Massive upgrade revealed by Templeogue GAA club

TEMPLEOGUE Synge Street Gaelic Football Club has announced plans for a major upgrade of their facilities at Dolphin Park. 

The development will include floodlights, a new training all-weather pitch, a new gym, dressing rooms, meeting rooms and modest catering facilities.

It is all part of their plans to build a sustainable and competitive Gaelic Football Club to serve the Dublin 6, 8 and 12 areas for years to come. 

Subject to planning permission being granted, the investment level in improving the facilities available is expected to be almost €3 million.

Dolphin Park pitches are owned by Templeogue Synge Street GFC but are also used by a number of local schools and Kevin’s Hurling Club. 

The development, should it be completed as planned, will mean far more capacity in terms of pitches, training hours and playing hours than currently is the case for all teams who use it. The club estimates it will increase the training time available to teams by over 400 hours per year. 

The funding for the investment will be raised through the sale of 15 per cent of the site for the purposes of developing housing in the area. This consists of 153 apartments, seven townhouses and one de-tached house. 

The club was founded when Templeogue and Synge Street merged in 1999 and at that time had just two men’s teams playing. It has gone on to produce All-Ireland winners with Dublin including Denis Bastick, Eoghan O’Gara and Niall Scully. 

Today, Templeogue Synge Street has 46 teams between boy’s, girl’s, men’s and ladies’ teams, however, there has been no major investment in the facilities at Dolphin Park since the formation of the club. 

The dressing room facilities have not been upgraded since they were built in the 1970s. Girl’s and ladies’ football teams regularly change at the side of the pitch, while the generator for the training lights regularly breaks down.

Commenting on the announcement Club Chairman, Alan O’Brien, said: “We want to create a modern GAA facility that will service the needs of the GAA community in this part of Dublin for generations to come.

“The growth in our playing numbers is down to the dedication and passion of our volunteers and the pride we have instilled in this club.

“However, we need to take our club to the next level in order to achieve our real potential and that means having modern facilities.

“We plan to enhance the pitches we do have and have juvenile pitches running cross-field. We will be investing in new floodlights and an all-weather training pitch, which will significantly increase the training time available for all the teams that use the facility currently. Importantly, we will be retaining two full sized adult pitches as part of this proposal, so it will greatly enhance the playing time available for all pitch users.”

Mr O’Brien added: “We plan to build a modern clubhouse with six dressing rooms and shower facilities for ladies’ and men’s teams, as well as a gym and catering facilities.”

We will be raising our own finances and not relying on taxpayers to fund this facility. If granted planning permission, this would hopefully become one of the best GAA grounds in the area and secure our club’s future at Dolphin Park.

“Our plans allow for the continued use of the facilities by local schools and Kevins hurling club. We have factored their usage of the facilities into our future plans, so this will be a major community benefit and be a really excellent local amenity for all of the community.”