Club to host Mullingar"s first ever internationals

Mullingar has never hosted an international soccer match before - but on Wednesday February 11, it will host two: Belgium versus Lithuania, and the Republic of Ireland v Latvia, as part of the FAI"s Midlands International U15 tournament.Officials from the FAI were in Mullingar on Friday to announce details of the matches, the first of which takes place at 3 p.m., and the second of which, involving the Republic of Ireland team, takes place at 5, both at Mullingar Athletic"s grounds.The day prior to the Mullingar games, Latvia will take on Belgium in Leah Victoria Park in Tullamore at 5 p.m., and the Republic of Ireland will take on Lithuania at 7 p.m., while on Friday February 14, at Lissywoolen Stadium in Athlone, Lithuania plays Latvia at 10 a.m., and the Republic of Ireland clashes with Belgium at noon.Liam McGovern, chairman of Mullingar Athletic, is excited about the games.'It"s a big deal for Mullingar in general, in that it"s the first international ever that I know of to be hosted in the town, and certainly, for the club, it"s obviously equally important.'It"s some months now since the FAI approached the Club and asked them to host two games. 'We have a long-standing relationship with the FAI because we won the National Club of the Year two seasons ago, in 06/07, and from there, we would have long-standing relationships with all the clubs.'In preparation for the matches, Mullingar Athletic, which is one of the FAI"s 'Regional Development Centres' was given a plan of action by the FAI.'There are certain requirements laid out by the international committee within the FAI - and we would have to meet them - some of them structural, and some of them logistical.'It"s anticipated that the games will bring good crowds to Mullingar, including supporters and families of the Belgian, Latvian and Lithuanian sides, and the organisers are hoping that locally-based Latvians, Lithuanians and Belgians will turn out to support their sides in the games - as well as, of course, Irish fans.'Our games are at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., and it"s not the week of the holidays, which is a bit of a knockback for us, but having said all that, the Irish game is the second game on the Wednesday night, and we would hope to have decent support for that one,' said Mr. McGovern.Soccer is hugely popular in Mullingar, and Mullingar Athletic has an incredible thirty teams.'We would be the biggest in the midlands,' says Mr. McGovern.'In any one week, in terms of people involved in the club, between 1500 and 2000 would come in to the club, participating.'It"s a very active club: all young teams, in fact, we have only two senior sides and the rest are schoolboy/schoolgirl sides.'We have a few players on the fringes of international teams. We"re investing heavily in coaching infrastructure, and just about to take a large project of about €750,000 in March/April: the installation of a full-size all-weather surface.'Admission to all the matches in the FAI Midlands International Tournament is free, and Liam says all in the Club are looking forward to February 11, and to see some of Ireland"s greatest young talents in action.Meanwhile, the FAI announced on Friday that the recently-appointed Republic of Ireland U15 manager, John Morling, is to take charge of his U15 team at the tournament.The former Peterborough United coach replaces Vincent Butler as U15 manager this season, and will take up his position with the U16 team when Vincent Butler steps down in May.Morling, the current Player Development manager for the FAI is an ex-Norwich trainee, and he had a long and successful spell with Peterborough United, where he held a number of coaching positions, including first-team coach and reserve manager.