**Limerick Football Club** was a football club based in Limerick, Ireland. The club currently play in the First Division of the League of Ireland. The first Limerick FC was created in 1937 and has had a number of names since its creation, known at different times as Limerick FC, Limerick United, and Limerick City. Under UEFA rules, the club could not get a licence to play in the First Division in 2007. A separate club, Limerick 37, was formed to replace Limerick FC in the league and competed under this name for two seasons. Limerick 37 has been renamed as Limerick FC. Although the current Limerick FC and Limerick 37 are a different club to the original Limerick FC, however there has only ever been one senior football club in Limerick City at one time since 1937.

Limerick FC won the League of Ireland title twice, in the 1959-60 and 1979-80 seasons, and the FAI Cup twice, in 1971 and 1982. They also won the League of Ireland Cup three times, 1976–77, 1992–93 and 2001-02. The club has competed in European competitions on six occasions, playing against bigger clubs such as Real Madrid and Southampton FC.

Stadiums
--------

Limerick FC has used a number of stadiums around the city as their home ground over the years, including The Market's Field in Garryowen, Jackman Park on Carey's Road, Hogan Park in Rathbane, Thomond Park and Pike Rovers ground at Crossagalla. The Market's Field has always been considered to be the home of football in the city as the club enjoyed success at the venue and moving from there to Hogan Park heralded a serious decline in the club's fortunes. The club is currently using Jackman Park, which belongs to the Limerick District League (LDMC), for home games. It has a training base at Knocklisheen, on the north side of the city.

Limerick F.C. in Europe
-----------------------

Limerick played in European competitions six times in its history. In 12 matches they scored 7 goals and while the club never won a European game, it drew twice. One of those draws was at The Dell against a Southampton team that included former European Footballer of the Year Kevin Keegan and Mick Channon. In the home fixture famous rugby international Tony Ward played well against a Yugoslav international defender Ivan Golac.
Limerick first competed in 1960 in the European Cup against Young Boys Berne, but suffered their heaviest aggregate defeat. Limerick moved their 1965 Cup Winners' Cup home leg to Dalymount Park - one of only two 'home' games played outside of Limerick. Interestingly, Pat Nolan is the only player ever to have scored for Limerick in Limerick in a European game.

The most famous European game was the 'home' match against Real Madrid in the European Cup in 1980. The match was played at Lansdowne Road where Dublin football fans stayed away en masse. Only 6,000 people watched the match. The final score 2-1 to Madrid. Des Kennedy scored twice in the tie, one at home and one away. English born Left winger Johnny Matthews had a 'goal' disallowed. Had it been given he would have completed a unique treble, as he had previously scored in European competition against Manchester United and Celtic while at Waterford United.

|  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Year** | **Comp** | **Versus** | **Results and Limerick Scorers** |
| 1960 | European Cup | Young Boys Berne | (H - Thomond Park) 0-5 (A) 2-4 Leo O'Reilly & George Lynam |
| 1965 | CWC | CSKA Sofia | (H - Dalymount Park) 1-2 Dick O'Connor (A) 0-2 |
| 1971 | CWC | Torino | (H- Thomond Park) 0-1 (A) 0-4 |
| 1980 | European Cup | Real Madrid | (H - Lansdowne Road) 1-2 Des Kennedy (A) 1-5 Des Kennedy |
| 1981 | UEFA Cup | Southampton | (H - Markets Field) 0-3 (A) 1-1 Tony Morris |
| 1982 | CWC | AZ Alkmaar | (H - Markets Field) 1-1 Pat Nolan (A) 0-1 |

Honours
-------

### National titles

* **Republic of Ireland League of Ireland: 2**
	+ 1959–60, 1979–80
* **FAI Cup: 2**
	+ 1971, 1982
* **League of Ireland Cup: 3**
	+ 1975–76, 1992–93, 2001–02
* **League of Ireland Shield: 2**
	+ 1953–54, 1983–84
* **League of Ireland First Division: 1**
	+ 1991–92
* **Dublin City Cup: 3**
	+ 1958–59, 1966–67, 1969–70

### Regional titles

* **Munster Senior Cup: 11**
	+ 1937–38, 1948–49, 1953–54, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1976–77,  
	1983–84, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1994–95, 2005–06

Players and managers
--------------------

### Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

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| 

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | GK | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Jack Brady |
| 2 | DF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Shaun Kelly |
| 3 | DF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Kilian Cantwell |
| 6 | MF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Cian Coleman |
| 7 | MF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Eoin Wearen |
| 8 | MF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Shane Duggan *(captain)* |
| 9 | FW | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Danny Morrissey |
| 10 | FW | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Connor Ellis |
| 11 | DF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Shane Tracy |
| 14 | DF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Tomás O'Connor |
| 15 | DF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Killian Brouder |
| 16 | MF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | William Fitzgerald |

 | 

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 18 | MF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Colm Walsh-O'Loughlin |
| 19 | DF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Alan Murphy |
| 20 | MF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Billy Dennehy |
| 21 | FW | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Jeff McGowan |
| 22 | FW | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Karl O'Sullivan |
| 24 | MF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Darren Murphy |
| 25 | DF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Clyde O'Connell |
| 27 | DF | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Darren Dennehy |
| 28 | FW | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Adam Foley |
| 29 | FW | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Ger Barry |
| 30 | GK | Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland | Tommy Holland |
| 77 | MF | Netherlands Netherlands | Barry Maguire |

 |

### Notable former managers

* England Sam Allardyce
* Scotland Ewan Fenton
* Northern Ireland Billy Hamilton
* Republic of Ireland Eoin Hand

### Notable former players

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| * Republic of Ireland Tom Aherne
* England Sam Allardyce
* Republic of Ireland Terry Conroy
* Republic of Ireland Tim Cuneen
* Republic of Ireland Sean Cusack
* Republic of Ireland Eamon Deacy
* Scotland Ewan Fenton
* Republic of Ireland Al Finucane
* Republic of Ireland Kevin Fitzpatrick
* Republic of Ireland Johnny Gavin
* Republic of Ireland Tommy Gaynor
* Republic of Ireland Alfie Hale
 | * Northern Ireland Billy Hamilton
* Republic of Ireland Eoin Hand
* Republic of Ireland Willie Hayes
* Republic of Ireland Rory Keane
* Republic of Ireland Des Kennedy
* England Johnny Matthews
* Republic of Ireland Andy McEvoy
* Republic of Ireland John McGrath
* Republic of Ireland Turlough O'Connor
* Republic of Ireland Davy Walsh
* Republic of Ireland Johnny Walsh
* Republic of Ireland Tony Ward
 |

Other websites
--------------

* The Official Limerick FC Website Archived 2019-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
* Limerick FC Supporters' Club
* Discussion Group on Limerick FC