More questions on MacHale Park

THE decision to re-open MacHale Park last April for Mayo’s championship clash with Galway — and the number of club matches played on the newly-resurfaced pitch in the months that followed, some of them in bad weather — have contributed to ‘a certain amount of damage’ being done.
Mayo GAA chairman Seamus Tuohy has admitted that ‘the pressure was on’ to have the €300,000 project completed in time for Mayo’s high-profile championship match against the Tribesmen 13 months ago.
However, in hindsight, ‘some people might say that maybe we shouldn’t have opened it last year at all’ he added.
Tuohy also explained that ‘an ongoing maintenance programme’ — under the direction of Colman Warde — has begun to try and promote the ‘root development’ of the grass at MacHale Park, which has suffered from not being given enough time to develop.
The chairman was speaking to club delegates at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Mayo GAA Board in Castlebar, in response to a question from Garrymore GAA club delegate, John Farragher.
“I got quite a few calls, wondering what is actually going on? What did we do to the pitch?
“There was a lot of money spent on it, a lot of money donated by supporters. .
“So [I’m looking for] just an update on what work has to be done” said Farragher.
“I did get some feedback [after the last County Board meeting] and I didn’t mean to indicate that the pitch was being closed,” began Tuohy.
“As regards the number of games being played on the pitch, there are a certain number of controls that will have to be put on it.
“This is the advice we’re being given from Colman Warde, who’s been appointed to oversee the development of the pitch going forward this year.
“The reasons for that. . the last back-end we had a number of games, the weather changed suddenly, and the root development [of the grass] on the pitch wasn’t able to take it.
“So it did do a certain amount of damage.
“What we’ve been is that root development on a pitch can take up to two years, and we need to give it that space,” continued the chairman.
“I would be hoping that it would be able to host some [club] games [later this year], but it would be very much controlled by the weather at that particular time.
“The delegates, supporters, and a lot of people around this county invested big time in this pitch. And you’re right in saying, a lot of money was put into this pitch,” added Tuohy.
“But we need to give it time.
“Some people may say, maybe we shouldn’t have opened it last year at all, we should have waited another year. But the pressure was on us at that particular time to open it.
“We sought advice from Croke Park and elsewhere, and [the advice we were given was] that we were ready to open it. But it has to be controlled.
“If we give it time, we will have a pitch for years.”
“You’re answered the question and you’ve answered the critics and the knockers,” replied John Farragher.
Westport GAA delegate Willie McDonagh also enquired about the work that needed to be done on the pitch later in the meeting.
“The work that needs to be done on it is an ongoing maintenance programme,” said Seamus Tuohy.
“The pitch is in its infancy stage and needs sanding, verti-draining, fertiliser and all that kind of thing. It needs a lot of work.
“The pitch in its first two years of development needs this type of work and, unfortunately, we may have played more games than we should have.
“That came from the pressure of having all the County Finals here [last year].
“So it was more of our own doing than the contractor?” said Willie McDonagh.
“Yes, there’s no issue [with the contractor],” replied Seamus Tuohy.
The chairman also informed delegates that ‘liquid feed had just gone on the pitch’ earlier in the evening and asked them to ‘please stay off it’ when leaving the meeting.