FAI announce details of tickets for Thomond clash

ON Friday afternoon last (June 19) the FAI announced that tickets for the Republic of Ireland’s friendly against Australia in Thomond Park on August 12 will go on sale from Wednesday, June 24 - tickets will be made available to the general public on ticketmaster.ie and will be sold in 18 outlets throughout Munster and Connacht while tickets in Limerick city are available from Gleeson Sports Scene on Upper William Street. Tickets for the game will also be available to buy in Record Rack in Ennis and at Roxy Records in Shannon.
Tickets for this the eagerly-awaited clash will be available for €25 (South terrace), €35 (East and West terrace) and €55 (East and West stands) - 2,000 €7 tickets will also be distributed through schoolboy and schoolgirl clubs throughout the country in July.
Mere weeks ago Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni visited Gleeson Sports Scene, along with FAI CEO John Delaney, to launch 1,000 pre-release tickets for the match against the Socceroos on Wednesday, August 12 (kick-off 7.30pm).
“I am looking forward to returning to Limerick in August to play Australia,” Trapattoni told Leader Sport.
“The game will be a good opportunity to prepare for the important World Cup qualifier against Cyprus on September 5. I hope it will give everyone in the mid-west an opportunity to get behind the team against a highly-rated Australian side. Limerick is a very nice place.
“It’s important to us to play well, to show people what our football is about and to get more kids in the region playing football. We believe that the facilities are there, the stadium is really good and we believe that the fans will come to the stadium for this occasion. This will give the fans an opportunity to watch us. Until now they have only been able to see us on television and we wanted to change that. We hope people will come and join us in Thomond Park.”
Trapattoni made an appearance in Limerick following the Republic of Ireland’s one-all draw in Sofia on Saturday night - a result which should at the very least secure a World Cup play-off spot for Ireland while it also ended Bulgaria’s qualification hopes.
The Republic now trail group leaders Italy by a point while the Italians hold a game in hand over Ireland. Ireland’s next competitive fixture is against away to Cyprus on Sept. 5 and Giovanni Trapattoni will use the game against Australia at Thomond Park as a warm-up for that critical encounter.
The Republic will play a second international friendly against South Africa on Tuesday,
September 8 in Thomond Park before they complete their qualifying campaign against Italy and Montenegro.
Pim Verbeek’s Australian side became the second team, mere hours after Japan, to qualify for the World Cup on Saturday following their nil-all draw away to Qatar - the Australians remain unbeaten in their 2010 campaign and should feature players like Scott McDonald (Celtic), Harry Kewell (Galatasaray) and Tim Cahill (Everton) for their visit to Limerick. The game against Australia respresents the first time the Irish senior team has ever played in Limerick and will be the first meeting of the sides since 2003 when the Irish beat the Socceroos 2-1 at Lansdowne Road.

BRIAN MCDONNELL