Nostalgia: What president scored a penalty at the Cross?

TURNER’S Cross stadium looks set to remain closed indefinitely over “extensive damage” to the surface caused by last Friday’s First Division game between Cork City and Cobh Ramblers, following a decision made in conjunction with and on the advice of pitch contractors.

A statement from the Munster Football Association confirmed that games scheduled to be played there in the coming weeks cannot be staged at the venue, meaning that new venues will have to be found for fixtures in the League of Ireland, Women’s Premier Division, and local cup finals.

The history of the Turner’s Cross grounds goes back over a century, with Cork Constitution, then a rugby and cricket club, first leasing the land in 1897.

A popular quiz question once went “Which President of Ireland scored a penalty at Turner’s Cross?” The answer, of course, being “Éamon de Valera”, who played rugby during his two years teaching mathematics and physics in Rockwell.

Dev’s biographer, RTÉ’s David McCullagh, reckons the penalty was against Cork Con during a Munster Cup match in 1904.

A 1905 report in the Cork Examiner shows that Turner’s Cross hosted an association football match between Cork Celtic and Army Service Corps in the Chirnside Charity Shield.

Over a fortnight in 1923, the Irish Independent reported, the grounds had been used for both hurling and soccer matches.

A 1926 Examiner report notes that “the Nemo Rangers club had obtained the use of the Turner’s Cross Grounds for the coming season”.

By 1929, however, costs had compelled the Gaelic club to close their grounds, and in short order the Munster Football Association (MFA) had moved in, going on to secure from the owners a 98-year lease on the grounds.

In the 1940s, Cork United FC, which had its home grounds at the Mardyke, used Turner’s Cross for training matches and B-team matches.

In 1951, Evergreen United became sub-tenants of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) in a sharing arrangement with the MFA. Evergreen would later change its name to Cork Celtic, and in November, 1961, Celtic beat Drumcondra to win the Dublin City Cup.

The Irish Press was unimpressed by Celtic’s home ground, writing: “Turner’s Cross ground itself is not conducive to good football, and there was absolutely no atmosphere”.

Celtic’s tenancy with the FAI became hopelessly complicated, and the club fell into decline in the late 1970s, spending nothing on the grounds’ upkeep, leading to their being deemed unfit for use by the League of Ireland for the 1978/1979 season.

Celtic moved to Flower Lodge for what would be its final season before being expelled from the League.

The years that followed held many a twist, with Cork City moving to Turner’s Cross for a time in the 1980s, leaving for its own grounds in Bishopstown in the early 1990s, and, after financial difficulties, returning as a tenant in 1996, where it has remained to this day.

After redevelopment in 2009, Turner’s Cross became Ireland’s first all-seated, all-covered stadium, and – alongside the Aviva Stadium – it is one of only two such venues in the country.

In October 2022, the MFA and Cork City negotiated a 20-year agreement covering “rental costs, stadium usage and stadium commercial opportunities”.

Hopefully the Cross will weather its current troubles and reopen soon.