MacHale Park shortlisted for GAA Pitch of the Year

Hastings Insurance MacHale Park has been shortlisted as one of the top four GAA pitches in the country. The Castlebar venue is in contention for the overall prize along with Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork, St Tiernach’s Park in Clones and Chadwicks Wexford Park.

Páirc Uí Chaoimh won the award in 2024 while St Tiernach’s Park was also shortlisted but hopes are high that Mayo’s county pitch, which has undergone a major transformation since 2020, could be crowned this year’s champion when the winner is revealed in January.

Gerry Bourke, who is head of Mayo GAA’s MacHale Park Grounds Committee, has explained that Stuart Wilson, pitch manager at Croke Park, visited the county ground to assess the surface recently and rated it as where Croke Park’s surface was only six years ago.

Predicting that no other county ground has the level of pitch maintenance equipment that Mayo GAA has invested in, Gerry Bouke spoke in glowing terms about his committee colleagues and their work in getting MacHale Park to its pristine standard, chief among them being groundsman Phil Heneghan whose work he described as “phenomenal and invaluable”.

“Some people say MacHale Park is his second home. I don’t. I say it’s his first,” said Bourke, who does take issue with the naming of the ground which, he pointed out, “is the only all seater stadium in Ireland!”.

“In Galway you have Pearse Stadium. This should be called MacHale Stadium.” 

 Over 100 matches have been played in MacHale Park this year which it’s thought could stand in its favour when trying to win the 2025 GAA Pitch of the Year accolade as opposed to other grounds that may be seen as being under-utilised.

The judging panel includes experts from Croke Park and iTurf Management, with pitches assessed against over 30 criteria.

The MacHale Park Grounds Committee is currently exploring the possibility of providing portable dugouts that could be used for matches on the MacHale Road sideline, which among other things would ease the wear and tear on the stand sideline.

Gerry Bourke also highlighted the massive improvement in the playing surface of Mulvey Park, Mayo GAA’s adjoining training pitch, saying they are not far off their ambition of making that the same standard as MacHale Park itself.

Meanwhile, the reinstallation of floodlighting badly damaged at MacHale Park during Storm Éowyn earlier this year will not be completed in time for Mayo’s opening home game of the 2026 National Football League against Dublin on the last weekend of January. Delivery is expected at the beginning of January but the lights are not expected to be in use until Mayo’s second home game of the league, against Armagh, on the weekend of February 28.