Summerhill GFC

Our new Main Hall is just about complete. After a huge amount of work we have returned this room from been a cold, damp, not fit for purpose, to a new bright, warm and welcoming room  The work involved, replaced the floor, insulating the external walls and ceiling, fitting a new fire escape, laying a new floor and installing a new energy efficient heating system. (See some pictures of the work below)

Many people have contributed to the work on the room in small and large ways. Thanks especially to Ber Tallon and his lads, Pat Jennings, Christy Ryan, our FAS man PJ Lynch, Mary Staunton, Adrian Kenny and the TK Alarms lads, David Hughes, Kevin McDaid, Gary Rispin and many others. Without the help of these people this project would not have been possible.

We would like to acknowledge funding from “Meath County Council Community Amenity Project Scheme 2020” towards the works being done.

The club is continually expanding; our playing membership is growing and our facilities require continuous upgrade and improvement. Over two year ago we embarked on a major upgrade of all out facilities. Our plan was to: 

• Provide new Community Walking/Running track. √
• Floodlighting of the new track. √
• Widening of main pitch to Croke Park dimensions. √
• Redevelopment of main hall. √
• Upgrade all lighting in our clubhouse. √
• Upgrade lighting to our pitches

Over the past 2 years we have done the following:

• Our main pitch was widened by 4m and is now 143m x 90m (full Croke Park dimensions).
• The dug outs have been raised by 500mm and relocated to the Hillview side, the area directly in front of the dug outs has been fitted with Astro turf to counteract the constant foot fall.
• A drainage shore has been installed along this side of the pitch incorporating two outlets to the main drain, and ducting has been installed into the main pitch. (This will prevent the need to dig the walk way or the car park in the event of future drainage or cabling).
• A new perimeter fence has been erected.
• A lighted walkway 3m wide by 500m long has been constructed around the perimeter of the pitch, the walk way is kerbed on both sides and landscaped on three sides.
• A wall 145m long by 900mm high with a spectator rail on top has been constructed along the Health Centre side of the pitch (this has improved the safety of spectators both for parking and viewing games)
• A number of pine trees were removed on the Health Centre side and the ground raised to extend the viewing area
• The car park has been more than doubled in size
• Our second pitch has been realigned and the ball stop nets at Hillview replaced and raised.

As you can see, despite the disruption of Covid, we are well on the way to completing the upgrade with just the lighting of the pitch to complete. Recently we secured €120,000 towards the cost of the lights. All of these developments will benefit not just club members but the whole community for years to come.

Partial funding has been secured by way of Sports Development Grant and Council Grants but the club still had to provide a considerable portion of the cost. As always we rely on the continued support of our members and the wider community. The Club has spent significant amount of our own money on the projects.