Derry City will relocate to Buncrana at the end of this season whilst the Brandywell undergoes redevelopment work.
Maginn Park will play host to the Candy Stripes’ closing SSE Airtricity League home games and any potential cup matches too, although an exact date has not yet been confirmed.
The Buncrana venue is the home of the Inishowen Football League and hosted the Oscar Traynor cup final last May.
Photo via Maginn Park Facebook page.
Derry had been deliberating over a proposal to temporarily move across the River Foyle to the Waterside venue at Riverside Stadium, home of Irish League club Institute. The Drumahoe set-up is a lovely little facility and seats over 1,500 people.
But City might’ve had to play their games on a Saturday rather than their preferred option of Friday nights so they have decided to move to the Donegal stadium instead for what could be up to six home league games whilst work is done on the Brandywell.
“The programme is ready to start in June with the relocation of the dog track” club chairman, Philip O’Doherty told BBC Radio Foyle. “The work on the pitch is due to start in July, it may be delayed to suit us and if some of the contractors can do that in a shorter time, we may have less games to play in Maginn Park.”
Maginn Park is an all-terrace venue but City will work on the ground to make it League of Ireland ready. And leave it like that when they move on.
“We are going to take the temporary seating that has been at the Brandywell since 2007, that’s going to be donated to us by Derry and Strabane District Council, we’re going to install that at Maginn Park and leave it there when we are finished,” O’Doherty said.
“It has hosted League of Ireland cup games before successfully, there’s going to be a few changes around exit lighting and some emergency lights in the stand.
“It’s not a lot of work but the club has to pay for it.”
