Treaty United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

. The club was founded in 2020 following the demise of Limerick F.C. and began playing in the

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 ...

Women's Premier Division in 2020 followed by the addition of a senior men's team to the First Division in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. They play their home matches at

Markets Field The Markets Field is a UEFA category two stadium in Garryowen, Limerick, Ireland with a capacity of around 3,500. Formerly the home of Limerick FC, it is currently the home ground of Treaty United. The ground has hosted underage internatio ...

, the same ground as their predecessors.

History

Name

The name of the club stems from Limerick's nickname as "The Treaty County", itself a reference to the Treaty of Limerick of 1691, the document which brought an end to the

Williamite War in Ireland The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought between Jacobitism, Jacobite supporters of James II of England, James II and those of his successor, William III of England, William III, it resulted in a Williamit ...

Formation of the club

Following the liquidation of Limerick F.C. in 2019, the idea of a new team in Limerick arose. At first, it was to be called Limerick United but was forced to be changed due to threat of legal action from Limerick FC, because they had previously had that name. The name Treaty United was chosen as Limerick is known as the Treaty County, after the 1691 Treaty of Limerick. Treaty United was confirmed as the name, and the women's team Treaty United W.F.C. was ready to enter the 2020 Women's National League season and the men's the 2020 League of Ireland First Division, but the men's team withdrew their licensing application for the 2020 season. The club went through the licensing procedures the following year however and on 20 February 2021 it was announced by the

Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...

that the club had been granted a licence and would take part in the 2021 League of Ireland First Division, taking the place of Shamrock Rovers II from the previous season. Thus, the club is a continuation of senior football in Limerick, a story which began in 1937. In 2024, The club announced that it would switch primary kit colours from red and white stripes, which was an ode to the colours of the first senior football team in the county to blue and white, a colour that has been associated with football in the county since August 1943. The very presence of Treaty in the Markets Field is significant, as this is widely viewed as the historical, spiritual home of Limerick football.

First season

The club announced their 26-man first team squad and backroom staff for their first season in football under manager Tommy Barrett on 27 February 2021. They also announced that the number 4 shirt would be retired as a mark of respect to former Limerick United captain Joe O'Mahony. The club's first senior men's fixture was a 1–1 draw with

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

in a pre-season friendly on 2 March 2021, with

local Joel Coustrain getting the honour of scoring the senior men's team's first goal. The senior men's first ever competitive fixture was on the 28 March 2021 as Treaty, captained by Jack Lynch, traveled to the

Carlisle Grounds The Carlisle Grounds is a football stadium in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided ...

and drew 0–0 with

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

to earn their first ever

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 ...

point despite finishing the match with 10 men. The club's first home game was v Wexford FC on 2nd April 2021 at Markets Field, and resulted in a 1-0 victory courtesy of Anto O'Donnell's 25th minute effort - the first League of Ireland goal scored by the club. Unusually, this game also saw them finish with ten men for the last 30 minutes. The club exceeded expectations and finished in fourth place in their first season in the League of Ireland First Division, and were beaten 3-2 on aggregate v UCD in the playoffs.

Stadium

In March 2011 it was announced that the Markets Field had been purchased by the Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership (LEDP) with a charitable donation from the JP McManus Charitable Foundation, with a view towards the former Limerick FC returning to the venue sometime during 2012. The stadium reopened in 2015. It is widely regarded as the spiritual home of Limerick football, with it hosting large soccer ties between former Limerick teams and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in 1962, along with a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

tie against

Southampton FC Southampton Football Club is a professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, befor ...

in 1981 and a

Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

tie against

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

in 1982. It was agreed that Treaty would be able to play in the Garryowen venue. This continues a tradition of Limerick football being played in the stadium since the 1930s.

Players

First-team squad

Retired numbers

4 – Joe O'Mahony

Technical staff

References

{{League of Ireland First Division Association football clubs established in 2020 Association football clubs in County Limerick 2020 establishments in Ireland League of Ireland First Division clubs