Turners Cross (stadium)

Turners Cross is an all-seater football stadium located in and synonymous with the district of Turners Cross, Cork, Ireland. It is home to the Munster Football Association,^[2] and League of Ireland side Cork City FC.

It was the first all seated, all covered stadium in Ireland following redevelopment in 2009, and it is currently one of only two, the other being the new Aviva Stadium.

Use

The stadium sees a large volume of matches every year - these include League of Ireland games as well as local, regional, national, and international matches and cup finals at schoolboy, junior, intermediate, senior, and underage international level.

Facilities

For many years Turners Cross was little more than a pitch with a few grassy banks and a covered terrace euphemistically called "The Shed". However, in the last 10 years the stadium has been transformed into one of the finer League of Ireland stadia and is now the only all covered, all seated stadium in Ireland.

The current configuration of the stadium includes the 1,900 seater covered "Donie Forde" stand - which holds team dressing rooms, the stadium control box, press broadcasting area, and the family section. This is faced by the 1,185 seater covered "Derrynane Road" stand.^[3]

At the western end of the ground is the recently covered St. Anne's Stand which has a capacity of approximately 2,800. The newest stand is at the eastern end, on a site previously occupied by "The Shed" covered terracing and a club shop. "The Shed" previously held over 2,500 supporters and was home to Cork City F.C.'s more vocal fans. This newly developed section seats 1,600 and was opened in March 2007.^[4]

History

While known locally and amongst fans as "The Cross", the ground has also been nicknamed "The Box" in the past. This accounts for the title of Plunkett Carter's book on Cork soccer, From The Lodge to The Box, where 'the lodge' refers to 'Flower Lodge'. Flower Lodge was originally owned by the Ancient Order of Hibernians and was the previous home of Cork soccer. This ground was subsequently sold to the Gaelic Athletic Association, and renamed Páirc Uí Rinn, for Christy Ring, a famous County Cork hurler.

Cork Constitution, then a rugby and cricket club, was the first club to lease the Turners Cross grounds in 1897. (A once popular trivia question was "Which President of Ireland scored a penalty at Turner's Cross?" The answer is Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) who in his early years played rugby for Rockwell. The penalty in question was during a Rockwell vs Cork Constitution rugby match in the Munster Cup.)

Turners Cross was home ground for the local GAA club Nemo Rangers in the 1930s.^[5] In June 1940 the FAI negotiated a 98 year lease on Turner's Cross with owner Helena O'Sullivan.

In 1977 then League of Ireland side Cork Celtic F.C. looked for a longer lease on the ground only to be refused by the FAI who were unable to find the property owner. The ground passed into the hands of the Munster Football Association in the 1980s.

Turner's Cross has never hosted a full men's senior international; the closest in recent time was a "B" fixture against England in 1990. Elsewhere in Cork, Flower Lodge hosted a full international on the 26th of May 1985 between Ireland and Spain (0:0), while The Mardyke entertained Ireland vs Hungary in 1939 (2:2).^[6] The stadium has however hosted eight Republic of Ireland under-21 national football team games^[7] and other international underage games - including games in the 1994 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship.

Soccer, rugby, Gaelic games, boxing and gymkhana events have been held at Turner's Cross over the years.

References