Foundation and early years Limerick got its first taste of senior soccer in the early 1930s when the Limerick District Management Committee (LDMC) arranged a number of friendly matches between senior clubs such as
Waterford F.C. and Bray and a local junior selection. The success of these fixtures prompted the LDMC to form a senior side and attempt to gain entry to the
Free State League. Their application was accepted in June 1937 and a Limerick senior team replaced
Dolphin who had withdrawn from the league. On 19 July 1937, a new, private company, Limerick Association Football and Sports Co. Ltd, was registered. On 22 August 1937, Limerick played its first match. It was against
Shamrock Rovers in the
Dublin City Cup, a prominent competition that ran from the 1930s to the 1970s, and won 1–0. They ended the 1937–38 season in 10th place out of 12 teams, but managed to capture their first trophy when they beat
Cork United 1–0 in the replayed final of the
Munster Senior Cup at the Markets Field. They added to this when they captured the Dublin City Cup in 1958–59, beating
Drumcondra in the final. Although they lost their last match 3–2 to
St. Patrick's Athletic on Sunday, 17 April 1960, they still managed to win the league by two points, ahead of
Cork Celtic. Unlike other years, when the majority of the sides were local, this team had a nucleus of Dublin-based players who supplied six to the panel, with five from Limerick, two from Cork and the remainder from junior circles.
Limerick City (1983 to 1989) Pat Grace, owner of the
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) franchise in Ireland and the main League of Ireland sponsor, joined Limerick United in April 1981 and was appointed chairman. Grace claimed to have been invited to join by the Markets Field club in order to help them address financial issues, with a majority shareholding promised in return, but this did not transpire and affairs at the club began to deteriorate after the FAI Cup win in 1982. Grace set up a separate club named Limerick City in early 1983 then, in April, resigned as a director from Limerick United and began to recruit Limerick United's players. The game was declared void by the league's committee and was replayed later in the season. On 9 October, the Limerick City players
picketed the Markets Field for the home game against
Waterford and succeeded in preventing the match from being played. Grace changed the name of the club to Limerick City and also changed the colours from blue and white to yellow and green. In their first season as Limerick City, the club won the revived
League of Ireland Shield for the first time since 1953 and beat
Cobh Ramblers to win the Munster Senior Cup. The
1985–86 season saw the League of Ireland divided into two divisions for the first time – the top tier Premier Division and the second tier First Division, with Limerick City competing in the Premier Division.
Billy Hamilton was brought in as player manager in 1987. Hamilton had enjoyed considerable success as a player at
Burnley and
Oxford United and played in two World Cup finals with
Northern Ireland. He stayed at Limerick for two seasons, guiding the club to a third-place finish in the League in his second season in charge. However, the only trophy won during that period was the Munster Senior Cup in 1988. He resigned in September 1989 and Pat Grace followed soon after. The club changed its name back to Limerick FC, the colours back to blue and white and Fr Joe Young became the new chairman.
1990 to 2005 Limerick were relegated for the first time in 1990–91, a season which also saw them lose the League Cup final to
Derry City.
Sam Allardyce was appointed as player manager for the 1991–92 season and immediately brought the club back to the top flight. Allardyce only remained for one season, scoring three times in 23 appearances, before departing to take up a coaching role at
Preston North End.
Limerick 37 The necessity for a new League of Ireland franchise in Limerick first became apparent in December 2006, when the FAI Club Licensing Appeal Board rejected Limerick FC's appeal against its prior failure to attain the UEFA licence necessary for admission to the League of Ireland's First Division for the 2007 season. The FAI's decision effectively disenfranchised the incumbent Limerick FC and its chairman Danny Drew, although the organisation remained receptive to the continued participation of Limerick within senior football. To this end, FAI chief executive
John Delaney openly solicited approaches from other interested parties within the city of Limerick even as he announced the rejection of Limerick FC's appeal: "We want a healthy Limerick based club in the new Eircom League of Ireland and if interested entities seek a licence, we would assess them carefully for their suitability to meet the criteria required to play in the league." On 3 January 2007, the FAI confirmed that its appeal for Limerick-based applicants to the league had garnered interest from a number of parties, one of which identified itself as Soccer Limerick, a consortium purporting to represent the entire spectrum of Limerick football, from schoolboy to Junior (amateur) level, and operating under the auspices of the Limerick Sports Partnership. Eight days later, Soccer Limerick confirmed that its constituent committees had approved the submission of a formal application for a UEFA club licence, with a view to gaining entry to the First Division of the National League for the 2007 season, with a team called Limerick 37, named after the year that the original club was founded. Soccer Limerick spokesman Ger Finnan confirmed that Limerick 37 planned to stage home fixtures at Jackman Park, headquarters of the LDMC, and would announce the appointment of a first-team manager on Monday 15 January 2007. On 31 January, Limerick F.C. were reported to have lost their appeal to the High Court and the injunction against Limerick 37 was lifted.
Paul McGee was subsequently appointed manager of Limerick 37, and signed 11 players before the start of the season. With McGee's results and style of play not going down well with the home fans, the club opted to replace him with former player and manager Mike Kerley, who brought about mid-table respectability, as well as an end of season run which saw Limerick end Waterford's promotion hopes with a 5–1 win in Limerick, a 1–0 away defeat of eventual division winners Dundalk and a 1–1 draw away to Shelbourne, with Colin Scanlan's late equaliser denying Shelbourne the title and promotion in the 2008 season. However, just weeks before the start of the 2009 season, Kerley and the club unexpectedly parted ways, and following a brief and unsuccessful stop-gap solution of a three-man management team, Limerick moved to appoint
Pat Scully.
Limerick F.C. The name of the club was changed back to Limerick F.C. for the start of the 2009 season. By mid-2009, the club was in serious financial difficulty. A Limerick businessman, Pat O'Sullivan, made a significant donation to the club that July. He joined the board as chairman in August 2009 and became the owner in February 2010. Among his stated objectives were to stabilise the finances of the club and to build strong community links such as community based club programmes and youth development programmes. Under manager Pat Scully, Limerick finally ended their long stay in the First Division, winning the title and promotion to the Premier Division at the end of the 2012 season. Despite the achievement, Scully was sacked at the end of the season and
Stuart Taylor was brought in as manager. With a number of signings from both the UK and Europe, Limerick enjoyed a comfortable first season back in the Premier Division. The following season, however, Taylor was fired due to the club's poor form, and Martin Russell was appointed as his replacement. Russell steadied the ship and the club avoided relegation in 2014. However, in 2015, the club were relegated. A terrible start to the season saw Limerick stranded at the bottom after failing to win any of the first 21 games, and despite an incredible run of form which saw Limerick avoid automatic relegation, they were demoted after losing 2–1 on aggregate to Finn Harps in a playoff. The following season, with a squad of full-time professionals in a division of part-time teams, was little more than a procession for Limerick as they cruised to the 2016 First Division title. They won their first 12 games to open up a huge points lead and only lost one match all season, winning the division with 6 games to spare. They also beat two Premier Division teams along the way to a place in the final of the League Cup, but lost 4–1 to St Patrick's Athletic. After a poor start to the 2017 Premier Division, Martin Russell left his position and was temporarily replaced by Willie Boland, who had been manager of the underage teams. Limerick secured a permanent replacement with the appointment of Neil McDonald and the club finished the season in 7th place as well as advancing to the FAI Cup semi-final for the first time in many years. McDonald left the club in January 2018 to take up a position at Scunthorpe United and was replaced by Tommy Barrett, while Pat O'Sullivan announced his intention to sell his stake in the club. In September 2019, the club entered
examinership and were eventually deducted 26 points, leaving them bottom of the First Division after finishing the league season in sixth place.
Treaty United In December 2019, Limerick FC were on the verge of extinction after the examinership process to try to keep their trading company afloat ended unsuccessfully. The club had debts of approximately €490,000 and did not receive a League of Ireland licence for the 2020 season. A new entity, named Limerick United, were granted a League of Ireland First Division license in January 2020. However, they were forced to change the name to Treaty United before the season started. In February 2020, Treaty United withdrew applications to join the League of Ireland underage structures for the 2020 season. Treaty entered the league for the first time ahead of the
2021 League of Ireland First Division season. ==Stadiums==