain proud of their senior hurlers.

Once the final whistle sounds in FBD Semple Stadium, kids from both sides and none will flood onto the pitch in a wave of enthusiasm, itching for a puck-around.

To anyone who doubted it, the sight of those kids should serve as a reminder that club GAA is about much more than just the senior team.

They are really only the tip of the iceberg, and in the case of Nenagh Éire Óg, that iceberg is a colossus.

Part of this is a consequence of geography and demographics. Nenagh, a growing town with close to 10,000 inhabitants according to the last census, is the region’s largest urban area. The demand for sporting clubs, and indeed sporting facilities, is high.

Some years ago, Éire Óg realised that in order to meet that demand, in order to continuously thrive at underage and at adult level, expansion was a necessity.

An ambitious development blueprint was drawn up. That plan is now coming to fruition.

Tour guide

Nenagh Éire Óg GAA Club is now so vast and sprawling that you need a tour guide to show you through it, and who better than current club chairperson Tom Gleeson, an adopted Nenagh man who has his roots in Ballina.

Tom, or Tommy as he is affectionately known, is affable and articulate. He cares deeply about the club, but so do many others, he emphasises. Figures like John Tooher, Tommy’s predecessor as chairperson and the club’s development officer, have been instrumental in advancing this development plan.

There are too many names to mention, past and present.

The membership numbers are such that you need a dedicated cohort of volunteers to keep the whole thing running.

“We would have over six-hundred members in the club, which is a lot.

And that’s increasing year on year,” Gleeson revealed.

The tour begins and Tommy takes the initiative, striding swiftly past the existing clubhouse and in through the gates of MacDonagh Park.

One look at the field and you can tell that it’s in pristine condition.

Tommy agrees that the main pitch is “in great shape”, but explains that it is “well minded by a great group of people.”

In equally great shape is the gravel track on which we’re walking. Stretching for approximately 2.5km, it circumnavigates the entire club and is apparently the place to go in the evenings after work.

Crucially, Tommy explains, the track is a community endeavour.

“We wanted the community more involved,” he added,

“To involve the community more, a decision was made that we wanted a walkway - something to bring the community in.

There’s no membership fee; you can pay a social membership if you want but it’s open to everybody. They can come in and use it.”

New pitch

Take a turn at the top right-hand corner of MacDonagh Park and the walkway continues, broadening out at the sides and leading you towards Nenagh’s new pitch in Stereame.

It’s almost ready - some of the juvenile teams are already using it - and it looks the real deal. Not only is the surface sand-based, improving durability during winter, it’s also a big pitch, nice and wide. The floodlight polls have been erected, and in one corner is a construction site which will soon house an additional set of dressing-rooms. All this will be complemented by a new entrance. The pitch will be used by everyone, but it’s the underage teams that will reap the most benefit.

This underscores the fact that Éire Óg are looking towards the future and actively investing in it.

An outreach program to local primary schools has been hugely successful, Tommy says.

And the new pitch will also prove vital in terms of guiding the next generation of coaches.

“We’ve done a lot of work in our primary schools to increase numbers and we’re seeing the benefit of that now,” Gleeson reveals.

“So, the new field gives us the ability to cater for that and plus, it allows us extra space to coach our own coaches and improve that end of it as well.”

The most transformative piece of infrastructure, the project that will really advance player development and augment training standards at the club, is the new gym. Strength and power are now central to Gaelic games. For Tommy and for the club, this is arguably the most important component of their development plan.

“We have it ordered and it should be going in within the next six to eight weeks,” Gleeson reveals.

“It’ll be able to hold up to 35 players.

And really, this is a key development, for juvenile players, for senior players.

It’s massive, the S&C side of things.”

In many ways, these developments are long overdue. MacDonagh Park is the epicentre of hurling in North Tipperary, the flagship venue - it has been for years.

The broader Éire Óg Complex serves as a sort of community hub - the walking track will enhance that dimension of the club big time.

There are also plans to establish an academy for juvenile players - another forward-thinking venture that should help to increase participation among younger cohorts.

All of this will add to Nenagh as a town.

To extend the iceberg analogy a little further, Nenagh Éire-Óg is floating in the right direction.