Football

Celtic Park unlikely to host Derry City

 Derry City's Aaron McEneff celebrates his goal with Joshua Daniels against Sligo Rovers at the Brandywell on Friday night. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin 
 Derry City's Aaron McEneff celebrates his goal with Joshua Daniels against Sligo Rovers at the Brandywell on Friday night. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin   Derry City's Aaron McEneff celebrates his goal with Joshua Daniels against Sligo Rovers at the Brandywell on Friday night. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin 

DERRY City will be seeking a new home for 2018 after they confirmed that the Brandywell Stadium will be out of commission – but the GAA is unlikely to sanction the possible opening of Celtic Park.

Chairman Philip O’Doherty confirmed to the Derry Journal yesterday that the Airtricity League side are actively searching for an alternative ground for next season.

Work will begin on the long-awaited redevelopment of their stadium next month and nearby Celtic Park, which shares the Lonemoor Road with the Brandywell, had been mooted as a possible alternative.

Derry county board chairman Brian Smith told The Irish News that no discussions have taken place but that a decision on whether they could open the grounds would ultimately lie out of their hands.

A motion put forward by the Miltown-Malbay club in Clare to last year’s Annual Congress sought for the rule governing the opening of grounds to other sports to be rewritten and allow wider scope than solely to open Croke Park.

However, GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail spoke at Congress to explain that Central Council were strongly opposed to the motion, and it failed to go through, receiving just 23.5 per cent of the vote.

Celtic Park is, however, included among the list of stadia presented by the Irish Rugby Football Union as part of their bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

The GAA has given its backing to the IRFU for that bid.