Council takes control of Avondale United's ground in Carrigaline for €2.5m

Cork County Council is the new owner of Avondale Park, the former home ground of Avondale United Football Club, in a deal valued at €2.5m.

The 4.62-acre (1.9ha) site, in an area with favourable zoning for housing, could accommodate up to 70 homes — depending on housing styles — based on current guidelines governing density range in sustainable residential neighbourhoods. 

The closure of the deal has released funds to the club to press ahead with the development of alternate lands on the Carrigrohane “straight” road closer to Cork city, leased from Cork City Council for a peppercorn rent.

The club lodged a planning application in May to develop a new sporting infrastructure at the Carrigrohane site, to include one full-size artificial pitch with ancillary training areas; one full-size natural grass pitch, and floodlighting for both pitches and training areas, as well as upgrades to an existing car park. 

Avondale Utd FC, in the top four clubs in Cork in terms of membership — about 1,100 members, including 700 school players under 16, whose home games are played in Beaumont Park, in Beaumont, Cork City, where Avondale Utd has a 99-year lease — had played in Carrigaline since 1986. 

The decision to relocate after 40 years was in the hope of “optimising the value of the lands for the club” and to “realise the full development potential of the site in what is currently a buoyant housing market”.

Monies raised through the sale will now fund the development of new facilities for its growing membership.

The sale was overseen by David McCarthy of Knight Frank who had highlighted its proximity to the new, unfolding motorway as positively positioning the lands for strategic development.

He said at the time that as Carrigaline was now the largest town in Cork county, the strong demand for new homes in the area represented “an ideal opportunity to create a bespoke residential development subject to obtaining planning permission”.

That task now falls to Cork County Council and can be done by way of a Part 8 procedure, where elected members vote on whether to approve the development, following public consultation and a report by the chief executive.

Carrigaline is just 12km south of the city and is a substantial commuter town. The Carrigaline pitch is within walking distance of Carrigaline town centre.