Finn Park ( ga, Páirc na Finne) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Ballybofey Ballybofey ( , ; ) is a town located on the south bank of the River Finn, County Donegal, Ireland. Together with the smaller town of Stranorlar on the north side of the River Finn, the towns form the Twin Towns of Ballybofey-Stranorlar. Ba ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The home ground of

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team

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

, it has a 'safe capacity' of 4,200 with 351 seats.

Facilities

The ground is in a relatively dilapidated condition, although upgraded to modern safety standards. Only three sides are officially open, the covered "Shed" with mixed seating/ terracing on the Navenny Road side with a capacity of 1,505, the large "Town End" terrace on the Chestnut Road side with capacity 1,748, and the "Gantry" viewing slope capacity 1,195, which is rarely used by home fans and houses the television/radio gantry. The "River End" embankment is officially closed and is generally used for ambulance parking. Fan segregation is rarely officially in existence and effectively unenforced. Finn Park hosted the amateur

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

against Yugoslavia in a qualifier for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

in April 1971. In 2020, with Covid-19 restrictions effectively restricting the use of the usual dressing room and clubhouse layout, Finn Harps embarked upon a project to upgrade the dressing room facilities in Finn Park with the installation of a new home dressing room, medical area, shower room, kit room and wash room, and a kitchen on the Gantry Side of the ground. The previous home team dressing room has become the away dressing room area with two teams entering the pitch from different gates as a result.

Upgrade

Finn Harps have plans at an advanced stage to move to a new 6,800 seater stadium across the River Finn in

Stranorlar Stranorlar () is a town, townland and civil parish in the Finn Valley of County Donegal, in Ireland. Stranorlar and Ballybofey (located on the other side of the River Finn) form ''the Twin Towns''. Transport The town is located at the junctio ...

, within sight of their current home. Construction began in October 2008. This will lead to the demolition of Finn Park once the new Finn Harps Stadium is completed. Construction work began in October 2008 with the official 'turning of the sod' by then Minister for the State Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher. Land filling and top soil work began in late 2011 with concrete foundations going in early 2012. Steel structures are due to be put in place over June/July 2012 with building work to begin soon after. The club originally hoped to be in the new 6,800 all seater stadium by summer 2013, but with recession hitting the building industry hard in Ireland, work stalled on the ground in November 2014. A fresh plan was drawn for the ground, in an attempt to help the club move forward in August 2019, with work hoped to start again in summer 2020, but a mix of issue with the government sports departments, and Covid-19, work had again stalled on the project.

References

Finn Harps F.C. Association football venues in the Republic of Ireland Association football venues in County Donegal {{Ireland-sports-venue-stub