I couldn’t have visited this iconic stadium on a better day. The sun was shining, not a cloud in sight and the grass was as green as it could ever be. The combination of blue skies and green turf showed UPMC Nowlan Park at its best, not that it needed a sunny day to show this.

Named in 1927 after the Kilkenny man, James Nowlan, who became the GAA’s longest ever serving GAA president (1901 – 1921), UPMC Nowlan Park is probably one of the most important facilities in the city of Kilkenny and throughout the whole of County Kilkenny - ask any Kilkenny person this. This 28,000 capacity stadium is the county grounds and home to the Kilkenny senior hurling team. It is the heart of the community in County Kilkenny. It is here that the team train during the summer. They train in the training grounds at MW Hire Dunmore during the winter months. The Kilkenny senior hurling team are the most successful in the GAA’s history with 36 All Ireland victories to their credit. 11 of these victories have been won with the present team manager, Brian Cody.

The pitch of UPMC Nowlan Park. Photo Alan Mahon

History was made at UPMC Nowlan Park on the 7th of June 2014 when Kilkenny versus Offaly was broadcast on Sky Sports, the first time a GAA Championship fixture of any kind was broadcast live to a UK-wide audience. The British viewers are reported to have been amazed, confused and impressed after watching the fast action game of hurling.

In 2019 healthcare provider UPMC came on board as sponsors to the stadium and the county grounds then became known as UPMC Nowlan Park. 

With all that history behind it, the man responsible for looking after the pitch at the stadium is John Coogan. John is a former greenkeeper and served his time working with the late great Paddy Curry in Castlecomer Golf Club. He then went to work at the famous K Club resort (host to the 2006 Ryder Cup and 13 European Opens). John left The K Club to become head greenkeeper at Callan Golf Club. He remained there until 2012. 

UPMC Nowlan park stadium. Photo Alan Mahon

In 2014 John began maintaining the Kilkenny GAA training grounds, called MW Hire Dunmore, which is 6km away from UPMC Nowlan Park. In 2016 John was asked to take over from Timmy Grogan who was head goundsman at the time and who was retiring from his role. John accepted the offer with open arms. He joined the team of the late Mick O’ Neill who worked for many years alongside Timmy looking after the stadium and pitch and along with Mick’s grandson, Kevin McGarry. 2016 was also the year that Rod Stewart came to perform in UPMC Nowlan Park. Since that Rod Stewart concert the stadium has hosted other high profile concerts including Bob Dylan and Neil Young. After big concerts like these, John and his crew immediately step in to reinstate the pitch back to its pristine condition ready for the next match.

John Coogan mowing the pitch to perfection. Photo Alan Mahon

Kevin works with John on the pitch throughout the season. Kevin looks after the maintenance of the stands, changing rooms and other facilities within the stadium and he certainly does his grandfather, Mick O’Neill, proud as UPMC Nowlan Park was voted Stadium of the Year 2021 by the Irish Independent newspaper. Improvements over the years have seen UPMC Nowlan Park rise to being considered one of the top stadiums in Ireland today. The stadium now boasts modern facilities and the best of new technology. 

Pitch maintenance

So what is it like to maintain the pitch at this iconic stadium? TurfPro went behind the scenes to find out.

From left: John Coogan and Kevin McGarry. Photo Alan Mahon

Many hours go into keeping these grounds at the high standard that people have come to expect. Because the stadium gets a lot of use, wear and tear are some of the issues to be addressed. Intense overseeding is done throughout the growing season using 3 x 250kg applications of Regenerating Perennial Ryegrass (RPR Sport) and 1 x 250kg application of SOS Ryegrass (a mixture of 50% annual ryegrass and 50% perennial ryegrass).

John’s feeding programme begins in January when he applies quick release fertiliser Blaukorn. This will last approximately 10 weeks by which time John will change to Multi-Green 28-3-15 and then, in late August, he will apply another Multi-Green 15-0-22. These are controlled-release fertilisers. Each application of fertiliser uses 18-20 bags (25kg bags). When important matches are coming up  - particularly televised games, a liquid feed is applied usually using Elevate – Xtend Soluble 46-0-0 to give a quick ‘green up’ to the sward.

“You missed a bit”. John and Kevin have a friendly banter during their interview. Photo Alan Mahon

One of the most important jobs John sees for the pitch is to encourage deep rooting of the turf. “When I started here, back in 2016, most of the pitch was covered in annual meadow grass with only about one and a half inches of rooting. The grass would tear away easily. A pan formed about two inches below the surface so it was impossible for the roots to get through beyond this pan”, said John. To tackle the problem John began a programme of deep aeration, hiring in a verti drain, going to a depth of around nine inches. He also incorporates the practice of pencil tining throughout the year – approximately four times a year. It wasn’t long before the pan disappeared and with intense overseeding the pitch soon developed a deep rooting sward of ryegrass. 

60 tonnes of sand is applied twice a year. the pitch soon developed a deep rooting sward of ryegrass. This helps even out the surface and also alleviates any thatch build-up that occurs from returning of the grass clippings. This keeps the pitch dry and firm for the players to play on. Wetting agents are used to help the turf survive in dry weather.

Sod around the goalmouths is replaced twice a year. This involves replacing approximately 80 square metres of turf.

John Coogan. Head groundsman at UPMC Nowlan Park. Photo Alan Mahon

As well as the county grounds, John still looks after the 2 training pitches at MW Hire Dunmore. The past twelve months or so have been a bit strange to say the least, due to Covid-19. In March 2020 all interclub and inter county matches were suspended because of the pandemic. They resumed later in the year but were again put on hold when the third lockdown began in December. The last match held at the stadium was at the end of November 2020. However, this weekend will see the first match to be played here since then. It will be the 2nd round of the National League and will see the home side, Kilkenny, take on Antrim on the 15th of May. 

Kevin McGarry puts the finishing touches at UPMC Nowlan Park before the all important home game this weekend. Photo Alan Mahon

In 2018 a drainage system was installed on the pitch. In order to reduce disruption to training and games, 30mm of the turf was removed and a Wizz Wheel trencher used to cut out the drain. This enabled the pipe and drainage stone to be installed, the sod replaced in a single day. By that evening the scheduled training session was able to take place. “Having this drainage system means that we have a much drier pitch. Another advantage is that for any local wet areas that may develop we can run a small drain from it and tap into the main drain without too much fuss”, said John.

Sod being removed before installation of drains. Photo John Coogan

While the drains were being installed John took advantage of the Wizz Wheel and installed the pipes and cables for a new irrigation system. This saved a lot of time and money and the following year 18 pop up sprinklers and a water tank, with a capacity of 70,000 litres, were installed.

A Wizz Wheel in action during drain installation. Photo John Coogan 

“Before we got the sprinklers installed we used a trolley watering system to irrigate the pitch. This would take up to 24 hours to complete. Our new irrigation system has reduced this to just 2-3 hours”, said John. The water source to feed the sprinklers comes from the stadium’s own two wells. 

Job done. New turf in place at the goalmouth. Photo John Coogan

Pitch of the Year Award

Putting down a pitch protection cover ahead of a concert. Photo John Coogan

John’s dedication to his job and always striving for perfection didn’t go unnoticed in the GAA circles. In 2018 and 2019 UPMC Nowlan Park was voted pitch of the year. This is always a great honour to receive, especially when the pitch is judged against the top pitches in the country. To win it for two years in a row is something special. Some of the criteria for the judges giving this award include the species of grass in the sward; the percentage of thatch; the condition of goalmouths; referee reports. Being awarded Pitch of the Year for two consecutive years has endorsed John’s commitment of making sure that the pitch at UPMC Nowlan Park is always at its best. “I work very closely with Kilkenny County Board and they are always striving to improve the pitch and the stadium. We have a very good relationship and their focus on excellence in every aspect of what they do means that we can produce the pitch to a very high standard and we are very proud of that”, said John. It is wonderful to witness management working so well with groundstaff where both parties have the same objective and views.

Because of the coronavirus, there was no Pitch of the Year award in 2020 but John is hopeful that there will be one in 2021. UPMC Nowlan Park has every chance of doing well this year. 

The view behind the goal taken from the television stand. Photo John Coogan