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 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, 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

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and

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, 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 game between Athlone Town 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 Eamonn Deacy's grandfather. Different sources name Eamonn Deacy'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.

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

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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, the stadium also serves as the headquarters of both the Galway Football Association and Galway & District League. It regularly hosts an average of one hundred games per year.

Mervue United

Terryland has also served as a home for Mervue United. During the

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and

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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

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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.

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 Connacht Junior Cup, the Michael Byrne Cup and the Collingwood Cup. 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 Galway United defeated

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3–1, en route to a 4–2 aggregate win overall. More recently it hosted the 2015 final between Galway United and St Patrick's Athletic. This time Galway United would lose out on penalties.

Renamed

In 2012, following the death of Eamonn Deacy, the Galway Football Association renamed Terryland Park in his honour. The renaming ceremony took place in August 2012 and featured a testimonial match between Galway United 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 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)