New astro pitch at St Colman's Park will be a huge boost to the club and the local community

St Colman’s Park, home to Cobh Ramblers FC was once the centre of the Cobh community and over the last couple of years it has re-established that link. 

However, now with their new state of the art astro pitch, club committee member Mark Farrell hopes the facility will strengthen the link even further.

A facility which Farrell believes was badly needed for the club and community, here he explains what it will do for the kids in the community.

"From a football perspective it’s a game changer for our teams," said Farrell. 

"They now have stability in training and playing locations on the Island between two top class facilities in Stephen Ireland Astro and St Colman’s Park."

So how did the idea of the new Astro come about?

"In recent years the club’s academy has grown to a stage where we now have women’s U17 and U19 and men’s U14, U15, U17, 20’s and seniors, with the possibility of a women’s team in the coming years. 

"Even with the SI Astro at Old Church Park, which has made a huge difference to Cobh Football, we have had to train outside of Cobh in two or three different locations. 

"The senior team are no different to the rest as they train in Mayfield on a Wednesday and SI Astro on a Monday.

"This was costing the club a substantial amount annually and therefore we needed to come up with a solution.

"The existing pitch, previously one of the best in the country, was not up to standard in recent years and did not allow good passing football. 

"A pitch upgrade was needed as soon as possible so with these things in mind it was put to the club’s members that an Astro might be the best route forward and there was near full agreement by the members.

"The club would like to thank Tadhg in Mayfield, Leeside AFC and Mayfield School for being so good to us over the last number of years. 

"We are so grateful to those for facilitating us and we will always be there to return the favour when we can.

"On the back of the Stephen Ireland Astro, it became apparent that Astros were important to ensure contact hours and having that blueprint we could apply that to the pitch at St Colman’s Park.

"Billy O’ Leary (Chairman) and Tony Flannigan (Vice-Chairman) approached myself three years ago about applying for a new Sports Capital Grant. 

"We were awarded €300,000 from that application, which was a huge boost.

"From there we brought the concept to the FAI, Department and Members. 

"Once approved by all we went about a tender process where the Kelly Brothers of Ballydesmond, who we can’t thank enough for the fantastic installation, and Electric Skyline were awarded the contract in Q4 of 2023.

"The process started just over three years ago, but the actual works only started in December 2023. 

"We owe the FAI and MFA a huge thank you for their part here. 

"Mark Scanlon and Walter Holleran from the FAI have been hugely supportive of the project and Barry Cotter from the MFA worked with us for the games in Turner's Cross.

"We would like to thank Walter in particular for his input and support throughout the project.

"We now look forward to Friday night as we welcome Wexford to St Colman's Park to play under the new 800 Lux Lighting system.

"As well as the pitch development, the media area was upgraded and will hopefully be a much more comfortable experience for the great people who cover the LOI.

"The main entrance area was also upgraded, and the grounds have never looked so well. 

"So much credit here goes to Stephen Quinlan and the FAS team Jim, Tim and John who do incredible work around the ground.

"The Bar continues to undergo upgrade works and we have recently added a permeant food vendor to the grounds – Fear Gorta Food Van – and we wish them well over the coming months.

"Special mention to James Farrell also who has managed the project incredibly from start to near completion.

"Finally, the club would like to thank all the supporters of the Astro Development and local politicians who have been incredible supporters of the facility. 

"We can’t thank the local council enough for their support."