Kennedy Park is a local park in Cork,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, named after US president

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

who visited the area in June 1963. The 7.5 acre park is situated between Victoria Road and Monahan Road.

Sports

The park is associated with a number of sporting clubs. During the club's infancy, the park was the homestead of

Nemo Rangers GAA Nemo Rangers Hurling & Football Club is a Cork-based Gaelic Athletic Association club on the southside of Cork city, Ireland. The club was founded in 1922 and is involved in Gaelic football, hurling, Ladies football and Camogie. History Nemo ...

club. More recently it has been used as the training base for the

Cork Admirals The Cork Admirals are an American Football team that play in the Irish American Football League (IAFL). The team is based in Presentation Brothers College Sports Ground, Cork. The team was formed in 2001, playing along with 4 other teams that ye ...

American Football team. The park is also used for training by several amateur soccer sides, as well as

tag rugby Tag-rugby belt Tag rugby, or flag rugby, is a non-contact team game in which each player wears a belt that has two velcro tags attached to it, or shorts with velcro patches. The mode of play is based on rugby league with many similarities to to ...

teams.

Development

In the mid-2000s, at the height of the

Celtic Tiger The "Celtic Tiger" ( ga, An Tíogar Ceilteach) is a term referring to the economy of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. The boom was dampened by a subseque ...

, the future of the park was cast in doubt after plans were unveiled to reduce the size of the park to allow for a new road to be constructed in conjunction with the Cork Docklands Development. This resulted in a petition by local residents and by the sporting clubs that used the park. The Cork Docklands developments, however, were ultimately halted due to economic constraints and the planned changes were not implemented. In 2012, as marked by a contemporary plaque, a number of improvements and developments to the park were unveiled - including a new walkway and planting. Funding was reportedly confirmed for additional improvements during 2018.

References

{{Cork City Parks in Cork (city)