A generation after their famous European exploits on GAA pitches at An Cheathrú Rua and Ballinderreen, Galway United are on course to line out in the home of Galway GAA, Pearse Stadium.
Drainage works scheduled at Eamonn Deacy Park for the middle of next year mean that United’s home ground will be unplayable for up to two months.
Galway United director Jonathan Corbett confirmed to The Galway Advertiser last night that talks were at an advanced stage for historic home fixtures to be played at the Salthill venue next summer. He lauded the contribution of Galway GAA Chairperson Paul Bellew and Galway GAA for their role in facilitating the staging of the games.
While there has been positivity in Galway at the prospect, any such move would need to be sanctioned at a central level in the GAA, something that is yet to happen.
Mr Corbett said they made contact with the GAA three months ago.
“We explained that drainage work in Eamonn Deacy Park is being done in the middle of our season [next year]. I met Paul and the relationship has been excellent and very open.
“We got word last week that it had been passed by the Galway GAA unanimously. The plan is for it to be July and August and it will involve between four and six games.”
The drainage works at Eamonn Deacy Park are expected to take between 6-8 weeks in July and August.
Despite recent examples of the relaxation of the ban on other sports in GAA grounds, this would nonetheless be a historic, albeit temporary, move.
Cork City recently entertained Glasgow Celtic in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The Irish Women’s National Team also played a few games in the same venue. Derry City currently enjoy the use of the GAA Centre of Excellence in Owenbeg. This was in the mind of Galway United as they made their approach.
“We thought it was the right time. We saw what happened in Cork with the Liam Miller game. We have also seen that Connacht Rugby went to McHale Park. We just felt it was the right place to go and ask first,” said Mr Corbett.
The football club understand that this move needs to be ratified by Special Congress and should it be endorsed, it would be a novelty for a League of Ireland game to take place in a GAA county ground.
The last time that Terryland Park, as it was then, underwent a significant transformation, Galway United played a season in Crowley Park in 1993. They also entertained Manchester City in a friendly in the Sportsground in 1995.
The potential move provides an opportunity for Galway United to extend capacity for its home games, and games under the lights in Salthill might prove an attractive prospect in Galway and beyond.
However, there is a realism in the club that this is a move brought by necessity and it is yet to be determined as to whether Pearse Stadium might be hosting Premier Division of First Division games, given United’s current league standing.
Nonetheless, it is a prospect that will intrigue the broader sporting public and has the potential to bring economic and sporting benefit to Galway.
