Oranmore Maree GAA has hosted its first matches at the club’s new Sports Centre of Excellence, Chubb Renville Gaelic Grounds.
Over the weekend of November 22 and 23, the first games were played as the U11 boys’ and girls’ teams from Dublin’s Kilmacud Crokes and St Vincent’s made the trip west to take on Oranmore Maree’s U11 squads. It was a fantastic occasion for the club and reflects Oranmore Maree GAA’s objective to develop top-class facilities for the growing number of children in the area.
Since then, the first match under floodlights has also taken place at the new 4G astro pitch as Oranmore Maree GAA took on Clarinbridge GAA in an U13 challenge match.
The opening of the new GAA grounds marks the completion of Phase IA of the project. Phase IB aims to see the completion of three full-size grass pitches in the facility. Two of the pitches were seeded in September of this year and will be ready for training and games by September 2026. The completion of the third grass pitch was held up this year due to weather related delays. This will now be completed in Q2 next year and available to play on in Q2 2027.
The club submitted a new planning application for the project in October. The application includes an updated design for the club’s planned dressing room building and updated locations for the planned ball-wall, storage shed, and the replacement of a playground with a sensory garden. The new dressing room building will consist of four dressing rooms, meeting rooms, public toilets, and a baby changing area.
The club set up Renville Gaelic Grounds Management Committee in 2017 to develop this project. Chairperson of this committee, Padraig O’Callaghan said: “A further boost to the development is the news we now have the grant for walkways around Chubb Renville Gaelic Grounds. We are extremely grateful to Galway County Council for their support and help in obtaining the grant. This facility will be used daily by members of the community during the darker months and will make a great difference to quality of life for people in the locality.”
On November 3, Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary TD announced the award of a grant of €245,700 for the development of walkways around the Chubb Renville Gaelic Grounds. The grant is issued through the 2024-2025 Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS ). This project was submitted through Galway County Council. The walkways will have low level lighting and therefore be available for use by the local communities throughout the winter, with the development being an important extension of the existing facilities in Renville Park.
Oranmore Maree GAA One Club originally invested over €1.1m in the project between land purchase, planning and fundraising costs to get to the start of the development phase. The budget for Phase I is €4m, which is partially funded by the Government’s Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF ).
The 4G Astro pitch will be available for use by other teams in the area – refer to the club (https://www.oranmoremareegaa.com/ ) and project websites (https://www.chubbrenvillegaelicgrounds.ie/ ) for booking links.
