Man City friendly will see Limerick FC play three games in four days

Limerick FC are confident that the club can cope with playing three high-profile matches in the space of just four days over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Last week the club confirmed a high-profile friendly against Manchester City in Thomond Park for the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday weekend, August 6, but Limerick are also scheduled to play Longford Town in a vital top of the table Airtricity League Division 1 clash on the Friday and travel to Tallaght Stadium to play Shamrock Rovers in the EA Sports Cup semi-final on Monday.

Limerick FC chairman Pat O’Sullivan and manager Pat Scully both believe that the club has a sufficiently sizeable squad to handle the fixture congestion.

“We have a first team panel of around 28 players, as well as six or seven good U-19 players who have been training with the first team,” said O’Sullivan.

He added: “While our priority remains the league, I’m sure we can put out a good side against Manchester City and the players will be well motivated for it.”

Scully, who confirmed that the club will not seek to request a schedule change for the Longford or Shamrock Rovers games, said: “We’ll be OK once we have a full squad to choose from because we have a very fit squad.

“I will jumble the team around a bit and bring in a few young lads against Manchester City. Coming towards the end of the season, these are the games we want and I view it as a major positive rather than a negative.”

Manchester City will have a full first team squad for the visit to Thomond Park and they will travel from Germany for the fixture.

“Manchester City are committed under contract to bring a full squad to Limerick and I don’t think there will be any issue because they are full-time professional players,” asserted O’Sullivan.

Scully feels that the match will be beneficial to the English champions, who will play their first competitive game of the new season the following week.

He said: “I’m sure they’ll play a mixture of first team players and younger lads. It’s the end of their pre-season so they need games as well.

“For a glamour club like City to come to Limerick is a great compliment to us. It’s a great coup for the club and I hope we do the occasion justice, even though three points against Longford in the league will be the priority.”

In the Airtricity League, Limerick went top of Division One last weekend and will hope to maintain pole position with a win over SD Galway at Jackman Park this Friday night.