The Treaty side of the League of Ireland had no players and no division, but they still drew a blank at Bray.
Is it possible to assemble a 26 man squad at three days' notice, with no money, for a team that might not have fans, and reach the play-offs?
The answer is yes.
Treaty United manager Tommy Barrett felt like an idiot when he tried to get a team together for the League of Ireland First Division season.
What happened?
At the end of the year, Limerick FC were refused a playing licence because of their debt, ending their 83-year spell in the league.
Pat O' Sullivan, the owner of Limerick FC, took legal action against Conn Murray, who set up a new team called Limerick United.
The nickname Treaty is from the 1691 treaty ending the Williamite War.
The new club had a women's side before a men's, but not the League of Ireland, which is why they got a team in the 2020 Women's National League.
They applied for a licence to enter the First Division in November 2020, but when the fixtures came out in February they were one of the teams. Three days before their squad had to be finalized, TBC became Treaty.
He couldn't sign anyone until then.
He said they weren't told anything. We heard that it could be the reserve side who took Limerick's place in 2020 and that there were a couple of other clubs.
There was talk of Treaty not being ready yet. Is it possible that they will go in 2022. There might not be time for Covid. We were getting little tidbits of information.
We were told on the day.
They were to be an amateur team in a division where everyone else is either professional or semi-professional.
Luckily, he had started the groundwork in January with a training session for players who were interested if there was to be a new team.
One of the Treaty's star players was left-back, and he had League of Ireland experience.
He was taken to training with 40 people. I could see that he was wondering what he was getting himself into. He was taken aback.
Treaty did not have any youth teams at the time, but a 26 man squad sounds like a lot for the second tier of Irish football.
Some of the players he had played with a decade earlier were in the mix. Some people called him to ask if they could join.
Jack Lynch, who became Treaty's captain, put Barrett in touch with some of the team-mates he had played with the previous season at Galway United.
It was difficult to get them over the line because we only had three days to get them signed and a lot of other people who needed transfers. He said that they were an unknown entity.
They were able to add a bonus player.
We thought we had to sign 25. The secretary thought that was the maximum squad. It turns out it was a women's league rule.
The man was going to miss out. He had a good attitude but no experience. He was too strong and we had to remove a lot of weight from him.
The 20-year-old was a key member of the team.
Treaty's opening game was a draw at Bray Wanderers, six weeks after they were without players and a league.
The club finished in the play-offs and lost to UCD.
They won only three of their final 12 games, but they were tired and worn out, and that was not the pressure of playing in front of returning crowds in the middle of the season.
"I think there was a bit of nervousness at times, but I don't put performances down to that," he said.
We played professional players in a lot of matches. We played 27 games after a short pre-season.
We weren't ready to go up as a club. We need to build foundations and get everything off the ground.
Chiedozie Ogbene, a senior Republic of Ireland international at Rotherham, was playing for Limerick FC just over a year before their demise.
This is not a simple club story. Michael Johnson is the sporting director of the original Limerick FC.
Because of Covid rules, all of the supporters went to a team that played in different colors and did not have the same name as the old club, but they did claim to be a continuation of the old club.
"There was a bit of concern that the fans would follow the new team," admitted Barrett, on whether the fans would follow the new team.
Limerick FC were seen as a regional club with fans from nearby counties but Treaty, we branded ourselves as a mid-west club.
It's still a bugbear to a few, but once people see the results and the things we're doing right, they're happy enough to have senior football back in the region.
