Opening of Beragh pitch was a milestone moment for Tyrone GAA

THIS weekend will mark the second of two significant developments in the history of the Beragh Red Knights club as it celebrates 50 years since the official opening of the new redevelopment of St Mary’s Park.

It came at the very start of a major new era for not only the Beragh club, but Tyrone GAA generally.

First purchased in 1954, Beragh’s ground was at that time located beside the Railway Station. It was also one of the first in Tyrone to be vested in the GAA after Coalisland, Dungannon and Pomeroy. It was then extensively refurbished and enhanced, culminating in an historic day for the club on July 21, 1974.

Work on the major project was inspired by the Tyrone GAA’s Grounds Committee which was active from the late sixties onwards. At a time when most clubs rented their pitches, and fencing, dressing-rooms and other amenities were rare, the new county-wide group set about ensuring that the facilities for clubs were improved.

Paddy Cullen from Cookstown was the chairman and, under the impetus of the Secretary, Paddy Duffy from Ardboe, each club in the county and its facilities were surveyed. A report was published in 1973,and recommended that as from 1974 no playing field in Tyrone should be allowed to cater for Gaelic Games unless it was enclosed and properly fenced.

A second recommendation was that each club should provide a proper playing field, dressing-rooms with showers and toilets, a referee’s room, press facilities and a community centre.

What was to become Healy Park was officially opened in 1972. There was extensive development, too, at the recently purchased St Colmcille’s Park in Carrickmore which opened in 1971. Dromore St Dympna’s new Gardrum Park was opened a few weeks after Beragh’s revamped ground, and the momentum towards major developments was becoming clear throughout the county.

By then, though, the Beragh club was well on the way to ensuring that it had some of the best facilities anywhere in the county. Under the drive and guidance of Frank Rodgers as Secretary, the work began in earnest at the start of the seventies.

A number of options were development for the construction of what was described as a ‘Sports Centre.’ At the beginning of 1972, an agreement was reached with the Drainage Department and resulted in the entire playing area being levelled at a nominal cost.

This resulted in the closure of the pitch, but that had little effect on the fortunes of the Red Knights. That year, under the management of Frank Rodgers, they won the Intermediate League and with it promotion to senior ranks. During that season, matches had been played in Carrickmore and some of the people involved in Beragh’s Park committee were Pat McCartan, Felix McCann, Hugh Hackett, Joe Franey, Hugh Colton and Jack McCann. They had worked close with Terry Kelly (club chairman) and Frank Rodgers (club secretary) to ensure the completion of the new fully fenced pitch and superb playing surface.

That official opening on July 21, 1974, co-incided with an exciting programme of attractions. These included children’s sports, band parades, Irish dancing, ballad singing, Juvenile and adult football games, and a seven-a-side camogie competition.

One novel event, at just the time in which the Ladies Gaelic Football Association was being formed, was a Ladies football match. It took place between the home side, Beragh, and Mountfield, with the visitors winning by 1-2 to 1-1.

Aside from the on-field action, the then Tyrone County Chairman, Paddy Corey, highlighted the importance of providing new and enhanced facilities.

“This ground is as good as I have seen anywhere in Ireland. The provision of facilities like these enables the ideals of the GAA to be developed and I am proud to say that Tyrone clubs are forging ahead at a magnificent rate.”

Mr Corey’s successor as County Chairman the following year was Beragh clubman, Pat McCartan. He had chaired the Park Development group which had helped to spearhead the development, and paid tribute to the former Field Trustees, who had ensured the purchase of the ground for £1500 from FH Rodgers 20 years previously.

During subsequent years, the new St Mary’s Park became a popular and regular venue for major Tyrone senior, intermediate and junior championship matches. It hosted the Intermediate finals of 1978, 1979 and 1983, and a host of significant senior championship clashes, the Tyrone hurling finals of

The club also led the way in terms of the development of recreational and other facilities. New dressing-rooms were provided in 1978, a new handball alley two years ago, and the club also worked closely with the then Omagh District Council in the provision of a playpark, public walkway and tennis court.

The Council leased this ground in 1975 for a period of 35 years, and work on the spare ground was enabled by a £15,000 grant for the initial stages of the project.

It is interesting to note that, in relation to Beragh, in the period from 1972 until the opening of the pitch, some £3000 was raised for the development through an annual ‘Closed Draw. with a total of £600 being paid out in prizes.

Many, of course, from Beragh and neighbouring clubs who played at St Mary’s Park during those years will remember the famous white tin-hut that was used as dressing-rooms for players under the mid-1970s when a new complex was constructed.

The example provided by Omagh, Beragh, Carrickmore, Dromore and others provided an unstoppable development impetus which has continued throughout the past half century.

A look through the records indicates just how extensive this building-boom was in Tyrone.

By the end of the seventies and in the early eighties, clubs had provided facilities which were only a dream to past generations. Augher’s new floodlights, the two new stands in Carrickmore, the development of Cardinal MacRory Park in Dunmoyle for Centenary Year, a new social centre opened in Fintona in 1981, Greencastle’s developments of the early eighties, Killyclogher’s dressing-room complex in early 1980s, the opening of new pitch and clubrooms in Tattyreagh in 1979 and the extensive development of Donnelly Park in Trillick.

Each of these developments point to the enthusiastic adoption of that 1973 Commission Report, and how the official opening of St Mary’s Park in Beragh was such a memorable occasion for Red Knights and a key staging post in heralding a new era for the Red Hand county.