MacCumhaill Park gets thumbs up for McKenna Cup opener

Donegal’s opening game in the 2022 Dr McKenna Cup will go ahead at Sean MacCumhaill Park, it has been confirmed.
This was confirmed by Donegal chairman Mick McGrath who said the playing surface had dried up well in the last few days and has been given the thumbs up for the McKenna clash with Down on Friday-week, January 7.

“The pitch has responded well to the recent dry spell and has really dried up and is fit to stage the Down game,” McGrath told Donegal Live.

“The playing surface took a bit of a hammering at the end of the season. A combination of heavy rainfall and too many games over a short period of time let the playing surface in a bad way. Add to that the fact there was no growth in the grass, it took longer to recover.”

Government restrictions, owing to a surge in Covid-19 cases, have attendance at outdoor sporting events capped at 50 per cent, up to a maximum of 5,000. With MacCumhaill Park’s capacity at 17,500, this won’t be an issue.

McGrath said: “It is not something we are going to have to worry about. I think the days of 5,000 spectators at a McKenna Cup are well behind us. Given the pandemic and all that is going on and on a cold Friday night in January, we will be lucky if we have 500 supporters in Ballybofey for the game.”

Donegal’s other game in the McKenna Cup is away to Antrim, in Corrigan Park on Saturday, January 15.
Three of Donegal’s four home games in the Allianz Football League are due to be played at MacCumhaill Park, which will also host the Ulster SFC quarter-final against Armagh in April.

League fixtures against Kildare (February 6), All-Ireland champions Tyrone (February 26) and Monaghan (March 13) are fixed for the Finnside venue.

At the annual County Convention earlier this month, it was confirmed that Donegal GAA chiefs have plans for a major refurbishment of the ground, including a €165,000 facelift on the pitch.

McGrath said: “It is no great secret the pitch in Ballybofey needs a lot of work on it and we have plans for major resurfacing of the entire playing surface.

“We had hoped to do it this year at the end of the league at the end of March, but then we drew Armagh at home in the championship. If you were to advance in the championship there is always the possibility of getting a home draw in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

“So, you are probably looking at the spring of 2023 before we will be able to get to it.”

The resurfacing works would include scraping off the top layer of sod, installing a new drainage system and resurfacing again with the old sod.

The Chairman said: “We are very lucky the current top layer of sod is of a very good quality, which means we will be able to use it again. This is a big saving on the cost.

“Once it is done it is going to take nine months for it to grow back and be for playing on again. If we were able to get it done at the end of March 2023, it would be February, the following year before it would be available for games.”