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. It is owned by the Galway Football Association and is the home ground of both

Galway United Galway United Football Club (Irish language, Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Fi ...

and

Galway W.F.C. Galway United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe) is an Irish association football club based in Galway. It is the women's section of the League of Ireland club Galway United. Since 2013–14 the club played in the Women's N ...

It is named after

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

, a former Galway United and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

player and Republic of Ireland international. In both

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and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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

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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 Fairvi ...

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 pl ...

and a team referred to as the Galway Macks. Athlone Town won 8–2 and went on to win the cup. In 1950 the Galway Football Association purchased the grounds for £250 from

's grandfather. Different sources name

's grandfather as either Martin Joseph Morris or Dean Flynn When

Galway Rovers Galway United Football Club ( Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland First Division. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the 1930s. They ...

made their League of Ireland 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 ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

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 ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...

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

, the stadium also serves as the headquarters of both the Galway Football Association 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 six divisions. Its top division, the Premier Division, i ...

. It regularly hosts an average of one hundred games per year. It has also served as a home for both

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 ...

and

Salthill Devon Salthill Devon Football Club is an Irish association football club originally based in Salthill, Galway. Their senior team currently plays in the Galway & District League. They have previously played in the Connacht Senior League, the A Champi ...

. During the

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and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

seasons when they were playing in the League of Ireland First Division, Mervue played at Terryland Park as their regular ground, Fahy's Field, did not meet League of Ireland standards. Following the withdrawal of Galway United from the League of Ireland after the

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

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season. They adopted the maroon and white worn by Galway United and switched their home matches from Drom Soccer Park to Terryland Park. In June 2013 the FAI announced

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. 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 League of Ireland First Division Shield was an association football competition featuring teams from the League of Ireland First Division. The inaugural winners were Derry City. It was also the first competition Derry City won after they joi ...

, the FAI Intermediate Cup, the Connacht Junior Cup, the

Michael Byrne Cup The Michael Byrne Cup is an association football cup competition featuring teams from the Galway & District League. It is now the main league cup competition for this league. However when it was originally inaugurated in 1976–77, it was a pla ...

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 associ ...

. The stadium has also hosted two League of Ireland Cup finals. In 1996–97, it hosted the first leg of the final as

defeated Cork City 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 Galway Football Association 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, the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport. Other special guests included three former Republic of Ireland internationals – Packie Bonner, Paul McGrath and Gareth Farrelly.

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)