The sinkholes are believed to have been caused by the partial collapse of a disused mine alongside the Magheracloone Mitchells club grounds.

“I’m not sure what the story is at the moment with the pitch, it’s only the geologists who are allowed on site, we haven’t been allowed to go near it,” club chairman Francis Jones admitted yesterday.

“We set up a Gofundme on our page so donations would be greatly appreciated to get us going.

“Local clubs have all reached out to us and the Monaghan board have given us full support.”

The page has raised €490 of their target of €5,000 in two hours, while the club now focus on finding an immediate solution.

“We’re coming up with a short-term plan. Firstly we need to sort out our senior team; they’re playing this Saturday so we need to find a facility for that game to go ahead.

“We also need to find gear and everything because all the gear is locked in the club and we don’t have access to that.

“The main goal now is to get our teams back playing. We’re also trying to find a completely new facility for our club; it’ll have to be one with floodlights so that’s next.

“I suppose we’re lucky that it happened towards the end of the season when there’s not much action.

“But our academy is starting back in October so we need to have a facility for that.

“Our long-term plan is still in the process.

“It was like being hit by a bombshell on a Monday morning, so we don’t see

ourselves revisiting that pitch.

“We’re trying to do the right thing but it’s hard when we don’t know the extent of the damage or what’s going on.

“The road to the pitch is still closed so we’ll have to wait and see.”