Eamonn Deacy Park, formerly known as Terryland Park, is an association football stadium in the Republic of Ireland based in the Terryland district of

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. It is owned by the

Galway Football Association The Galway Football Association is the governing body for association football in County Galway. It is responsible for organizing and managing the Galway & District League, Eamonn Deacy Park, and Galway W.F.C. Affiliated leagues * Galway & Di ...

and is the home ground of both Galway United men’s and women’s teams. It was the home of Galway W.F.C. before they dissolved in 2022 and were replaced by Galway United WFC.It is named after

Eamonn Deacy Eamonn "Chick" Deacy (1 October 1958 – 13 February 2012) was a professional footballer from Galway, Ireland. Career Sligo Rovers After a trial at Clyde Deacy made an impressive League of Ireland debut for Sligo Rovers away to Shelbourne at ...

, a former Galway United and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

player and Republic of Ireland international. In both

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, the ground was voted the best surface by the FAI. It won the same award again in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

History

Early years

One of the earliest games played at Terryland Park was on 3 February 1935. It was a 1934–35

FAI Junior Cup The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairvie ...

game between

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they play t ...

and a team referred to as the Galway Macks. Athlone Town won 8–2 and went on to win the cup. In 1950 the

purchased the grounds for £250 from

's grandfather. Different sources name

's grandfather as either Martin Joseph Morris or Dean Flynn When Galway Rovers made their

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

debut in 1977–78, Terryland Park became their home ground. They played their first League of Ireland game at the venue on 28 August 1977 against

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

Redevelopment

The stadium underwent redevelopment in 1993. This saw the introduction of floodlights and saw evening matches at the ground. In 2007 a €500,000

Irish Government The Government of Ireland () is the executive authority of Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet – is composed of ministers, each of whom must be a member of the , which consists of ...

grant went towards developing a new 1,500-seater stand. The new stand was opened in July 2007 and raised the seating capacity to 3,300 and the overall capacity to 5,000. Development of the interior of the Main Stand continued as new dressing rooms, medical rooms, showers, officials' dressing rooms, media facilities and other amenities were all upgraded and installed.

Tenants

Although perhaps best known as the home of

Galway United Galway United Football Club () is an Irish professional football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division following promotion from the First Division in 2023. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the ...

, the stadium also serves as the headquarters of both the

and

Galway & District League The Galway & District League is an association football league organized by the Galway Football Association. It features amateur and junior clubs from County Galway. It currently features four divisions. Its top division, the Premier Division, ...

. It regularly hosts an average of one hundred games per year.

Mervue United

Terryland has also served as a home for

Mervue United Mervue United A.F.C. is an Irish association football club based in Mervue, Galway. Their senior men's team currently plays in the Galway & District League. The club has previously fielded teams in the Connacht Senior League, the League of Ir ...

. During the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

seasons when they were playing in the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division, also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. The division w ...

, Mervue played at Terryland Park as their regular ground, Fahy's Field, did not meet

standards.

Salthill Devon

Following the withdrawal of Galway United from the League of Ireland after the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

season, fellow Galway based side Salthill Devon re-branded themselves as SD Galway for the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

season. They adopted the maroon and white worn by Galway United and switched their home matches from Drom Soccer Park to Terryland Park.

Galway/Galway United WFC

In June 2013 the FAI announced Galway W.F.C. as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

for the upcoming 2013–14 Women's National League season and they also began to play at the now renamed Eamonn Deacy Park. Galway WFC played in the stadium until they withdrew from the Women’s National League in 2022 https://www.the42.ie/galway-wfc-5863437-Sep2022/. Following this Galway United announce the formation of their own women’s team to fill the spot left by Galway WFC. Galway United W.F.C. have played in the stadium ever since.

Other uses

In addition the stadium has also hosted various Republic of Ireland under-17, under-19 and under-21 internationals.

Cup finals

Eamonn Deacy Park has hosted finals of the League of Ireland First Division Shield, the

FAI Intermediate Cup The FAI Intermediate Cup (), also known as the FAI Umbro Intermediate Cup and the Pat O'Brien Intermediate Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for intermediate association football clubs from the ...

, the Connacht Junior Cup, the Michael Byrne Cup and the

Collingwood Cup The Collingwood Cup is an association football cup competition featuring university teams from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is organised by the Irish Universities Football Union, and is the oldest surviving all Ireland asso ...

. The stadium has also hosted two

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

finals. In 1996–97, it hosted the first leg of the final as

defeated

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

3–1, en route to a 4–2 aggregate win overall. More recently it hosted the 2015 final between Galway United and

. This time Galway United would lose out on penalties.

Renamed

In 2012, following the death of

, the

renamed Terryland Park in his honour. The renaming ceremony took place in August 2012 and featured a testimonial match between

and

legends teams. The stadium was formally renamed by

Michael Ring Michael Ring (born 24 December 1953) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo constituency from 1997 to 2024, and previously from 1994 to 1997 for the Mayo West constituency. He served as Minister ...

, the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport. Other special guests included three former

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

internationals –

Packie Bonner Patrick Joseph Bonner (born 24 May 1960) is an Irish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper and spent his entire senior career at Celtic. He earned 80 caps for the Republic of Ireland after making his debut on his 21st birthday. Commonly ...

, Paul McGrath and

Gareth Farrelly Gareth Farrelly (born 28 August 1975) is an Irish football manager and former professional footballer. He played as a midfielder notably in the Premier League for Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers and Everton. He also played in the Football League ...

Notes

References

{{Galway Buildings and structures in Galway (city) Association football venues in the Republic of Ireland Galway & District League Multi-purpose stadiums in the Republic of Ireland Sports venues in County Galway Galway United F.C. Galway W.F.C. Association football in Galway (city)