Unable to run grails test-app :cucumber

So I've looked through other peoples problems but they dont match what I'm seeing so thought I'd post it up to see if anyone else has had this issue and has a suggested solution

Im running a grails app in 2.3.5 and have cucumber 1.2.0

I've set up a really basic feature file in the functional folder that reads as follows: -

Feature:
  As a user
  If I enter the incorrect password I need a warning message
  So I know i did something wrong


Scenario:
  Given I enter the wrong login credentials
  When I click sign in
  Then Display a login error

Now I know this shouldn't work as yet but Im going one step at a time to see the process as Im new to cucumber and grails.

The app runs fine if I use the command

grails run-app -Dgrails.server.port.http=8090

If I then try running the cucumber test via

grails test-app :cucumber (with or without the port specification above) I get the following explosion...

Configuring Shiro ...

Shiro Configured
| Error 2017-03-15 08:28:35,222 [localhost-startStop-1] ERROR context.GrailsContextLoader  - Error initializing the application: null
Message: null
    Line | Method
->> 2076 | contains       in java.lang.String
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
|    207 | canAutoMigrate in grails.plugin.databasemigration.MigrationUtils
|     43 | autoRun . . .  in grails.plugin.databasemigration.MigrationRunner
|     87 | doCall         in DatabaseMigrationGrailsPlugin$_closure2
|    262 | run . . . . .  in java.util.concurrent.FutureTask
|   1145 | runWorker      in java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor
|    615 | run . . . . .  in java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker
^    745 | run            in java.lang.Thread
| Error 2017-03-15 08:28:35,247 [localhost-startStop-1] ERROR context.GrailsContextLoader  - Error initializing Grails: null
Message: null
    Line | Method
->> 2076 | contains       in java.lang.String
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
|    207 | canAutoMigrate in grails.plugin.databasemigration.MigrationUtils
|     43 | autoRun . . .  in grails.plugin.databasemigration.MigrationRunner
|     87 | doCall         in DatabaseMigrationGrailsPlugin$_closure2
|    262 | run . . . . .  in java.util.concurrent.FutureTask
|   1145 | runWorker      in java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor
|    615 | run . . . . .  in java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker
^    745 | run            in java.lang.Thread
| Error 2017-03-15 08:28:35,251 [localhost-startStop-1] ERROR [localhost].[/Copper]  - Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.codehaus.groovy.grails.web.context.GrailsContextLoaderListener
Message: Error executing bootstraps; nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException
    Line | Method
->>  262 | run       in java.util.concurrent.FutureTask
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
|   1145 | runWorker in java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor
|    615 | run . . . in java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker
^    745 | run       in java.lang.Thread

Caused by NullPointerException: null
->> 2076 | contains  in java.lang.String
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
|    207 | canAutoMigrate in grails.plugin.databasemigration.MigrationUtils
|     43 | autoRun . in grails.plugin.databasemigration.MigrationRunner
|     87 | doCall    in DatabaseMigrationGrailsPlugin$_closure2
|    262 | run . . . in java.util.concurrent.FutureTask
|   1145 | runWorker in java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor
|    615 | run . . . in java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker
^    745 | run       in java.lang.Thread
| Error 2017-03-15 08:28:35,271 [localhost-startStop-1] ERROR core.StandardContext  - Error listenerStart
| Error 2017-03-15 08:28:35,280 [localhost-startStop-1] ERROR core.StandardContext  - Context [/myProject] startup failed due to previous errors
| Server running. Browse to http://localhost:8080/myProject
| Server stopped
| Error Fatal error running tests: No WebApplicationContext found: no ContextLoaderListener registered? (Use --stacktrace to see the full trace)
| Tests FAILED  - view reports in /Users/me/Projects/myProject/target/test-reports
| Error Error executing script TestApp: java.lang.IllegalStateException: No WebApplicationContext found: no ContextLoaderListener registered? (Use --stacktrace to see the full trace)

I have 0 idea what any of this means and googling any of it with a grails/cucumber context doesnt seem to really bring anything of sense back, any suggestions or questions welcome!