Kilmoyley Sportsfield Development

Home 

The Beginning : The Healy farm at Lerrig was put up for sale in 1983. During a special meeting held on the 30th January 1984 the following members were elected to the Field Committee :-

President Mickey McGrath
Chairperson Pat Griffin
Vice-Chairperson Michael Curran
Secretary John Michael Brick
Asst. Secretary John Godley
Treasurers Ned Horgan
Maurice McElligott

Mickey McGrath, Maurice McElligott and John Godley were appointed Trustees at a later meeting. On the 4th March 1984 the public were informed of the land purchased at Lerrig. All of the mentioned members contributed £100 each to start a fund for the payments.

Over a four year period a total of £41,400 was raised as follows :-

Parish collection & other contributions £ 12,000
Cereal crop of 1984 (barley) £   1,300
Purchase grants from GAA £   4,000
Dept. of the Environment Grant £   4,000
Bingo over a four year period £ 12,200
Development Grant £   1,000
Raffles, Dances, Rag meetings & Sponsorship £   6,900

Total

£ 41,400

Over the same period a total of £42,400 was spent as follows :-

Purchase of field (including fees) £ 23,000
Development and seeding £   2,500
Rotary Mower £   2,800
Goalposts, gateway & drive £   1,500
Clubrooms £ 12,600

Total

£ 42,400

As stated already, Bingo which ran in Banna Beach Hotel was a primary source of income. William Murphy kindly leased his premises for this purpose. however, the income arising from Bingo declined rapidly in the Spring of 1988. This was mainly due to mounting costs, a drop in attendance and the commencement of the National Lottery.

A second parish collection was planned for 29th April 1988. It was estimated that a further £20,000 would be needed to finish the field. This figure took into account finishing dressing rooms, electricity connection, water connection, showers, toilets and dug-outs.

When the land was purchased, it was decided to engage Mr. Brian Sweeney for the development work. Allmans Plant Hire of Listowel was appointed for the levelling. Michael Deenihan, Ardrahan gave his time to do the plumbing as did Mike Sheehy, Knockbrack for the electrical work. An application was made to the National Lottery and an allocation of £10,000 was received. These funds were used to construct a boundary wall on the New road side. A loan of £12,000 was sought from and granted by  the GAA. With the help of the second parish collection which amounted to £7,300 the clubrooms were completed. The first hurling game to be played on Pairc Naoimh Eirc was an U-15 challenge game played in Easter 1986 between Kilmoyley and Cushionstown of Wexford. The Cushionstown team (also known as Ballinaboula) which hosted Kilmoyley's U-14 Féile na nGael winning team in Wexford were spending the weekend in Kerry.

A new committee was formed in 1998 and continued the work that began back in 1984. This committee is as follows:

Chairperson Sean Murnane
Secretary Joe Walsh
Joint-Treasurers Michael Regan, Michael Meehan
Members Brenda Godley, John Godley, Agnes Godley, Pat Dineen, Deins Foley, Gerald Carroll, Paddy O'Sullivan, John Martin Brick, Ned Horgan, Pat Griffin, Pat O'Hara, Brendan O'Hara, Gerry O'Leary, Michael Curran

A covered stand, an electronic scoreboard, floodlights and underage training pitch have since been added to the grounds and today, Páirc Naoimh Erc boasts the finest facilities of any GAA club in the county. The official opening of the field took place on Sunday 4th June 2000 in glorious sunshine when the Kilmoyley Seniors defeated Sixmilebridge of Clare by 0-17 to 0-10. Man of the Match was Ian Brick. Referee Kevin Leen, Crotta.

Click to enlarge

Team : 1.Seamus Regan , 2. Padraig Regan, 3. Maurice Murnane, 4. Eric Lyne, 5. Kevin O'Sullivan, 6. Aidan Begley, 7. Sean Griffin, 8. Ian Brick, 9. Sean Fitzgerald, 10. Colin Harris, 11. Ollie Diggin, 12. Micheal Regan, 13. TJ Maunsell, 14. Christy Walsh, 15. Shane Brick. Scorers for Kilmoyley were O. Diggins 0-7, Christy Walsh 0-2, Sean Fitzgerald 0-2, Shane Brick 0-2, Colin Harris 0-2, Ian Brick 0-1, Micheal Regan 0-1. Afterwards the Kerry Senior footballers drew with Galway in a challenge. Little did those who watched the game know that later in the year these same two teams would contest the All-Ireland football final, which Kerry won.

The biggest games to be held in the field since have been Kerry's National Hurling League Divsion 2 tie with Kildare in 2001 and Kilmoyley's Munster club championship quarter-final tie with Blackrock on 21st October 2001. In 2003, Kilmoyley hosted former All-Ireland club champions Wolfe Tones of Clare in the first round of the Munster League.Without doubt, there will be many more.