City club hopes soccer will return to historic stadium

A PUBLIC tendering process for the sale of Limerick’s historic Market’s Field stadium has begun in advance of the sport moving to its new €20 million headquarters in October.

Although the Irish Greyhound Board states that no formal offer has been made, Limerick FC is hoping that soccer could return to the venue on a permanent basis.

Pat O’Sullivan, who heads Limerick FC, said the club was hopeful of doing a deal. Talks, it emerged, have been continuing with the board. He said: “Limerick needs a home for soccer.”

Mr O’Sullivan said a bid was with the greyhound board and it was still valid.

“Let’s see what happens, maybe they won’t get any better offers. But certainly from what I understand, nobody made any better offer at the time, so we can only see what happens now.”

The new greyhound stadium has been built on the site of the old horse racing track at Greenpark, off the Dock Road.

Chief executive of the Irish Greyhound Board, Adrian Neilan, said the move would be hugely beneficial to greyhound racing.

“Now that we are about to commence a new era for greyhound racing in the city, it is the right time to formalise the sale process and move it forward.”

The stadium will boast a capacity of 2,900 along with a 190-seat restaurant and four bars, and will create over 100 jobs when it opens. About 250 people have been employed during construction.

Head of marketing at the greyhound board, Orla Strumble described the move as a huge economic drive for the region.

“We have a great greyhound audience here and it is the home of the board’s head office, but we had no facilities – so the people of the mid-west have been waiting a long time for this.

“The stadium will be the most up-to-date of its kind in Europe and, with Limerick named as a European City of Sport next year, it will accredit the city with a variety of sports beyond that of rugby.”

The Market’s Field site was first used for sport by the Irish Cycling Association in 1886.

In 1905, it played host to Munster against the All Blacks in rugby and it was also home to Garryowen Rugby Club for many years as well as Limerick FC. It also hosted county hurling finals and other sporting events.