In 1966 a group of Leaving Certificate students made the most of having a free class at the local Christian Brothers school.

Jim Rhatigan was appointed as the club's secretary a position he still holds and since then he has become closely associated with football in Kilkenny.

During this period the club purchased 5.7 acres (23,000 m2) of land from a local farmer by the name of Mick Murphy, owner of the adjacent Tennypark House, for £16,000 punts.

EMFA won their first honour in 1987, winning the League of Ireland First Division Shield defeating Finn Harps 4–2 in Oriel Park.

In the 1999–2000 season Kilkenny city finished third and beat Waterford United in a promotion-relegation playoff returning to the Premier.

General manager Jim Rhatigan wrote "Mud, Sweat and Jeers" a semi autobiographical account of the founding of the club.

Dave Bassett, former Wimbledon manager was guest of honour with former Northern Ireland international, Gerry Taggart also attending the club's anniversary banquet at the Lyrath Estate Hotel.

The squad was bolstered in key areas with a handful of summer transfers including David Cassidy from Derby County.

[6] Scully took the cream of the talent with him including David Cassidy, Tadhg Purcell and Aidan Price[7] to Rovers leaving Kilkenny's squad looking very bare.

On 10 November 2007 Kilkenny City played their last League of Ireland game losing 3–1 at home to Finn Harps.

Launched by a group of die hard Kilkenny City fans, they faced immediate competition from Carlow's proposed move to Buckley Park for the 2012 season.