A small step but an extremely significant one – that’s the sod turning at the site of the new Mitchelstown leisure centre which is due to take place this Thursday morning.

It shows tangible progress in the project which has, for a variety of reasons, taken more than 25 years to bring to fruition.

Cork construction company MMD moved onto the site at the Canon’s Field adjacent to the Tesco store to clear it in recent days in readiness for the start of building.