NORTH-SOUTH FRIENDLY TO AID OMAGH FUND
North - South friendly to aid Omagh Fund
BY: BARRY O'DONNELL
SOCCER authorities, north and south of the border, confirmed this week that Northern Ireland will play the Republic of Ireland next May in an international friendly- with the estimated half-a-million pound profits going to the Omagh Fund.
May 29 is the date set aside for the fixture, with both the Irish Football Association and the Football Association of Ireland agreeing on Lansdowne Road in Dublin as the venue for the game because its greater seating capacity of 30,000.
Both bodies are moulding plans to kick-start an annual international series between the two teams, with the Omagh charity match the first of these yearly fixtures.
Meanwhile the series of glamour friendlies involving Omagh Town and some of the biggest clubs in British soccer are expected to go ahead at the end of the season, with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Celtic, Rangers and Spurs all lining up to help the victims of the bombing by journeying to the town next summer.
Omagh's St.Julian's Road will be installed with extra seating to double its capacity to 7,000 for the friendlies.
Club secretary Pat McGlinchey announced last week that the ground is to undergo extensive development work and he sought financial assistance from the government to fulfil this objective.
"We will begin immediately to draw up extensive ground development plans to make St.Julian's Road stadium a ground, where families, women and children can be comfortable.
"We shall be doing so in full consultation with other interested, parties such as health and safety officials, the RUC, Omagh District Council, WELB and voluntary groups.
"Hopefully the end result will be a set of comprehensive plans which will convince the government to make available �1/3 million estimated as necessary for this work," said the club secretary.
Meanwhile at a lengthy board meeting last week Omagh Town officials gave their seal of approval to the discussion document produced by the IFA on the way forward for local senior soccer.
The IFA are currently attempting to pull the rung from under the feet of the Irish Football League and attain control of top flight league football in Northern Ireland.
They produced a document pointing what they perceive as the way forward for league soccer, which contained proposals for a major overhaul of current structures.
Premier league club officials, including Omagh Town's vice-chairman John Hunter, had attended a meeting in Belfast where they discussed the document with IFA representatives.
Omagh directors subsequently examined the proposals contained in the document themselves, comparing them with the club's own ideas, as contained in their 'Omagh Town In The Community' publication.
"Our own proposals for local partnership, youth coaching, mini soccer, outreach centres and community involvement are along the lines being mooted by the IFA," said Pat McGlinchey.
"I think we can take some satisfaction in the fact that in many ways we are ahead of the pack in those areas.
"The development of our facilities to full health and safety criteria is the major step facing our club, indeed all senior clubs in the next two years," the club secretary added.
Looking at their present form on the field it could be flippantly suggested that Omagh Town would require an enlarged 12-team Premiership to maintain their topflight status.
Roy McCreadie's side sunk to the bottom of the table with a 2-0 loss to Portadown last Saturday in a drab relegation encounter and there is little sign of any light at the end of the tunnel with championship challengers Glentoran the visitors to St.Julian's this weekend.
That set-back at Shamrock Park capped a demoralising couple of days for Town who also lost the services of experienced midfielder Brian Donaghey last Friday. The 27-year old was snapped up by Cliftonville.
McCreadie though will hope to have another seasoned campaigner, John Crilly back in the middle of the park for the Glens clash as he appears finally to have overcome a rib injury.
BY: BARRY O'DONNELL
SOCCER authorities, north and south of the border, confirmed this week that Northern Ireland will play the Republic of Ireland next May in an international friendly- with the estimated half-a-million pound profits going to the Omagh Fund.
May 29 is the date set aside for the fixture, with both the Irish Football Association and the Football Association of Ireland agreeing on Lansdowne Road in Dublin as the venue for the game because its greater seating capacity of 30,000.
Both bodies are moulding plans to kick-start an annual international series between the two teams, with the Omagh charity match the first of these yearly fixtures.
Meanwhile the series of glamour friendlies involving Omagh Town and some of the biggest clubs in British soccer are expected to go ahead at the end of the season, with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Celtic, Rangers and Spurs all lining up to help the victims of the bombing by journeying to the town next summer.
Omagh's St.Julian's Road will be installed with extra seating to double its capacity to 7,000 for the friendlies.
Club secretary Pat McGlinchey announced last week that the ground is to undergo extensive development work and he sought financial assistance from the government to fulfil this objective.
"We will begin immediately to draw up extensive ground development plans to make St.Julian's Road stadium a ground, where families, women and children can be comfortable.
"We shall be doing so in full consultation with other interested, parties such as health and safety officials, the RUC, Omagh District Council, WELB and voluntary groups.
"Hopefully the end result will be a set of comprehensive plans which will convince the government to make available �1/3 million estimated as necessary for this work," said the club secretary.
Meanwhile at a lengthy board meeting last week Omagh Town officials gave their seal of approval to the discussion document produced by the IFA on the way forward for local senior soccer.
The IFA are currently attempting to pull the rung from under the feet of the Irish Football League and attain control of top flight league football in Northern Ireland.
They produced a document pointing what they perceive as the way forward for league soccer, which contained proposals for a major overhaul of current structures.
Premier league club officials, including Omagh Town's vice-chairman John Hunter, had attended a meeting in Belfast where they discussed the document with IFA representatives.
Omagh directors subsequently examined the proposals contained in the document themselves, comparing them with the club's own ideas, as contained in their 'Omagh Town In The Community' publication.
"Our own proposals for local partnership, youth coaching, mini soccer, outreach centres and community involvement are along the lines being mooted by the IFA," said Pat McGlinchey.
"I think we can take some satisfaction in the fact that in many ways we are ahead of the pack in those areas.
"The development of our facilities to full health and safety criteria is the major step facing our club, indeed all senior clubs in the next two years," the club secretary added.
Looking at their present form on the field it could be flippantly suggested that Omagh Town would require an enlarged 12-team Premiership to maintain their topflight status.
Roy McCreadie's side sunk to the bottom of the table with a 2-0 loss to Portadown last Saturday in a drab relegation encounter and there is little sign of any light at the end of the tunnel with championship challengers Glentoran the visitors to St.Julian's this weekend.
That set-back at Shamrock Park capped a demoralising couple of days for Town who also lost the services of experienced midfielder Brian Donaghey last Friday. The 27-year old was snapped up by Cliftonville.
McCreadie though will hope to have another seasoned campaigner, John Crilly back in the middle of the park for the Glens clash as he appears finally to have overcome a rib injury.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0694
Published Date: 10-Dec-98
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