Munster give city coffers €10m lift

AS MUNSTER squeezed past Northampton last night in Thomond Park, the business community in Limerick were toasting a €10m bonanza to lift the New Year blues.

The big game resulted in every hotel room in the city being booked out and Northampton fans travelled in strength, with none of the clubs 3,000 tickets allocation being returned.

Limerick Chamber of Commerce chief executive Marie Kelly said the game has come at a great time after a difficult Christmas for businesses.

She said: “I don’t know where we’d be without the Thomond Park development. There are 26,000 supporters packing the stadium tonight and the fact we have up to 3,000 visitors from Northampton is a big plus as a previous study has shown that four out of five visiting English rugby visitors to Thomond Park have indicated their intention to revisit. The atmosphere in the city all day has been fantastic.”

One of the busiest men at match time was Pat O’Sullivan, managing director of Master Chefs.

All 1,300 corporate table places were booked and his squadron of chefs were also busy preparing huge quantities of food for all the other catering outlets in the stadium.

Thomond Park manager, John Cantwell said: “We had 900 staff on duty in the stadium who include catering, security, maintenance and other personnel.”

Northampton fan, Roger Needham flew into Shannon yesterday.

He said: “I have never been to a game in Limerick before but we all know of the famous Thomond Park and Limerick rugby tradition. It’s been a great day so far, and we hope to crown it off with a big result tonight.”

A Limerick woman and lifelong Munster fan, last night cheered on one special person who ran onto the field wearing a Northampton jersey. Kian Russell, aged 7, was the Northampton mascot.

His mum, Charlotte, comes from Shannon Banks in the city and his Dad, Neil, comes from Northampton where the family live.

Charlotte said: “I had to cheer him. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a Munster jersey on under his mascot’s jersey.”

Neil said: “When we come back to Limerick and pass Thomond Park, Kian always asks when the Saints will be playing Munster in Thomond Park. After tonight he won’t be asking that question anymore.”