He’s worked on some of the world’s top pitches, but home is really where the heart is for Adrian Cutliffe.
The head groundsman at Maginn Park, Cutliffe is putting the finishing touches to the venue this week ahead of a big night on Friday.
With Brandywell Stadium under a redevelopment, Derry City needed a temporary abode and on Friday the Candystripes will ‘host’ Limerick FC at Maginn – which will be ‘home’ for Kenny Shiels’ team this year.
Buncrana opens its doors and its town for League of Ireland football and the pristine, slick surface of Maginn will be aired at senior level.
There have been 69 matches played on Maginn Park since July; not that you’d know it, even on close inspection.
“It’s in great shape, better shape than most years probably,” Cutliffe says.
“That’s down to the mild weather that we’ve had. I’ll be happy once mid-March and April comes around and the grass is growing back again.
“We’ve just been doing what we do normally. It’s still done to the same spec, there might just be a bit of extra rolling on it.”
By day, Cutliffe works for Pitch Dimensions, who have also carried out the redevelopment works at Triagh-A-Locha and The Diamond Park of late.
By evening and weekend, he’s the man who keeps Maginn billiard table-like.
‘A couple of hours every evening and the full days at the weekend’ he muses modestly on his workload at the Buncrana ground.
His only reward? “The dinner dance at the end of the year and a bit of stick.”
“Keeping the coaches happy isn’t an easy job,” he says.
“We’ll get very busy in May and June with Inishowen League finals and we’re coming into underage games and the Foyle Cup, too. In 2017, we’ll be hitting 160 matches at least.
“It’s very hard to maintain. It’s costly and it does take a lot of time, but it makes it worthwhile then when you see what it turns out like. It’s nice to sit back and see the end product.
“We do things differently here. We have a fertilizer programme and we get guys in to test the sand and stuff. It’s not just a case of cutting the grass twice a week and throwing a lock of 10:10:20 onto it. We have it to a fine art here now.
Adrian Cutliffe at work in the Friends Arena, Stockholm
‘Nadger’, as he’s affectionately known, always seemed destined to spend a large portion of his time in Maginn.
His father, Liam – ‘a good foreman for me’, Adrian says – was on the committee and coaxed Adrian into the job around eight years ago.
He says: “Dad was always here on the committee. When they did the full reconstruction, he asked me to come on board and work on the pitch.
“The first two years, we struggled with the amount of traffic that was on the pitch. Once everyone came around then, and understood the work that I was trying to do here, it’s been grand.”
Cutliffe has worked, with George McMullan’s SIS, a Sligo-based company, at venues like Camp Nou, Celtic Park, Hampden Park and the Friends Arena in Stockholm.
But Maginn is his pride and joy.
The ground recently saw some brief upgrade works to bring into line with the FAI’s licencing requirements and the installation of seats in the stand and some emergency lighting ensured that Maginn received a Premier Division licence.
“Another thing off the bucket list,” Cutliffe says.
“I’m looking forward to Friday night. It’s great for the town. Buncrana is buzzing and it’s amazing to be hosting Derry City. It’ll be a sell-out.
“I’m a big football man and I’m looking forward to the game, but I’ll be out there looking to see if there’s any divots and it’ll be out at half-time to fix those!
“It’s hard to keep managers happy. Kenny was critical of the pitch recently and was saying about the grass coming up a bit too easily – but those issues will be sorted.
“It’s been very good to get a chance to work on pitches all around the world. I worked on the pitch in Stockholm for a play-off and honestly Maginn Park is right up there with any of them.”
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