Lack of grass pitches for Cork inter-county teams 'mental', says Mark Collins

Former Cork footballer Mark Collins has said it is “mental” that there are not enough grass pitches available to inter-county teams in a county the size of Cork.

The 2,000-word Cork GAA executive report, in the wake of this month’s football-focused county board meeting, noted that there are not enough grass pitches available to Cork teams to properly prepare.

Collins agreed that such a situation was “mental”, but the executive's conclusion chimed with his own experience.

“We saw that at senior level when I was there going back six or seven years ago. We had to use Fermoy as our base just to make sure we were guaranteed a pitch because the year before we were chopping and changing with pitches,” Collins said at Tuesday’s launch of the county football championship.

“Definitely it is an issue. I know a centre of excellence has been talked about a lot, but it would definitely be a great idea if it could get through. I know [a shortage of grass pitches] seems mental, but it is the truth.”

The 2012 Munster SFC winner said Cork football results, particularly at underage, were “concerning”. Cork lost their four championship clashes with Kerry across minor and U20 this year by margins of 10, nine, 10, and eight points respectively.

“You would be disappointed with how things have gone over the past 15 years since we last lifted Sam Maguire, not even at senior level, I am talking about schools level, minor level, U20 level. The results over the past few years have been a worrying trend.”

Collins, whose Castlehaven team begin their three-in-a-row Cork PSFC quest against Mallow on Saturday, said the Cork seniors, in 2025, “played to what would have been expected of them”.

“Coming away from it, players and management probably woudll be a small bit disappointed, but I don't think they underachieved.”

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