Limerick FC maintain their push for vital public funds

Although Limerick FC are still short of their financial target the club, thanks to an overwhelming public response to their plight, will survive their short-term financial difficulties.
Limerick FC also hope that more members of the local business community will follow Pat O’Sullivan’s lead and pledge funds which will ensure the future of the League of Ireland club.
Last week Pat O’Sullivan made a significant contribution to Limerick FC after the club made a public plea for aid at a meeting hosted at the Strand Hotel on Sunday, June 21.
At that meeting the club outlined the fact that if it didn’t receive a financial injection to the tune of €70,000 by Saturday, June 27 the club would be wound up and its League of Ireland licence revoked.
Club chairman Jack McCarthy had also indicated that he was prepared to resign as club chairman and put in motion a process which would see the US-based lawyer sever his ties with Limerick FC.
During his 18-month reign as club chairman Jack McCarthy has poured €300,000 into the Super Blues, but now Mr. McCarthy is not in a position to ship another significant debt this season.


Limerick FC PRO Joe Sweeney was delighted to announce this morning that the 72-year-old will survive.
“Although the club is still striving to achieve its financial goals the club will survive and I would like to thank everyone that has contributed and pledged money to the club,” Joe Sweeney told Leader Sport.
“We still haven’t got enough, but we are further along the line.
“We’re still short and the push is still on to attract more money into the club.
“We still want more people to join Leo’s Lottery and we still need more members of the business community to get involved to ensure the long-term future of the club.
“Although we have not yet achieved our financial goals, the public response to our plea for financial help has given everyone in the club a great lift. We’ve received calls and pledges from all over the mid-west and it really has been very encouraging for everyone involved.
“We need more businessmen like Pat O’Sullivan to make a contribution to the club. We need members of the business community to get on board. We need people to look at our plans and realise that our long-term plans for the club and the development of the facility at Knockalisheen will make Limerick FC self-sufficient. If we can get more prominent businessmen like Pat O’Sullivan on the board of directors that will help the club push open doors of opportunity that maybe the management committee can’t open.
“Everything helps and the response so far has been excellent.”
It is not known at this point whether the introduction of Pat O’Sullivan to the League of Ireland club’s board of directors will alter the structure of the club or change how Limerick FC does its business.
It is likely that such administrative changes will be tackled as soon as his humanly possible.
If you are prepared to make a contribution to Limerick FC or wish to join Leo’s Lottery please contact the Super Blues on 061 324 563 or 085 769 4324. Alternatively you can visit LimerickFC.ie for more information or to download the forms required to join Leo’s Lottery or pledge money to the club.
Last week the Limerick Leader, in an article concerning a public meeting hosted by Limerick FC, reported that a question arising from a member of the public suggested that the FAI had ‘some hand to play’ in the League of Ireland club losing a high-profile friendly against Roy Keane’s Ipswich Town at Thomond Park.
The Football Association of Ireland have been in contact with the Limerick Leader and Leader Sport is happy to clarify that the FAI officially sanctioned a friendly game for Limerick FC at Thomond Park and that such rumours are entirely without foundation. The national association would also like to point out that it aided the League of Ireland club by helping the club to negotiate the rental of Thomond Park at a reduced cost and that it facilitated meetings between Sunderland and Glasgow Celtic on behalf of the club.
The FAI would also like to clarify that it fully supports Limerick FC through its current financial difficulties and that it also intends to do so in the future.
The FAI has gone to great lengths to support soccer in Limerick which included Giovanni Trapattoni’s appearance at a corporate dinner in the Castletroy Park Hotel, it has attempted to support soccer on Shannonside through its grants system while it also maintains its support for a potential return of the club to the Market’s Field.
Limerick FC return to competitive action this Thursday night (July 2 at 8pm) when the Super Blues make the arduous journey to Kingspan Century Park in Monaghan to take on Monaghan United in the League of Ireland First Division.
Meanwhile the Limerick District League Management Committee (LDMC) would like all clubs to take note that on Thursday, July 9 registration forms for the 2009-10 season will be handed out in Jackman Park at 7.30pm - all clubs are hereby notified that half fees for the 2009-10 season must be paid on the night.

Brian McDonnell