GAA Club outbid as parochial house and 12.5 acres of parish land in Offaly fetches €735,000

A PAROCHIAL house and over 12.5 acres of land fetched a whopping €735,000 when it went up for auction in the Tullamore Court Hotel on Tuesday afternoon.

The unidentified bidder, believed to be a local man, paid €360,000 for the Rahan parochial house and 2.6 acres at Killina and then had a successful bid of a whopping €375,000 for an adjoining ten acres of land.

The auction in the Tullamore Court Hotel was conducted by Padraic Murtagh of James L. Murtagh Auctioneers, Mullingar and Dublin.

Both the local Killina Secondary School and Shamrocks GAA Club were interested in getting the ten acres and discussed a joint bid but Shamrocks GAA Club went on their own and made a number of bids before reaching their ceiling.

The parochial house has been the home of the parish priest in Rahan parish for several decades and is a period type residence, full of character in a beautiful rural setting just six miles from Tullamore – with the Grand Canal running just behind it.

It has been vacant for the past couple of years, when the current parish priest, Fr Michael Whittaker opted against taking up residence there.

At one stage the land had been part of the Sherlock Estate but was given to the Church on a long term lease back in the 1800s. The land was put up for sale by the St Finian's Diocesan Trust and there has been some local disquiet that they didn't strike a deal with the school and the GAA Club, prior to putting it up for auction.

The parish also has a house in Mucklagh, beside the Church there. Killina Secondary School is right beside the auctioned land. A growing school, they have constructed an impressive extension recently and them and Shamrocks GAA Club held recent discussions about combining forces to get the land and develop it jointly.

The Secondary School has developed a field for GAA matches down past the Parochial House on Wood Lane while Shamrocks GAA Club own a field a few metres further down. Shamrocks have pitches in Rahan and Mucklagh and have been actively seeking additional land to develop in recent times.

Killina would have been a perfect solution for them as it is between their traditional Rahan and Mucklagh strongholds. Wood Lane is a narrow road leading down to the Grand Canal with the secondary school and parish church up near the top of it and there is access issues with Shamrocks GAA Club transforming their land at Killina into their playing headquarters. As a result, they targeted the parish land, where access could be created up near the school, and they were very keen to get this.

It quickly became clear at Tuesday's auction, however, that they had a job on their hand. The property was initially offered with options of three lots: 1 – the parochial house and 2.6 acres of land; 2 – 10 acres of land; 3 – the first two lots combined.

A bid of €635,000 was made on the combined lots but after consulting with the vendors, Padraic Murtagh announced that it would be sold in two lots to the highest bidder.

The house and land went up first and the large attendance knew that there was extraordinary interest in it as it went up above €300,000 and was sold for €360,000. The two bidders then went head to head for the 10 acres of land and there were gasps as it eventually went for €375,000 after the unsuccessful bidder pulled out at €370,000.