St Tiernach's Park

St Tiernach's Park is the principal GAA stadium in Clones, County Monaghan Ireland. With a capacity of about 36,000 it is the most modern stadium used for Gaelic games in Ulster, it hosts major Gaelic football matches such as the Ulster Championship Final and is home to the Monaghan Gaelic football team.

Stadium design

The covered stand on one side of the ground is the Gerry Arthurs Stand. It is named after Gerry Arthurs (1904-1991) who was treasurer of the Ulster Council for 42 years (1934/5? - 1976/7?). In 2009, Arthurs was named in the Sunday Tribune's list of the 125 Most Influential People In GAA History. On the other side of the ground is the Pat McGrane Stand (seated), with The Hill (standing) behind it.

History

The grounds are named after Saint Tiernach (Tigearnac, d. AD 548), who founded Clones as a monastic settlement c. AD 500. The Ulster Final was held at Clones from 1944 until 2004: before this, a mixture of grounds (including Clones) were used as venues. Between 2004 and 2006, due to increased capacity, the Ulster Final was played at Croke Park in Dublin. However, with to the 2007 Final of the Leinster Senior Football Championship being scheduled for the same date that year's Ulster Final was restored to Clones, with Tyrone narrowly defeating Monaghan by a scoreline of 1–15 to 1–13. The Ulster Final has been held in Clones every year since then.