'The pitch was floating' - Annagh United Manager on damage done by Storm Ciaran

The club have called on stakeholders to provide 'support and guidance' as they look to replace their 3G playing surface

Annagh United's ground in Portadown.
Author: Gareth McCulloughPublished 14th Nov 2023

While two weeks have passed since Storm Ciaran brought heavy rainfall and sever flooding to Northern Ireland - and the counties of Down and Armagh in particular - businesses are still picking up the pieces.

The sporting world was also hit hard.

Northern Ireland Football League Championship club Annagh United, based on the outskirts of Portadown, saw their entire Tandragee Road complex submerged by the floodwaters after the River Bann burst its banks.

First-team Manager Ciaran McGurgan explained the sight that awaited those from the club after the floods hit a fortnight ago.

"When we came down, the pitch was floating. Personally, I thought it would be a miracle to get it fixed, as did everybody else," he admitted.

"We got the contractors in and they've done an unbelievable job. They told us were were unbelievably lucky; there are others who haven't been just as lucky. They've worked day and night to get it back into shape to enable us to train this week and hopefully play on it this Saturday.

"But they've also made it clear it's a temporary solution, a short-term fix to see out the season. That leaves us now working in the background to try and get something sorted for the end of the season," McGurgan added.

McGurgan was keen to stress the pitch is used by many more groups than just his own club - and that's one of the biggest driving factors to replace the pitch back to the standard it was before Storm Ciaran.

"Annagh United are only a small part of who uses this facility," he says.

"We have our first team and a big youth set-up, but Portadown FC also use it, it's St Mary's home ground every other Saturday, the Mid-Ulster Youth League, the IFA and Rangers Academy also use it. This isn't just about Annagh United Football Club here."

The club are now in the process of working out how much it will cost to replace the surface and sourcing funding to make that a reality.

They've called on the relevant stakeholders - naming NIFL, the Irish Football Association, UEFA, the Department for Infrastructure and Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council - to provide support and guidance as the club attempts to get back on its feet and to help replace their prized community asset at the ground.

"It's probably a quarter of a million pound project before you're finished and that's us with a lot of the infrastructure already in. Anyone doing it from scratch, it would probably be closer to half a million pounds. So we have a head start.

"But £250,000 isn't easily got and we know that. We have to look at different options and all options are on the table."

Annagh's ground underwater during the floods brought by Storm Ciaran.

Despite admitting the club have relatively 'lucky' in terms of the damage done, McGurgan says those at Annagh still hold the fear of a repeat, should another storm of the same force appear again in the near future.

"Our nervousness now is if it happens again - where does it end?" he asks.

"There's talk about a flood wall being put in, which apparently has been talked about for the last 10 years, but it supposedly going to be done in the next three years. If that can be done, it would be a huge boost for us.

"It would give us that protection and would be futureproof for everybody who uses the ground.