Magheracloone Mitchells GAC explained

Club Gaa:Magheracloone Mitchells GFC
Irish:Machaire Cluaine
Crest:MagheraclooneMitchells.jpg
Founded:1945
Province:Ulster
County:Monaghan
Nickname:Magheracloone, Mitchells
Colours:Black and White
Grounds:Carrickmacross-Kingscourt Road
Coordinates:53.9449°N -6.77°W
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Magheracloone Mitchells is a Gaelic Athletic Association Gaelic football club from the parish of Magheracloone in County Monaghan, Ireland. The team participate in the Monaghan Senior Football Championship. The Magheracloone Mitchells GAA club pitch is situated on the main Carrickmacross-Kingscourt Road. On the site there are two pitches (the main pitch and a training pitch), modern changing rooms as well as a community centre and a handball alley.

History

2018 collapse

On Monday 24 September 2018, a disused mine collapsed in the area where the club is located. An exclusion zone was set up, with the club confirming that its pitch was completely out of bounds. Social media images displayed enormous cracks in the clubhouse and the surface of the club's pitch. The club announcement stated: "Magheracloone GFC pitches, Community Centre, car park etc have been closed for the foreseeable future due to a serious incident overnight. Nobody is to enter the grounds under any circumstances."[1] By the following day two fresh sinkholes had emerged close to the pitch, with a preliminary inspection by geologists revealing a basin of depression with a diameter of about 120 metres had been found near the GAA Clubhouse and community buildings and that two crown holes with a width of about 8 metres had come about due to settlement within that basin.[2]

Within weeks of the disaster, Magheracloone had been relegated from the Monaghan Senior Football Championship.[3]

In April 2020, a new six-metre crown hole in a nearby mine was discovered following an aerial survey.[4]

It took until August 2022 for the club to be able to return to play at its ground.[5] Clubs in Cavan, Meath and Louth supported Magheracloone during this period.[6]

Notable players

Three Monaghan team members are also inter-county Gaelic footballers; Tomás Freeman, Damien Freeman (brother of Tomás), Shane Duffy and Gavin Doogan. Magheracloone Mitchells won their first Monaghan Senior Football Championship in 2004.[7] However, they were knocked out of that year's Ulster Senior Club Football Championship by Cavan Gaels at the quarter-final stage.

[8]

Honours

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Eileen. Magnier. Investigation into Co Monaghan mine collapse. RTÉ News. 24 September 2018. 24 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180925123457/https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0924/995781-monaghan-mine-collapse/. 25 September 2018.
  2. News: Fresh sinkholes appear after Monaghan mine collapse. RTÉ News. 25 September 2018. 25 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180926025514/https://www.rte.ie/news/ulster/2018/0925/998064-monaghan-sink-hole/. 26 September 2018.
  3. News: Another big blow for Magheracloone as they suffer relegation. Hogan Stand. 29 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181029213034/http://hoganstand.com/Article/Index/291935. 29 October 2018.
  4. News: Crown hole appears in Magheracloone, Co Monaghan. RTÉ News. Sinéad. Hussey. 17 April 2020.
  5. News: Magheracloone back on a firm footing after sinkhole drama. RTÉ Sport. Niall. McCoy. 20 August 2022.
  6. News: 'No pitch, no dressing rooms, no home, no problem' — Magheracloone continue to defy all the odds. RTÉ Sport. 12 January 2020.
  7. Web site: Irish News . 22 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160507123330/http://www.irishnews.com/searchlog.asp?reason=denied_empty&script_name=%2Fpageacc.asp&path_info=%2Fpageacc.asp&tser1=ser&par=ben&sid=468851 . 7 May 2016 . dead .
  8. Web site: Irish News . 22 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183912/http://www.irishnews.com/searchlog.asp?reason=denied_empty&script_name=%2Fpageacc.asp&path_info=%2Fpageacc.asp&sid=473117&tser1=ser&par=ben . 3 March 2016 . dead .
  9. News: Ulster Club IFC final: McMahon on target as Magheracloone capture provincial title . 2 December 2019 . Hogan Stand . 30 November 2019.