Kilmacud Crokes Pitch Update

Members, as we thankfully  leave behind the heavy rains of last winter and move from spring into hopefully continued improvement in the weather for summer, it is great to see our main pitch Pairc De Burca and the Silverpark pitches  hosting a myriad of adult, juvenile and children's training and games. The pitches are also utilized for a number of our local schools for inter schools competitions, blitzes and sports days. The Mini All Irelands are in full swing and being enjoyed by all.   We have had a difficult winter for ground conditions which have been managed, despite the inconvenience and challenge, with the great co-operation of all managers, coaches and players in all sections. The good news is that we have recently completed essential sanding and groundbreaking work on the pitches and are now into the Summer irrigation and grass cutting cycles which will help us to keep the pitches in really good shape as the weeks roll on.

A big part of this is down to the focused management and efforts of a small group of individuals. The club Executive would like to record a note of thanks and appreciation to long standing club member Liam O' Flaherty and our grounds men JP and Matt for their commitment and support in maintaining the pitch facilities.  Our thanks also to the cross section volunteer work group who work with the grounds team and  manage the usage schedules to optimise playing time while preventing over use and potential damage to the pitch surface areas. The combined work of  all of these folks means the overall club community enjoys well maintained playing facilities.  

Going forward we would ask members to be careful with our pitches and not do hard drills on the pitch surface and not utilize clearly bald and damaged spots for training locations. For example – practicing penalty kicks from a bald penalty spot will make penalty kicking in real time very difficult off bare and broken ground. Similarly, if we concentrate training on the main goals on the pitches for training we will cause degradation and damage which will show up during matches. We ask all of our managers, coaches and players to use common sense in their efforts to maintain the playability of the pitches by locating sessions / drills etc away from key parts of the pitch whenever possible. We would also request that teams only use flood lights when required and always ensure they are switched off when activity is finished. 

Thanks in advance for your support

Kilmacud Crokes Gaa Club Executive