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Moyola Park ready for historic £1.9m move
Features - Author: Administrator (Posted 1 year, 3 months, 1 hour, 22 minutes ago)

An artist's impression of Moyola's new ground
MOYOLA Park are once again ready to record a first for Northern Ireland football.
The Castledawson outfit, the first ever to lift the Irish Cup two centuries ago in 1881, will be the first club in the country to host home games on the revolutionary FIFA two-star synthetic pitch – the latest upgrade from the now-familiar 3G surfaces.
From next season onwards, Moyola will play their football just a stone’s throw from their old ground which was recently gutted in an arson attack.
The ‘Mill Meadow project’, as it has became known, is a £1.9m purpose-built state-of-the-art football facility which will gift Moyola one of the most impressive home grounds in intermediate football.
Complete with new clubhouse including an indoor arena, six changing rooms, dugouts, covered 200-seat grandstand, floodlit pitch and 7,000 sq ft pavilion, Mill Meadow will be the envy of most clubs throughout the intermediate ranks and beyond.
And Moyola chairman Robin Martin believes the future promises much for a club already rich in tradition.
“It’s very, very exciting times for the club with this new FIFA two-star pitch,” he said.
“That’s the first in Northern Ireland I believe, it’s synthetic and is as near grass as you can get, they are putting one down at Dundalk’s ground at Oriel Park.
“We went down to look at one, five of us from the committee went down to County Wicklow to see the product and we were very, very impressed.
“A wee team down there is using it, they had maybe 37 youth teams, it was a wee community-based club, Greystone Celtic, and it was very, very impressive, the bounce of the ball et cetera – it’s an upgrade from the 3G pitches.
“But the new facility is exciting times for us, it’s unbelievable and it’s a long time coming, it’s been on the go for three or four years and special mention must go to two people, Gillian Lennox, our club treasurer and Raymond Loughrey who have been at the forefront of this project – Gillian especially.”
More than 125 years ago, north Belfast giants Cliftonville, the oldest club in the country, were the first opponents to grace the old Moyola Park,
And Martin has revealed the club plan on coming full circle when they bide farewell to the ground this spring.
He said: “The pitch at Moyola Park was opened on St Valentine’s Day, 1880 by Cliftonville and our plans are to officially close Moyola Park against Cliftonville as well, they were the first team in it and they’re going to be the last team in it. That’s planned for May, all being well.”
Off the pitch, Moyola are one again blazing a trail for other clubs but on the pitch, the club have been perennial strugglers in the lower reaches of the Irish League.
But with the future looking bright behind the scenes, Martin has backed manager Brian Hutchinson to lead the club onto greater things on the field of play.
“The plans are to get into the Championship next year with this new facility,” added Martin.
“We changed our direction a wee bit with the youth and ladies coming in so instead of just being a football team, we’re a football club, community-based and cross-community.
“At the minute, the senior team are sitting one from the bottom but at the end of the day we’re planning for next year and we’re looking at our youth to see what’s coming through and we’re very optimistic.
“At the minute, it’s not going right for (manager) Brian Hutchinson but he knows what he wants for the club and we’ll definitely get there, I’ve no doubt about that.”
It’s been five years in the making since the idea to relocate was conceived back in October 2004.
Coming in at a total of £1.9m, £1.55m of which came from Sport Northern Ireland’s lottery-based Building for Sport Programme, Moyola’s new Mill Meadow home is due to open in September 2009.