Turner's Cross pitch to remain closed for the foreseeable future

THE Turner’s Cross Stadium will be closed for the foreseeable future over ‘extensive damage’ to the pitch caused by the recent game between Cork City and Cobh Ramblers, a statement from the Munster Football Association has confirmed.

Last Friday's game, which took place in a storm and the bad weather for the past few months, which had already taken a heavy toll on the pitch, has forced the owners, the MFA to cancel all games scheduled to be played there in the coming weeks

This means that fixtures in the League of Ireland, Women’s Premier Division, and local cup finals cannot be staged at the venue.

The first casualty of the closure is Cork City Women, as they are due to play DLR Waves this weekend.  A new venue will have to be found for this game.

The club’s men’s team are due to play at Turner’s Cross twice later this month, against Longford Town and Finn Harps.

There were several youth and U19 cup finals down to be played at the Cross next week and these games now have to be moved elsewhere.  The MFA made contact with the Youth League this evening by email.

The actual closure was confirmed in a statement to the Youth League and all other leagues this evening by Barry Cotter.

It reads: “It's with regret that Turner's Cross will be closed due to extensive pitch damage caused due to the playing of a League Of Ireland Fixture last Friday night, 5th April. 

"Due to the closure of Turner's Cross we unfortunately will not be in a position to host fixtures during April at minimum including Cup Finals for your league that were in the Calendar. 

"I will make individual contact with leagues over the coming days. 

"We will endeavour to have the pitch back to a playable standard ASAP. 

"We apologise for the inconvenience caused to you the leagues and the teams who were looking forward to their day in Turner's Cross.” 

The state of the pitch was a talking point last Friday evening, with the effects of Storm Kathleen being visible from the first minute of the game between Cork City played Cobh Ramblers. 

The pitch was cutting up, and there were rumours around the ground from the first minute that the fixture was going to be called off and it is believed discussions took place at half time between the referee and the MFA about cancelling the game before the referee allowed the game to continue.

The Rebel Army won through goals scored by Jack Doherty, Barry Coffey, and Evan McLaughlin.

This is one of many games played on Turner’s Cross over the last few weeks, with other fixtures including two Cobh Ramblers home games.

The closure of the pitch comes at one of the busiest times of the year, when the venue is expected to host local cup finals.

The state of the pitch and postponements has been an ongoing issue at the venue over the last twelve months.

Cork City Women were forced to play all their home games at Bishopstown towards the end of the 2023 season, and several men’s games were postponed over the state of the pitch.

There were over 60 games played on the surface last year between the League of Ireland, Women’s Premier Division, local cup finals, and various Republic of Ireland underage internationals.

An U17 European Championship qualifier fell victim to the surface been deemed unplayable in October 2023, and the game ended up being staged at the home ground of Fermoy FC.