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 Limerick Football Club was an association football club based in Limerick, Ireland who played in the League of Ireland and currently have teams competing in the underage National League of Ireland. The first Limerick Football Club was founded ...

, it is currently the home ground of Treaty United. The ground has hosted underage international fixtures in 2015 and 2021, as well as the 2016 League of Ireland Cup final between Limerick and St Patrick's Athletic.

History

The site was originally a

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

ground, having been used as a venue for Munster championship games in both

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

, with most of the All-Ireland semi-finals between

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

and

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

teams taking place there in the 1900s. It was also the home of Garryowen from 1886 until 1957, when the club moved to new facilities in

Dooradoyle Dooradoyle ( Irish: ''Tuar an Daill'') is a large suburb of Limerick, Ireland. It is one of Limerick's newer suburbs, and is home to the campus of University Hospital Limerick and the Crescent Shopping Centre. Etymology The name Dooradoyle ...

. Until 2010, the stadium hosted

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

, when

Limerick Greyhound Stadium Limerick Greyhound Stadium is a greyhound racing track located in the Dock Road (south-west) area of Limerick, Ireland. The stadium has a grandstand restaurant, hospitality suites, fast food facilities and a number of bars. Racing takes place o ...

opened in the south-west of the city. In 1962 Limerick F.C. played

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 a friendly at Markets Field with Liverpool winning 5–3. It has hosted two of Limerick's six European ties; firstly in 1981, 3–0 loss to

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 ...

of England in the

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 ...

, then a 1–1 draw in the 1982-83 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup against Dutch side

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. ...

. Limerick F.C. were the principal tenant until their demise in 2019, when the ground was purchased by Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership with funds provided by the JP McManus charitable foundation. During late 2013, LEDP redeveloped the pitch, investing €400,000 in a brand new playing surface. In early 2014, the Irish government announced additional funding for the redevelopment after planning permission was granted. The stadium hosted its first match in the refurbished ground on 5 June 2015, a

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

match between

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 ...

and

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club is a professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches at Sullivan & Lambe Park. The current club is the ...

Layout

The refurbished Main Stand holds 1,350 spectators for the home supporters and contains a corporate box. The new tunnel and dressing rooms are under the Main Stand and there are three turnstiles named after Limerick football legends. Away supporters are housed in a new stand with 300 seats behind the Geraldine Villas goal. The Popular side and the Cathedral End are both banked standing areas, with the former behind the dugouts and the latter housing the scoreboard. In 2016 the playing surface won the FAI Pitch of the Year Award.

Greyhound racing

The Limerick Greyhound Company was formed in 1933 but it was not until 1937 when racing began. The first directors were T.F.Ryan and J.P. Frost. The 465-yard circuit came to prominence in 1939 when it was selected by the Irish Coursing Club to hold the

Irish Greyhound Derby The Irish Greyhound Derby held at Shelbourne Park, is the premier Greyhound racing in Ireland, greyhound racing competition in Ireland. First held at Harold's Cross Stadium, Harold's Cross in 1928, the event was unofficial until 1932 and called ...

for first and only time. The event was won by Marchin' Thro' Georgia who won the final in a new track record time of 30.05. The track hosted the classic race the

Irish St Leger The Irish St Leger is a Conditions races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at the Curragh Racecourse, Curragh ...

in 1940 before it moved permanently to Limerick in 1944. The track also staged the

Irish Oaks The Irish Oaks is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs (2,414 metres), and it ...

in 1942. The allocation of the 1943

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...

did not help because due to the lack of hurdlers during the war Mr Ryan the chairman of Limerick Stadium was left with no choice but to cancel the event. Other events that took place at Limerick were the Bulger Cup and Kennedy Memorial Cup and

J. P. McManus John Patrick McManus (born 10 March 1951) is an Irish businessman and racehorse owner. He was a major shareholder of Manchester United until his stake was bought out by Malcolm Glazer in 2005. Early life McManus was born in Limerick, Ireland, ...

started as a

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

at the track and earned the nickname 'Sundance Kid'. In 1958 the Irish Greyhound Board was given the responsibility of all tracks in Ireland with the exception of the

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

tracks, that would remain under the jurisdiction of the

Irish Coursing Club The Irish Coursing Club (ICC) is the national association for hare coursing in Ireland. Founded in 1916, it consists of 89 affiliated clubs on the Island of Ireland and acts as the official authority for the Irish variety of the sport. It sol ...

. They installed a new totalisator system in 1960 as improvements became commonplace under the new ownership, including a new stand costing over £60,000. Brendan O’Connell was Racing Manager for over thirty years from 1966. The track closed in 2009 with the entire operation moving to the newly built

at Greenpark. Racing Manager Gus Ryan retired after 42 years in racing.

Track records

References

{{Greyhound stadiums in Ireland Gaelic games grounds in the Republic of Ireland Limerick GAA Limerick F.C. Sports venues in County Limerick Sports venues in Limerick (city) Greyhound racing venues in the Republic of Ireland Defunct greyhound racing venues in Ireland Association football venues in the Republic of Ireland Treaty United W.F.C. Treaty United F.C. Sports venues completed in the 1880s 1880s establishments in Ireland