Kilkenny: Ninth Life — Terrace Edition

Words: Éanna Mackey

Images: Éanna Mackey

In Kilkenny, black and amber means one thing: a hurley and sliotar. This county breathes hurling.

A Gaelic football is a curiosity; a soccer ball is is rarer still.

Yet on the edge of the Marble City stands a ground that once carried a different dream and now waits, quietly, for another chance.

Buckley Park sits in suspension. No roar, no whistle, no Friday night crowd. Only tall grass bends in the wind, brushing against empty stands and rusted gutters.

The silence is thick, but the place is far from forgotten. Its story is stitched into League of Ireland folklore.

©Éanna Mackey/ Terrace Edition. Buckley Park.

From 1988 until 2008 it was home to Kilkenny City, the county’s standard-bearer in Irish soccer.

The club’s roots stretch back further, to 1966, when EMFA FC was formed from an amalgamation of Emmet Street and Fatima Place. The founders wanted a side that could represent the city beyond its hurling stronghold.

They carried the EMFA name until 1989. By then, they had already made history.

Admitted to the League of Ireland in 1984 after relocating to what would become Buckley Park a decade earlier, their first league fixture paired them with Derry City, both clubs stepping onto the national stage for the first time together.

In 1989, the transformation became official. EMFA rebranded as Kilkenny City and swapped their claret and blue for the county’s iconic black and amber, tying the soccer club’s identity to Kilkenny’s sporting soul.

For a time, the experiment worked. Buckley Park became a gathering point for those who believed the city could hold space for more than one code.

But belief has limits when money runs dry. In January 2008, Kilkenny City withdrew from the League of Ireland, citing a lack of finance, poor results and paltry attendances.

The words were clinical; the effect was final. Senior soccer in Kilkenny collapsed overnight.

There were flickers of revival. Rumours surfaced during FC Carlow’s brief League of Ireland existence that Buckley Park might live again, but that project dissolved within three years. The stadium slipped back into dormancy.

Today, drivers on the Clonmel road pass it without a second glance. At speed, it resembles an abandoned farm more than a sporting arena.

Gutters clog with weeds. Yellow grass climbs toward the terraces. Nature has been patient, reclaiming inches at a time.

And yet, in recent weeks, something has shifted.

The creation of the League of Ireland’s new third tier has stirred optimism in places long written off. Twenty clubs will join the expanded pyramid in 2026, among them CK United, a cross-county project representing Carlow and Kilkenny.

Suddenly, Buckley Park is being spoken about in the present tense again. Kilkenny Live recently reported that Buckly Park could host CK United matches as early as August.

If plans hold, the old ground may soon trade silence for noise once more: the thud of footballs, the metallic snap of turnstiles, the low hum of expectation.

After years suspended between memory and decay, Buckley Park could be preparing for its ninth life.