Connacht GAA air dome in Co Mayo has been destroyed during Storm Éowyn.
The inflated roof of the multimillion pound indoor playing facility was blown down at around 4am on Friday amid gale force winds sweeping the island of Ireland.
Unfortunately, the University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome was significantly damaged by Storm Éowyn overnight, thankfully no one was hurt.
— Connacht GAA (@ConnachtGAA) January 24, 2025
Thanks to everyone for the support, it is our full intention to rebuild this magnificent facility as soon as possible.
Connacht GAA secretary John Prenty told RTÉ Sport: “We have been unable to get out to the site to assess the damage as the winds are too high.
“The plan is we’ll tidy up the site in the next week.
“We will rebuild it.”
He added that the structure was fully insured.
Connacht GAA confirmed that there were no members of staff on site at the time, and no injuries were reported.
Opened in 2020, the £2.6m facility was the first of its kind in Ireland and the largest indoor sports air dome in the world at the time of its opening, measuring 150m long and 100m wide.
It regularly hosted GAA games at inter-county, schools, club and colleges level and is also used as a training venue by teams around Connacht.
Located at Connacht GAA’s Centre of Excellence at Bekan near Ballyhaunis., the air dome’s inflatable roof was anchored to a metre high perimeter wall around the site.
Three pumping stations were used to blow up the structure and to keep it in place.
The National Frisbee Championship, which had been due to held in the air dome on Saturday, has been cancelled.
