Klub Kildare aiming to bring senior National League football back to the county

Klub Kildare have applied to enter the new third tier of the FAI National league, which commences in 2026. The FAI announced at the end of January that 67 clubs had applied to enter the new third tier, with the likes of Klub Kildare, Mayo FC and CK United all applying.

According to Klub Kildare secretary Pat McNally, the decision for the club to apply to the new National League was a no brainer.

“We have teams all the way up to U20, and the next step for them is to go onto senior football. We bring all these players through and then there’s nothing we have for them at senior level, so it was important we applied. A lot of our players previously went to other League of Ireland clubs at senior level or played junior or intermediate football. Another issue is some of them just dropped out of the game completely because they’d been training three or four nights a week for three years or that, and when there was nothing for them to move on to they stopped playing altogether,” said McNally.

Currently there are over ten players from the county playing senior League of Ireland football for different clubs around the country and McNally is hopeful that some of these players might return to play with Klub Kildare, if the club's application is successful.

“There’s a lot of lads from Kildare playing with other League of Ireland clubs. We would be delighted if some of them did come back and played with us, but some of them mightn’t want to play for us for numerous different reasons. It’s not just Kildare lads, we’re happy to sign lads from different areas also, it doesn’t matter where a player is from.” 

Kildare has had previous club representation at senior level in the League of Ireland. In 2002 Kildare County was founded and took part in the League of Ireland First Division.

In August of that year, the club made their League of Ireland First Division debut at Station Road again against Limerick with local lad Philip Gorman scoring the club's first league goal.

After financial difficulties, Kildare County folded as a club at the end of 2009.

Klub Kildare, which has nothing to do with the previous club who competed in the National League, currently fields boy’s teams in the League of Ireland Academy leagues from u14 to u20, and is this season fielding a girl's team for the first time at under 17 level.

McNally believes it is important that Klub Kildare has a senior side as it will give their young players a pathway to senior football.

“It’s important we have that pathway for our academy players. We would be hopeful to get as many of them through as we can. That’s what it’s about. People were saying when we entered the underage leagues, that we wouldn’t be able to compete, and we’ve proved them wrong. There’s no reason we can’t do that at senior level,” stated the club secretary.

He also stated that he felt it was important that clubs representing counties were accepted into the league, rather than numerous Dublin clubs.

“It’s important that counties around the country are represented. That’s what we were told it was all about. We don’t need another six or seven more Dublin clubs. We want football to be spread around the country and have different counties represented.” 

The club currently play their academy games at FBD Park located on the grounds of the Killashee hotel and will play their senior games there in 2026, if their application is successful. The facilities there would be sufficient for the third tier but if they were ever to move up the leagues they would need another venue and the club is on the lookout for a ground that would be able to cater for large crowds at League of Ireland Men’s games.

“We will be using FBD Park at the Killashee hotel, but we are on the lookout and are looking for a ground that would be able to take 1,500 to 2,000 fans for a game," said McNally

All of Klub Kildare’s underage sides began their league campaigns earlier this month and it is hoped that by this time next year the club will have a senior side.