1980s: part one

The 1979-80 season was the first time in twenty years the League of Ireland had been won by Limerick. Under the leadership of Eoin Hand they fought a highly competitive campaign, being chased all the way by Dundalk and Athlone culminating in a terrific match in Athlone. It was the beginning of a successful three year period of qualifying for European football.A European Cup home match between Limerick and Real Madrid took place in Lansdowne Road on 17 September 1980. The decision was taken to play in Lansdowne rather then Limerick to avail of larger crowd capacity but financially it ended in disaster. It was a great game with difficulty in determining between the Limerick part-timers and the professional Spanish football team. Although Limerick lost they were the better team. It was unfortunate that Johnny Matthew’s goal was disallowed for offside and that Des Kennedy gave Limerick the deserved lead only for the referee to award a disputed penalty to the Spaniards. The final result was a win for Real Madrid 2-1. Two weeks later Limerick traveled to Spain to play in the Bernabeu Stadium in front of 60,000 fans. Real Madrid were comfortable 5-1 winners. The 1980-81 season saw Limerick finish ten points behind Athlone and runners-up in the league, which qualified them for the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Cup. The draw pitted them against Southampton.

The 1981 –82 season, still under the leadership of Eoin Hand, saw the return of Al Finucane from Waterford and the introduction of Tony Ward. Limerick had qualified for the UEFA Cup against Southampton but they were beaten 3-0 in the Markets Field. The return match at the Dell saw Limerick draw 1-1 with Southampton who had Kevin Keegan on their team. During this visit to Southampton, Tony Ward was offered a professional contract to play with Southampton, which he declined. Limerick finished the 1981-82 season by winning the FAI Cup when they defeated Bohemians in the final at Dalymount Park. This marked Kevin Fitzpatrick’s final game in goal. He had played twenty-two years for Limerick.

In the 1982-83 season the team’s next European campaign was against AZ67 of Holland, which saw Limerick go out 2-1 on aggregate and eighth place on the League of Ireland table

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