Storm-damaged Mayo GAA air dome set to reopen next autumn

Hopes have been raised the Connacht GAA air dome at Bekan, Ballyhaunis, will be operational again next autumn.

Speaking at the launch of the Connacht SFC, secretary John Prenty expressed optimistic the facility will be replaced before the end of the year following the considerable damage caused by Storm Éowyn in January.

“There will be a dome, that’s our intention," Prenty told GAA.ie.

"We’re working with the manufacturers; working with Prunty’s, who are our contractors, and Tobin’s, our engineers; and we’re almost ready in the next couple of days to order the canvas to be manufactured.

"That will take somewhere between five and seven months. We’d be confident that we’d be back up and running – depending on weather again later on in the year – but by the end of September, early October. It will depend on weather. Obviously you can’t inflate it on a windy day.”

The surface of the pitch has been repaired in recent weeks.

“The pitch had some damage done to it, but that has been repaired," Prenty confirmed.

"The plinth that holds it together - the slow part of this would be manufacturing the canvas.

"So, we’re dealing with that. Obviously the engineers have got to come in and inspect the ground works, to see is it capable - the initial feeling is that, yes, everything else is perfect."