O'Sullivan: Man City friendly a huge success

Although a race row has threatened to spoil the party, Limerick FC chairman Pat O’Sullivan and friendly organiser Damien O’Brien were adamant that their money spinning friendly with Manchester City at Thomond Park on Sunday night showcased all that’s good about football on Shannonside.

Claims from City defender Gael Clichy that a banana was thrown at him in the first half of the game from somebody in the lower sections of the east stand have led to an investigation from Limerick, with the club stating that the individual will be caught, banned from all future games and reported to Gardaí.

But despite the actions of one individual in an impressive crowd of 20,000, there was an overriding feeling of success as Limerick finally had their day in the spotlight after a two-year wait.

The club had seen a friendly with Barcelona blocked two years ago by the FAI and after winning a court battle, they were eventually granted permission to host a succession of big names at the home of Munster Rugby over the next few years.

While holding a weekend-long tournament is the aim for the club and Iconic Worldwide Events chief O’Brien in future years, after plans to hold one this summer were also scuppered, there was no doubt that the event proved to be a success.

“There were 20,000 plus people here and the money that was made from it will be put right back into Limerick,” O’Brien said.

“It was organised within three weeks and was an 11^th hour option for us. We wanted the tournament but weren’t given the rights for it and Limerick had to go to the High Court for this match to go ahead.

 “Next year, we would like to make this a tournament and bring four teams if possible but that’s up to the FAI to sanction it.

“We want to have the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid next year.”

Yet O’Brien reckons that, of all the countries he has promoted events at, Ireland is, by far, the most difficult to place to have a tournament sanctioned by the powers that be.

“We wouldn’t have these problems in any other country. I don’t understand why we can’t get games sanctioned easier than we can here.

“For grassroots football in this country, we need to get the top players coming over here so we need to get the FAI to get behind it.”

O’Sullivan, meanwhile, says the game provided a huge financial boost to a city where rugby is the dominant sport and August is a notoriously quiet time on Shannonside.

With hotels booked out and bars thronged, it was an opportunity for the area to showcase itself to a large audience.

“When you think about what this game has done for this town, it’s brilliant. The most important thing is that we’ve shown we can deliver on this stage.

“I’d love to make a tournament out of this because now we have hotels full and if it was tournament they’d be full on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the stadium full on two nights.”