Oranmore Maree GAA One Club has announced the opening of the first phase of the club’s Sports Centre of Excellence, with the 4G Astro Pitch due to host its first games this weekend.

That will see the U11 boys’ and girls’ teams from St. Vincent’s and Kilmacud Croke’s in Dublin come to play Oranmore Maree GAA One Club’s U11 teams.

The first phase of the Renville Gaelic Grounds project covers the development of the pitches and associated facilities, including our new entrance road and car parking.

This phase is divided into Phase IA and IB, with Phase IA – covering the delivery of the club’s state of the art full size 4G Astro Pitch – currently close to completion,

Phase IB will see completion of the three full size grass pitches in the facility.  Two of the pitches were seeded in September of this year and will be ready for training and games by September 2026.

The completion of the third grass pitch was held up this year due to weather related delays.  This will now be completed in Q2 next year and available to play on in Q2 2027.

Earlier this month, Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary announced a grant of €245,700 for the development of walkways around the Renville Gaelic Grounds.  The grant is issued through the 2024-2025 Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS).

The walkways will have low level lighting and therefore be available for use by the local communities throughout the winter, with the development being an important extension of the existing facilities in Renville Park.

The amenities being developed by Oranmore Maree GAA One Club are greatly needed in the Oranmore Maree area.  There has been a huge population growth in recent years within the area, with the population approaching 10,000.

This has led to the Oranmore Maree GAA One Club operating at beyond maximum capacity with nearly 100 GAA teams at present using the limited existing local community sporting facilities.

With over 2,500 pupils attending schools in Oranmore and Maree every day and with a combined membership of 1,800 people in the club (nearly 1,200 boys and girls), the vision for Chubb Renville Gaelic Grounds arose out of an urgent need to develop new sporting facilities to cater for the rapidly expanding playing numbers from juvenile to adult level.

The club membership has doubled in the last six or years and is expected to continue to grow strongly with the ongoing and future development of many new housing developments in the area.

Oranmore Maree GAA One Club originally invested over €1.1m in the project between land purchase, planning and fundraising costs to get to the start of the development phase.  The budget for Phase I is €4m, which is partially funded by the Government’s Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF).

Chairperson of Oranmore-Maree GAA One Club Sean Greene predicted that the development would have an immensely positive impact on the club – both for current and future members.

“They will have access to best-in-class facilities which will make a marked difference to inclusion, player participation and performance,” he said.

“The whole club is extremely excited to see the first games take place on the new 4G pitch.  It is fitting that the first game will take place between juvenile teams because one of the main aims of Chubb Renville Gaelic Grounds is to facilitate young current club members and future generations to come,” he added.

Pictured: An aerial view of the new grounds at Renville.