All-weather pitch damaged by car

Gardai are following a definite line of inquiry after an incident last night in which the fence of the all-weather pitch at the Community Centre was damaged by a car, which ended up on the pitch, writes Brian Byrne.

The incident was described as 'drink-fuelled' by a user of the Centre, which is the location for a number of local sports and community facilities.

It seems from the physical evidence this morning that the driver of the blue Volkswagen car was speeding around the car park beside the pitch, lost control and went through the metal fence. On an earlier circuit the driver had scraped by a lamp standard, leaving paint on the metal.

One of the box-steel uprights of the fence was completely wrecked, indicating an impact with the structure of the car. Happily, nobody was injured.

Inspecting the pitch this afternoon, Centre manager P J Lydon said it was fortunate that the pitch itself escaped serious damage, though there is some oil and light tyre marking.

The car was driven away after the crash, but examination of the CCTV recordings were expected to provide both a time for the incident, and identification of the vehicle. The cameras were installed last month.