History
20th century
In 1966, a group of Leaving Certificate students made the most of having a free class at the local Christian Brothers school, CBS Kilkenny. The group, including future manager Jim Rhatigan, debated the pros and cons, devised a plan and, finally, resolved to start a football club. The club was originally known as Emfa, an amalgam of Emmett Street (Em) and Fatima Place (fa) where Jim Rhatigan, Gerry Moran (who was credited with the amalgam) and the other founders grew up. [4] Rhatigan was appointed as the club's secretary, a position he held for 50 years, and since then he has become closely associated with football in Kilkenny. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Initially, EMFA competed in the U18 Kilkenny and District Youth League under the management of Donie Butler. Donie Butler served as Commercial Manager of the FAI during the Jack Charlton years. The club was unable to afford a new set of jerseys and so agreed to play in an all white strip. The logic being that all the players had at least one white T-shirt or shirt they could wear. The club's colours changed to claret and blue before changing again to black and amber, coinciding with the renaming of the club.
In the 1971–72 season, the group progressed to playing junior football in the second division of the reformed Kilkenny & District League (K&DL). Emfa won promotion from Division Two of the Kilkenny & District League to Division One in 1972. [8] Jim Rhatigan became their manager, and the club remained in junior football until 1984. During this period, the club purchased 5.7 acres (2.3 ha) of land from a local farmer by the name of Mick Murphy, owner of the adjacent Tennypark House, for £16,000 punts. They had previously played their home games at the Freshford Road grounds, St. James Park. The ground was originally called Tennypark and was later named Buckley Park in honour of Marty Buckley. A bid of one million was made for the club's grounds in the late eighties but was rejected in favour of football.
In 1984, the club won the Junior League and cup, remaining undefeated throughout the entire season. It was decided that he club should apply for admission to the then League of Ireland (now the Airtricity League).
League of Ireland
In 1985, Emfa were elected to the League of Ireland. Their first League of Ireland game was played on 20 October 1985 at home to Derry City and ended in a 1–1 draw. [9] [10] In their maiden season, the club finished in tenth place, bottom of the First Division.
Emfa's first trophy at national level came in 1987, winning the League of Ireland First Division Shield by defeating Finn Harps 4–2 in Oriel Park. [12] [13]
In an attempt to enhance their appeal to a larger audience, the club changed its name to Kilkenny City in 1989. Along with the alteration of the name, the longstanding club colours of claret and blue were traded for the more traditional Kilkenny colours of black and amber. [8] The name change coincided with improved performances on the pitch and Kilkenny City finished fourth in the league, two points off the promotion places. The following season, under manager Joe McGrath, they reached the 1990–91 FAI Cup semi-final, before suffering defeat to Shamrock Rovers.
Former Republic of Ireland international Alfie Hale was appointed manager in 1995 and the following season Kilkenny City won the 1996–97 First Division title with 11 points to spare over their nearest rivals, Drogheda United. The victory brought promotion and Kilkenny City began the 1997–98 season as a Premier Division club for the first time. [8] Their stay was short, however, as they finished in eleventh place the following season and were relegated back to the First Division.
In the 1999–2000 season, Kilkenny City finished third and beat Waterford United in a promotion-relegation playoff, securing their return to the Premier Division. However, the club were once again unable to extend their stay in the top flight beyond a single season. They finished bottom of the league, managing only a single league victory throughout 2000–01. General manager Jim Rhatigan wrote "Mud, Sweat and Jeers," a semi-autobiographical account of the club's founding.
21st century
The club celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2006. The anniversary was celebrated with a memorial mass at Father Fiachra's Church presided over by Father Willie Purcell and complete with a gospel choir. Dave Bassett, former Wimbledon manager was the guest of honour with former Northern Ireland international, Gerry Taggart also attending the club's anniversary banquet at the Lyrath Estate Hotel.
2005 was notable for Kilkenny City by the arrival of Pat Scully. [14] It was a season of two halves for the Black Cats. Their record before June read – played 15, won 1, drew 4 and lost 10. They sat on the bottom of the table with just 7 points out of a possible 45. The squad was bolstered in key areas with a handful of summer transfers, including David Cassidy from Derby County. The new signings turned things around and immediately went on a run of six victories in a row culminating with the 5–0 destruction of Dundalk at Dundalk's home patch. Their record post-June finally read – played 21, won 14, drew 4 and lost only 3. [15] Scully and his signings had quite miraculously taken Kilkenny from bottom of the table about halfway through the season to fourth by the end of the season.
Scully's success attracted the attention of Shamrock Rovers. The lure of the big club was too much to turn down and Kilkenny had lost their manager by the beginning of the next season. [16] Scully took the cream of the talent with him to Rovers including David Cassidy, Tadhg Purcell and Aidan Price. [17] [18]
Scully's successor, Adrian Fitzpatrick, was sacked in October 2006. Gary Coad took over as caretaker manager until the end of the 2006 season.
The club appointed Brendan Rea as their new manager in preparation for the 2007 season until July when he resigned. Tommy Gaynor then took over as manager. Subsequently, Tommy Gaynor parted company with the club leaving Under 21 Manager Noel Byrne as the last ever caretaker/ manager. On 10 November 2007, Kilkenny City played their last League of Ireland game, losing 3–1 at home to Finn Harps.
In January 2008 Kilkenny City resigned from the League of Ireland. [3]
In 2011, the "Bring Back Kilkenny City AFC Foundation" was formed. Launched by a group of die-hard Kilkenny City fans, they faced immediate competition from Carlow's proposed move to Buckley Park for the 2012 season. There is also a campaign to save Buckley Park as a sporting venue [19]
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