Castleisland Community College and Castleisland Soccer Club are delighted to announce that work has commenced on the new Astroturf pitch on land to the rear of the college grounds.
They jointly turned the first sod on the new development last evening and were represented, in the historic act, by the college Deputy Principal, Teresa Lonergan and Castleisland AFC Chairman, Patrick O’Rourke.
Culmination of Efforts
The project is the culmination of the efforts of Principal Carmel Kelly and staff of Castleisland Community College and Patrick O’Rourke and club founder the late Georgie O’Callaghan.
They can be credited with putting the welfare of children and the importance of sport at the centre of the development for this and generations to come.
Self Help Mentality
At the public launch of the project at the River Island Hotel in February 2017, Patrick O’Rourke told the gathering that Castleisland’s traditional self help mentality would attract enough matching funds to see the development starting by the summer of 2018.
He, and Carmel Kelly agreed on that and the fundraising activities began immediately and now the work on the site is about to begin.
Exciting New Era
This is an exciting new era for both the community here along with the club and the college.
It will take approximately three months to complete and the full size pitch should be in place by the end of September.
The new state of the art all weather pitch is a first for Castleisland. It will cater for the students of Castleisland Community College and will also cater for the wider community providing an all-weather pitch for training and match requirements all year round.
All-Year Round
Acting Principal, Teresa Lonergan said that the new pitch will make a real difference to the school, the club and the local area by providing all year round training facilities.
“This wonderful new facility will be a tremendous asset to the school in delivering the Physical Education curriculum. Our students will have full use of the pitch during the school day, before school, every lunchtime and after school,” said Ms. Lonergan.
Games, Training and Coaching
“The full junior and senior cycle physical education curriculums will avail of the pitch on a daily basis in addition to games training and coaching sessions.
“Castleisland Community College is an award winning Health Promoting School having received our health promoting flag last year in addition to our Amber flag.
“The well-being of all our students is our foremost concern. We believe that sport and PE have tremendous benefits in terms of physical and mental well-being, team working, leadership and other skills valued highly by employers.
Social and Mental Benefits
“Good facilities also help to encourage people to play sport and gain from the physical, social and mental benefits that the games offers,” said Ms. Lonergan.
Collaboration on the project began at the start of 2016 and their vision is now turning into a reality. The school and the club have worked hard to get this project off the ground.
There have been two lip sync competitions which raised major funds along with €59,000 donated by Brendan Griffin, TD under the sports capital grant and FAI Chief Executive, John Delaney donated a further €100,000 towards the development.
Excellent New Facility
“The all-weather pitch will provide a non-slip, safe and secure environment to get active and for a variety of sports to be played all year round.
“This excellent new facility will benefit students, local clubs, and the wider community and we will certainly use the space to enrich the lives of our for many years to come,” Ms Lonergan concluded.
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