Flood-hit GAA clubs to fight it out in final
Tyrone teams deluged a year ago tell of their long road back from disaster
TWO GAA clubs whose grounds were devastated by last year’s floods will meet in a major final this weekend.
Newtownstewart St Eugene’s will play Beragh Red Knights in the Tyrone Junior Championship decider on Sunday.
It comes just 14 months after both suffered extensive damage to their club rooms and pitches in the August 2017 floods, which badly affected parts of counties Tyrone and Londonderry.
Beragh chairman Seamus Boyle paid credit to the local community and an army of willing volunteers who have helped get the club back on its feet.
“While I don’t want to say too much about the final, it is a great achievement that we have reached this after a very difficult year,” he said.
“The club rooms and grounds were under around three foot of water last August, so there was a lot of work to be done. The pitch wasn’t destroyed, but the club rooms were, but we have just completed a flood wall that hopefully will mean we won’t face anything like this again.”
Mr Boyle said that the club has around 250 adult and 300 young members. He added: “The ethos of the GAA is self-help and doing things for yourself and that fell into place during the clean-up after the flood.
“People took the day off work to help with the immediate clean-up, but the help and support we have had over the past year has been phenomenal.
“The clubhouse had to be completely refurbished and that work is still ongoing, but we got the place going again as fast as we could and got the kids playing.
“It will take more than a flood to stop us and we are really looking forward to the game on Sunday.”
Both clubs expect an army of supporters at Healy Park in Omagh for the final.
Newtownstewart chair Mairead Gallagher said there is much excitement about the game.
She told the Ulster Herald: “There is no doubt that the whole club was devastated by the flooding last August.
“Our pitch and club rooms were ruined and it was only thanks to the efforts of so many people from within the club and other neighbouring clubs that we were able to get up and going again.
“The damage caused amounted to around £100,000 and we really were in dire straits, so it is great to witness the excitement at the club ahead of Sunday’s final.
“Everyone is focused on the football and our premises have been repaired and renovated,” she added.
“We really cannot express enough thanks to our own members and surrounding clubs for helping us through the past difficult 12 months.”