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I see Ballyfore are playing Bracknagh in Clonbologue this weekend.
This wont be one of the highlights of the weekends fixtures, but I think we have enough of venues in the county without having to resort to playing in Clonbologue especially in the Championship, let alone having to play there in the league.
It is always the worst prepared field any time of the year, dressing rooms are tiny, no ball stoppers and there is no railing round the field to protect players from fans or indeed fans from players.

No matter what championship game is held here, both teams who have trained hard all year round deserve to play on a decent surface. And this game could be very important when relegation battles intensify in about 6 weeks time.

On the other side of the fixture list it is great to see that the county board have opened up O Connor Park to four games this weekend. From all reports over the last few weeks, I hear the playing surface is in perfect nick, so hopefully the football will try to meet that standard.

Post any comments in relation to the best / worst fields available in the county.

Moystown in the Summer is as good as you well get..

An Oasis in the bog..

Thereorthereabouts wrote:I see Ballyfore are playing Bracknagh in Clonbologue this weekend.
This wont be one of the highlights of the weekends fixtures, but I think we have enough of venues in the county without having to resort to playing in Clonbologue especially in the Championship, let alone having to play there in the league.
It is always the worst prepared field any time of the year, dressing rooms are tiny, no ball stoppers and there is no railing round the field to protect players from fans or indeed fans from players.

No matter what championship game is held here, both teams who have trained hard all year round deserve to play on a decent surface. And this game could be very important when relegation battles intensify in about 6 weeks time.

On the other side of the fixture list it is great to see that the county board have opened up O Connor Park to four games this weekend. From all reports over the last few weeks, I hear the playing surface is in perfect nick, so hopefully the football will try to meet that standard.

Post any comments in relation to the best / worst fields available in the county.

The O'Connor Park debate is a tricky one. Players tend to like playing there since the surface is nigh on immaculate while obviously the dressing rooms etc. are decent, but it does lead to terrible atmosphere at times. I'd say the attendances at the two games on Wednesday night were about the same, but I heard that Tullamore was like a morgue while Clara felt like a proper championship match.

However I suppose you couldn't argue with the county board putting players' interests first.

I agree fully. Clonbullogue is a disaster of a pitch. The game should have been penciled in for Walsh Island, Daingean or Ballinagar. Fair enough Clonbullogue is only a couple of miles from both clubs but I dont think either team would mind a few extra miles travel for the sake of a good pitch. The loser of this game is staring at Junior football next year. From what I hear Frank Weir has retired on us, I havn't been chatting to any of the lads in a few weeks so not sure whats going on but any of the games I got to this year there was no sign of the great one!

Lone Shark wrote:
The O'Connor Park debate is a tricky one. Players tend to like playing there since the surface is nigh on immaculate while obviously the dressing rooms etc. are decent, but it does lead to terrible atmosphere at times. I'd say the attendances at the two games on Wednesday night were about the same, but I heard that Tullamore was like a morgue while Clara felt like a proper championship match.

However I suppose you couldn't argue with the county board putting players' interests first.

Yes I suppose its like a half full Croke Park.

But based on this, it would only be necessary to open up O Connor Park for both Senior Finals.

But I do think it is great for players to play in the county ground. From a players point of view, championship should be championship no matter where it is played and I would feel that 90% of guys would prefer to play in O Connor Park with a poor atmosphere instead of Clara. For supporters maybe there would be better atmosphere in smaller venues, but hey its the players that make the game for the supporters.

And again maybe it was just a bad game on Wed eve anyway.

As a ground Edenderry is completely under utilised. IT would be ideal for Ballyfore and Bracknagh. It seems that the Co. Board deem it's necessary to select a ground mid-way between each club. This is a practice that evolved through earlier times when travel was not alway easy.

I don't think even Gracefield and Walsh Island would have minded playing the Div 1 League final there

yeah would agree,Clonbullogue is a terrible pitch, also never much liked playing in Durrow, pitch was never marked out and usually had to move underage goalposts from the pitch beforehand. Clonmore and Clara are very poor pitches aswell. On the other hand Moystown is always is good order and Tubber have theirs in fantastic shape at the moment

Clonbullogue is not the worst pitch in offaly - but the worst facilities! YES!
Gracefield, Ballinagar, Pollagh and Clara pitches are worse than clonbullogue

And to thereorthereabouts, theres no need to come on here an bitch about our pitch. Maybe its because you got a hammering down here

Yeah have to agree lads, Clonbullogue pitch and facilities are the worst in the county, nothin appears to have been updated since the mid eighties

theman wrote:Clonbullogue is not the worst pitch in offaly - but the worst facilities! YES!
Gracefield, Ballinagar, Pollagh and Clara pitches are worse than clonbullogue

And to thereorthereabouts, theres no need to come on here an bitch about our pitch. Maybe its because you got a hammering down here

Its been a long time since anyone got a hammering in that pitch from the home team!!!
Gracefield being a worse field is terrible nonsense!!

Anyway is there not an unwritten rule that the field must have a railing round it for Champioship matches?

Well if you bothered to go to a championship match there you would see that there is temporary railings up.

When it comes to kips Bracknagh takes the buscuit. Three times iv'e been there and three times iv'e got lost trying to find it and not only that but iv'e actually taken the wrong road trying to get out of it too. It's not just me but talking to some Gracefield people back home during the week they informed me they were late for the league final a few weeks ago because they drove around Bracknagh forever trying to find the damn pitch, one pal told me he drove down the same road four times. Unbelievable, it's like the twilight zone and when you finally find the pitch with sheer exhaustion, you risk getting car sick with the humps and hollows before you park, phew, I'm knackered even thinking about it.

Bracknagh sure is a cracker to Find alright . Pitch is ok dressing rooms a bit small , but the drive to get their is the real Test

One of the trickiest to find, albeit a lovely pitch when you get there, is Mountbolus. I've never been to Bracknagh, but I guess the real test is which one of those two is the more elusive - anyone who's been to both like to give an opinion?

In relation to finding the pitch in Bracknagh, there is a signpost on the main portarlington-bracknagh road,
and also on the main edenderry-bracknagh road towards the pitch, and again at the top of the lane down
to the field. It does not take too much effort to look out for a sighpost to find a pitch.
Also, a quick phone call to the club secretary is possible if someone is very stuck.