Football returns to Magheracloone after sink-hole disaster

Four years after a collapsed mine caused a sink-hole to destroy their Gaelic grounds, the return of football to Magheracloone is the latest feel good story to come out of Irish sport.

On the 23rd of September, a mine collapsed under Magheracloone Mitchell’s grounds in County Monaghan, leaving a sink-hole in its wake that horrifically carved open the pitch. The incident further split the wall of the club house while the nearby school and houses also had to be evacuated.

Every club and parish deserves a home ground. It’s part of a club’s fabric and identity, a vital cog in its coordination and fluidity. After that day in September, it was apparent that Magheracloone’s ground had been destroyed.

This created four years of uncertainty, where the club had to play matches in a variety of counties including Monaghan, Cavan, Louth and Meath. Club Chairperson Francis Jones described these unprecedented efforts to survive in an article released by the GAA.

“We were travelling here, there and everywhere borrowing pitches all over the place in Monaghan, Cavan, Meath, and Louth. You were looking at the fixture list when it was coming to plan where you might be able to play each match,” said Jones.

Those years of hardship came to an end on Saturday evening when Magheracloone’s intermediate side played at the club’s brand new ground, a half kilometre down the road from the old one. Their single-point loss to Doohamlet was utterly overshadowed by the joy and relief of having their own home once more.

“Just thrilled and relieved to have a pitch up and running. We’re open for business again, we have a base we can go to again for our home matches, “added Jones.

Magheracloone could have crumbled in the face of adversity, but they reacted with spirit. The four years were no doubt challenging, but to have a new ground in this time is a relatively quick turnaround, so how did they manage it? It was a combination of the good will in the GAA community, and their own resilience as a club.

Two fields were turned into temporary training grounds after being leased off local farmers through the club’s initiative and organisation. They were also lucky enough to receive pitch donations from neighbouring clubs which helped them survive.

Jones also opened up on the transitional period speaking to the Independent. “We’re in debt to a lot of clubs. Our neighbouring clubs were very, very good to us.

We had to put our shoulder to the wheel and basically get this up and running. We’ve good committees, and good people, and members were very tolerant during the whole thing.”

The new facility has two dressing rooms, a shop, and floodlight supported all-weather pitch. However this is only phase 1 of the plan, and Jones said the club plans to add another two pitches, an astroturf, and a sports hall.

This story proves in a literal sense that when things go wrong on the pitch, the backbone of a club’s community can’t be underestimated.