‘It doesn’t feel real’ - CK United launch club with FAI debut just days away

CK United men’s senior side will take the field in the new National League next weekend

Published 20th Aug 2026, 19:30 BST CK United’s club launch CK United men’s senior side will take the field in the new National League next weekend Sign up to our Kilkenny Live Sport newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Kilkenny Live within your account.

After a 17-year hiatus, men’s senior FAI competition is just days away from returning to Carlow and Kilkenny and this anticipation was sharply felt at CK United’s official club launch at SETU Carlow on Tuesday evening.

Club members, politicians and FAI officials gathered to get a look at the newly released jerseys, hear from the men and women’s team managers and get a sense of the long-term vision for senior football in the region; which very much still includes the return of Buckley Park.

United’s men’s side are set to debut in the new FAI National League, the third tier of the Irish pyramid on August 29 against Newbridge Town and speaking to The Kilkenny People, the association’s President Paul Cooke described the part that the league has to play in the sport ’s regional development.

“Back a number of years ago we launched a football pathways plan and a key part of this was tier 3,” he said. “To have another pathway into the league and develop local players. The second part is to have football back in Carlow/Kilkenny.”

“From a football point of view, it’s great to see Buckley Park coming back into use and hopefully sooner rather than later,” he added.

Kilkenny Friedreich ataxia campaigners continue fight after HSE Drugs Group disappointment It had been hoped that the spiritual home of Kilkenny soccer would be ready to host games in time for the season’s kickoff, but after years of lying idle and the hot dry summer weather, re-seeding the grass to the standard required for competition hasn’t been possible.

Home games will take place at SETU Carlow for the shortened inaugural season of the National League but the Kilkenny stadium is planned for use in the next campaign with numerous mock-up images of how the resurrected arena will look displayed during the presentations.

In a Q&A discussion with men’s manager Tom O’Connor and women’s manager Leann Delaney, the pair reflected on what drew them to the CK United project and how far the club’s ambitions and standards have grown in a short time.

“It appealed to me because building a senior team is difficult but having the academy there and having players that are playing in the academy getting to look across the field and say, ‘I want to be like her’ or ‘I want to be like him' is fantastic,” O’Connor said.

“That gave me a sense of pride, regardless of how long I’m here, when I look back I’ll be able to say ‘I had a bit of an impact on that’.”

United’s women's side have already started their first season in the Women’s Development League and Delaney spoke about the tough start to life at the club while also looking back at both the personal and sporting growth she’s witnessed.

“It was a new club, it was up and coming. When I came in first I didn’t know what to expect but after three or four weeks I had fallen in love with the place and I couldn’t have chosen better,” she recalled.

“Honestly, when I came in a few years ago we had a very tough transfer window, things weren’t going our way so people were hopping clubs. It was very difficult, I had a lot of sleepless nights at that time but now people want to come here and they want to stay here.”

“I’m a very family-oriented person and they’re the very same. I think the biggest thing for me and the most rewarding thing is as a club, the principle is that you create better people through football. That’s what we’ve done and that’s what we’ll always try to do,” Delaney concluded.

United's men's side has been assembled from scratch within the last couple of months with 22 players recruited from outside clubs and the academy so far.

Mayo FC are the only other club in the National League to be fielding an entirely new squad and though gelling a group together (many of whom were recently playing against each other in Carlow and Kilkenny leagues) certainly brings it challenges, O’Connor is confident his squad can live up to expectations once the season begins.

“The lads have been great, they’ve got in on the dressing room banter starting from day one,” he described. “You wouldn’t ever think that they were competing against each other for league titles or for cups.”

“There’s good camaraderie and I think that’s because they just wanted this. They wanted someone to be able to represent the region and it’s shown. So we hope we can do it on the pitch.”

After the managers and players were released to begin their respective training, attention turned to the important matter of the kit unveiling.

Developed by Irish sportswear brand DSsports, fans can look forward to decking themselves out in a wide range of sleek jerseys for the coming season.

A black home kit with yellow trim inspired by Kilkenny will go down well with local supporters while the away jersey’s green and yellow reflects the club’s Carlow roots.

The show was stolen by a commemorative third strip however, blue in colour with maroon stripes, which pays homage to Emfa AFC, the predecessor to Kilkenny City AFC.

CK United’s range of new jerseys (black home kit not pictured) Director of Football Shane Dunphy, then spoke about the club’s rapid journey to this point and displayed an image of the former geographical gap without a top-level football club. An area consisting of Carlow and Kilkenny, stretching into Laois, Tipperary and Offaly and called for the politicians present to take note of the project’s potential.

“This image paints a picture. We’ve presented it for years,” he said. “We lost out on a licence to Kerry FC four years ago who are now a fully professional football club with a €1.5m investment from an American-Kerry man this year.”

“That’s where this can go. For our politicians in the room, that’s shameful to see that we have a gap that distance with no football for so long.”

Although Dunphy made sure to stress to the representatives, who included TDs Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere and Natasha Newsome Drennan, that he would be in touch regarding political support, he concluded by taking a moment to enjoy the excitement of what the coming week will mean for the club after years of hard work.

“It’s about 10 days away now isn’t it? It doesn’t feel real. It’s amazing. Well done to Peter (Harvey), Fran (Egan) and all the crew behind it that got it going.”