Casement Park: Can fans and politicians unite over Euros venue?

Belfast's Casement Park has been confirmed as Northern Ireland's host venue for Euro 2028. But given the many setbacks it has faced, can it be redeveloped on time?

Neil McManus's memories of Casement Park run deeper than most. The Antrim hurling legend has only recently retired and unlike most of the current county panel, he got to play in the stadium before it closed in 2013.

"The highlight of every match was running out, bursting onto the pitch," he told Prime Time.

The image of two teams racing into the stadium is hard to conjure these days given the level of dereliction.

"This is not what I want my memory of Casement Park to be," the Cushendall man said, surveying the overgrown landscape of weeds and decaying cement.

There is a lost generation of hurlers, footballers and camogs who are missing out on playing on what was Antrim’s county ground, he told the programme.

"Belfast is dwindling in its participation in GAA and there's a certain correlation between the lack of Casement Park being available and that trend over the last ten years.

"This is Ireland's second city. We need our provincial stadium back up and running," he added.

For decades, Casement Park was a home for gaelic games in Belfast, hosting eight Ulster football finals until 1971.

It also has a place in the city’s more difficult history. Occupied for a time by the British army, it was notoriously the backdrop for the murder of two British soldiers, dragged from their car during a funeral and killed by the provisional IRA.

Like many things in Northern Ireland, the future of Casement Park is inextricably linked to its past and decisions on its redevelopment are about more than just sport.

There had been proposals to build a joint football, rugby and GAA stadium at