Pearse Stadium

Built on the Boggers

The seventeen acres were known locally as the Boggers, and the name was honest: much of the land was wet bog. The town secretary Sean Gillan offered the site to the GAA, terms were agreed, and because the Corrib was being deepened at the time the dredgings from the river were used to fill the pitch and raise one sideline. Sixteen thousand people came on 16 June 1957 to see Galway beat Tipperary at hurling and Kerry at football, to hear Bishop Michael Browne bless the ground and GAA president Séamus McFerran open it, with the twelve surviving members of the All-Ireland winning hurlers of 1923 as guests.

Rebuilt in 2003

The stadium was renovated in 2002 and reopened in May 2003 with room for 34,000; since then it has regularly staged the Connacht senior football final. In 2006 the International Rules series against Australia came here, the first time it was played outside Croke Park. Westlife played on 21 June 2008, and Ed Sheeran filled it on 12 and 13 May 2018, when an extra stand let 63,000 people through over the two nights.

A national safety survey of GAA grounds in 2011 cut the certified capacity to 26,197. Parking has been a sore point: with no dedicated car park, the Gardaí ticketed large numbers of illegally parked cars in October 2010 after warnings to fans and pressure from residents and road-safety groups.

Getting there

The stadium is in Salthill, about three kilometres from Eyre Square; the 401 bus to Salthill and a walk from the Prom is the usual way on match day, since parking near the ground is scarce and policed. The model on this page pins the stadium and the streets around it.