Work nearing completion on Cork club's new all-weather pitch

Work is nearing completion on Fermoy Soccer Club’s new all-weather pitch, with hopes that it should open in time for the new season at the end of the month.

The development, which has cost in excess of €700,000, was necessary as the club has over 600 members all using the same two grass pitches.

Aidan O’Mahony, chairman of Fermoy Soccer Club, told The Echo that the club currently has over 20 competitive teams, as well as a boys’ academy and a girls’ academy, with female membership increasing dramatically recently.

“We had to make the move, facility-wise, to an all-weather pitch, because we couldn’t keep going with that many members using the same grass pitches,” Mr O’Mahony said. “We have another facility which we put in seven years ago, but that’s a training pitch, it’s not big enough to have matches on, so what we will have now will be a full-size Fifa- approved playing pitch.”

The club, which received a sports capital funding grant of €150,000, also raised funding separately for the development.

“We were fortunate to receive a very, very generous donation from local businessman Tom Cavanagh, who has been a very generous sponsor of ours over the years, and without this contribution, we simply wouldn’t have been able to go ahead with this development,” Mr O’Mahony said.

Support from the local community, and from local businesses, has helped to keep the club going, and the selling of signs around the pitch has been vital, he added.

“Charlie McCarthy, of McCarthy Insurance Group, has been our main sponsor for over 20 years, and we simply wouldn’t be able to keep going without Charlie,” Mr O’Mahony said.

All the heavy work is completed, with floodlights in position, and only tidying to be completed, Mr O’Mahony said, so the club is hopeful they can get teams out onto Fermoy Soccer Club’s new, all-weather surface very soon.