Niall Currie has outlined his dream of incorporating an extra night of training at Portadown as they look to keep up with increasing Premiership demands – but believes it’ll only be possible if they receive money from the NI Football Fund to redevelop Shamrock Park.

As a part-time club, the Ports train two nights per week, but they currently have to make use of various facilities to prepare for Irish League fixtures, including neighbouring Annagh United’s BMG Arena and Brownstown Park.

In April 2024, ABC Council approved planning permission for the redevelopment of Shamrock Park – plans which include a new training facility housed within a dome structure along with a new artificial pitch and floodlights.

Portadown were amongst a whole host of clubs to submit their case for a slice of the NI Football Fund, a £36.2million pot dedicated to improving Irish League facilities – the recipients are yet to be revealed.

placeholder image — Portadown manager Niall Currie. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)

A number of their rivals have ramped up the amount of training nights as they look to thrive in an increasingly competitive top-flight, and while Currie would love to do the same, he doesn’t see it as a possibility until Shamrock Park has a new pitch.

"I think you’ll see the big boys kicking on this year,” he said ahead of Saturday’s opener against Glentoran. “We’ll have our own league within a league.

"I try to tell our supporters the truth and the reality is we need to stay in this league for the next few years until we get into a situation where we get a 4G pitch and have the facilities to create a hybrid scenario at the club to put an extra night of training on.

"Two nights a week of training, 90 minutes on a Tuesday and Thursday, you can’t keep on doing that. We need to get into a situation where we give ourselves a better chance.

"We’ve quality players at the club but we’re totally reliant on our guys going away and doing their own things, putting in a session on a Monday night or running on a Wednesday night, whereas we’d love them at the club for a third night.

"It’s not viable until we get a pitch. We need a 4G pitch which we can rent out, have our own facilities...we’re paying money out to Annagh United and Brownstown Park to rent pitches every year.

"We could save that way, get revenue into the club by hiring our pitch out all week, and that gives us the revenue we’d need to add an extra night into training. That’s the plan."

Currie believes a new artificial pitch won’t only benefit his club, but also the wider community, and hopes Portadown will receive some positive news from the Executive in the near future.

"There’s a couple of pitches in Portadown, one is down 11 or 12 years and the one at Annagh is down a while too,” he added. “I think the town is due it.

"Our town really needs it and a brand new 4G pitch at Shamrock Park would be fantastic for the community.

"If you look at Shamrock Park, it’s surrounded by houses and estates. There’s a wonderful opportunity to get the community involved with the club even further so fingers crossed we get that bit of luck from the government.”