Antrim chairman Colin Donnelly says the redevelopment of Casement Park into a provincial ground may have to be abandoned.

To the frustration of all stakeholders, the one-time Antrim county grounds in West Belfast have been closed since 2013 and have become a dilapidated eyesore, while plans to upgrade the venue into a 34,000-capacity facility capable of hosting provincial finals and music concerts have run into one stumbling block after another.

Donnelly feels that if a date for the start of construction is not agreed by early 2019 then it would be time to revert to a Plan B and develop a smaller county venue instead:

"If by the early part of the year, if there is no firm decision being made about a starting date, then I think Antrim as a county needs to be speaking to the powers that be about redeveloping it back into a county ground, as opposed to a provincial stadium, because I don't think it's going to be good for the county to be waiting for another twelve months," he told The Irish News.

"If we don't get a firm decision on planning at the turn of the year in 2019, I don't think it's a good idea for it to sit there for another six or nine months.

"If the whole thing works of course Antrim will be a winner, but sitting in this limbo we have been the big loser. We're losing a generation who will never get a chance to play there."

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