Treaty United Football Club
- City: Limerick, County Limerick / Luimneach, Contae Luimnigh
- Founded: 2020
- Ground: Markets Field (4,500)
- Nicknames: The Shannonsiders; Limerick Treaty
- Colours: Red and white vertical striped shirt with blue trim, blue shorts, and red socks.
- 2023 League: League of Ireland First Division
- Club Website: https://treatyunitedfc.com/
- Club Twitter: @TreatyUnitedFC
Records
- Best League Finish: 4th in the League of Ireland First Division (2021)
- Best FAI Cup Finish: Semi-Finals (2022)
Treaty United Football Club are a recently-created Irish team that currently plays in the League of Ireland First Division, the second tier in the Republic of Ireland’s football pyramid. They are based in the Munster city of Limerick / Luimneach, situated in the county of the same name, which is Ireland’s fourth most populous city with a population of approximately 95k. The city, which was originally founded by Vikings, is located in the southern midwestern region of Ireland and lies on the River Shannon / Abhainn na Sionainne, Ireland’s longest river. Treaty United currently plays its home games at the 4,500-capacity, 1,710-seated Markets Field / Páirc an Mhargaidh, which is found in the eastern suburb of Garryowen / Garraí Eoin and was the former home of the defunct Limerick FC.
The origins of Treaty United originate in the aforementioned Limerick FC, who were the city’s main senior team and had been crowned as Irish champions on two occasions and FAI Cup winners twice. Unfortunately for the Super Blues, the club suffered considerable financial problems towards the end of its history and was forced to liquidate by the end of 2019. Almost immediately, a new team was created to represent the city of Limerick, and this team became Treaty United. They were unable to call themselves ‘Limerick United‘ as the previous Limerick side had previously played under that name and still had legal rights to it, and thus the new entity used “Treaty” instead. This is because County Limerick is known as the Treaty County, after the 1691 Treaty of Limerick which brought the war against Jacobite and Williamite forces in Ireland to a conclusion.
The club had initially planned on applying to join the League of Ireland in 2020. Still, that application was delayed until the following year when the FAI granted Treaty United a licence to compete in the 2021 LoI First Division, replacing Shamrock Rovers II from the previous season. The new club adopted the red and white striped shirts that were worn by the Limerick teams of the 1930s, whilst adopting blue shorts in honour of the blue kits worn by previous Limerick clubs over the decades.
In their first season in Irish football, Treaty United performed superbly for a debut campaign when they finished in fourth position with 42 points from 27 games and qualified for the end-of-season promotion playoffs. Sadly, a dream promotion to the Premier Division was halted in the semi-final stage when they were defeated 2-4 on aggregate by the eventually promoted side UCD.
During the 2022 and Treaty’s second seasons, they accumulated 44 points from their 32-game schedule and finished in fifth position. Once again they qualified for the playoffs, but faltered at the first hurdle, this time to Waterford by losing 4-7 over two legs meaning they will continue to play in the second tier for the 2023 season. Nonetheless, the club performed exceptionally well in the 2022 FAI Cup by beating Usher Celtic, Maynooth University Town, and UCD to reach the semi-finals of the national cup competition. Their cup run was unfortunately ended in the final four by the eventual winners, Derry City, who beat the Shannonsiders by two goals to one at the Brandywell Stadium.
To answer questions on one of Irish football’s newest teams, but located within a city with a long football history, we interviewed the excellent The Talk is Treaty Podcast. They are a regular podcast hosted by fans of Treaty United who talk about all things that are going on at the Limerick-based club. You can find links to their podcast and social media accounts in the links below:
- Podcast: Spotify
- Twitter: @Treatypodcast
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingTreaty
Q. Firstly, how did you start following and supporting Treaty United?
Well, we were originally avid supporters of Limerick FC, and when that went south [following liquidation in 2019], Treaty United became the senior side in Limerick. It was a project we felt we could get behind because the right people were involved in doing things the right way.
Q. From your time following the club, who has been your favourite player, and the reasoning behind your choice?
For us, it has to be Enda Curran [30-year-old striker], the club’s top scorer [scoring 20 goals in all competitions in 2022]. He brought us on the journey to our most successful year last year.
Q. Of the current squad, who would you say is the best player at the club and why?
A tough one to call. Obviously, everyone loves a goalscorer and they are hard to come by so possibly Enda, but we also have Willie Armshaw [23-year-old left midfielder] who is very exciting and fantastic to watch.
Q. Who would you say is the most exciting up & coming talent at the club?
There’s a lot of talk behind the scenes about Fionn Doherty [18-year-old winger] who could have a bright future in the game.
Q. Who would you regard as Treaty United’s biggest or historical rivals?
Well, there’s always been a rivalry between the cities of Limerick and Cork so you’d have to say that Cork City would be up there. Galway United would be another one too.
Q. What would you say has been the best game, result, or performance in your opinion whilst following the club?
There are a few to pick from in our short time in the league. You can look at UCD away in our first year in the playoffs [where Treaty won 2-1] where we would most certainly have won the tie only for an awful refereeing decision. But the one match that stands out is against UCD again, this time in the FAI Cup quarter-final from last year when Enda Curran fired home a hat-trick to send us to a 4-1 victory and set us up to face Derry City in the semi-finals at the Brandywell in our biggest-ever game.
Q. What do you think of the situation in Irish league football currently? Are there any improvements you would like to see happen?
The grounds all across the leagues need massive improvement but that’s easier said than done. However, it’s difficult to attract new fans to the leagues when so many of the faculties are of poor quality.
Q. How would you describe the current performance or state of the club? How do you think this past season has gone?
The club has exceeded all expectations on the pitch during its first two seasons in football. There are still some improvements that are still needed off the field but it was always going to be a slow progression. So far (at the time of writing) two games into this season, we’ve shown some good signs but unfortunately have earned no points yet.
[IMAGE: Wikipedia]
Q. Finally, what are the best and worst things about being a fan of the club?
The worst thing is being such a new club and basically starting everything from scratch with little to no investment. Attempting to build up a fan base of 1000+ and then trying to compete on the pitch while building up our facilities.
The best thing is knowing that the players are purely playing for the love of the game and not just for money because all we can afford to give them is their expenses. You know you’re guaranteed to get a performance out of the players.
A massive thank you to The Talk is Treaty Podcast for answering our questions on the League of Ireland First Division side Treaty United. Remember you can find their excellent podcast and social media accounts in the links towards the top of the blogpage.
If you have any comments, suggestions, reactions, or even your own answers to the above questions, please write them in the comments box below. Likewise, you can either email us at the94thmin@gmail.com or send a message at @The94thMin on Twitter.
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