A new senior soccer club was born today when the eircom League announced it had chosen Kildare County F.C. to fill the vacancy in the First Division left by last season's departure of St. Francis.
Kildare County will join the league in time for the beginning of the new season in July and will play its home matches in Newbridge on the current ground of Newbridge Town FC.
Jimmy Dowling, a spokesman for the new club, today explained to ireland.comthat the club hopes to draw its support from some of the 150,000 residents of county Kildare.
"The club was set up by a consortium of business people and football supporters who wanted to bring senior football to the county," he said, "We've undertaken detailed research since last October, prepared a budget, and identified potential players and managers, so we're confident we can capture the county's interest."
With no terracing or stands, the current ground in Newbridge has an estimated capacity of 2,000 and one of the first tasks of the Board of Directors, whose exact make-up has yet to be decided, will be to improve facilities.
An application has already been made to the Department of Sports and Tourism for funding for terraces and floodlights.