That’s one way to get around those wet and windy Mayo evenings.
Connacht GAA hope to be able to host inter-county games indoors before the year is out with the addition of the world’s largest indoor sports air dome to their Centre of Excellence in Bekan, County Mayo.
The facility, which will include a 130m x 80m GAA pitch along with a gym, running track and seating for 600 people, will cost €3 million to build and €400 a month to keep inflated.
The Connacht Council has already secured €2.1 million from the Department of Community and Rural Development and the goal is to have the dome in place by December 2, 2019.
“We have some very wintry days in this area and that’s one of the reasons we thought about an indoor facility,” provincial secretary John Prenty told RTE.
Interesting development by @ConnachtGAA in Ballyhaunis. Work on new air dome will begin June at cost of €3 million. Full size GAA pitch, gym, and running track. Seating for 600. Complete by December. Will cost €400 a month to keep inflated. More @morningireland sport #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/mXgNFbWZMP
— Darren Frehill (@Darrenfrehill) April 24, 2019
“A lot of the stuff that we do here has been delayed because of bad weather. We could play FBD League, county minor league, those sort of games. The pitch is going to be 130m x 80m, the minimum size of a GAA pitch.”
Construction of the dome, which will be 150m x 100m and 26 metres high, is expected to begin in July and take five months.
“We already have funding from the GAA in the past that we’ve held on to and from our own funding we expect that this project will come in on budget,” Prenty explained.
“This won’t impact on any club or county financially.
“There were over 7,000 people in this centre this month alone. Most of those were from clubs doing fitness tests and things like that.
“There are counties getting into trouble over going abroad at the minute – they can come here and they’ll have all the facilities they want and you won’t get wet either!”
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