LIMERICK FC HAVE made an application to the High Court in a bid to compel the FAI to appoint an arbitrator to hear their case against the decision not to sanction a lucrative friendly with Barcelona in Thomond Park.

Abbotstown bosses refused to leave the First Division side face the Catalan giants last July.

Under FIFA regulations Limerick can’t go straight to court but must use the court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

But, as Mark McCadden reports in this morning’s Irish Daily Star, Limerick are ‘unhappy’ with the FAI’s response to their request for arbitration and so have gone to the High Court.

The friendly had been penciled in for July 31 on Shannonside.

At the time, the FAI insisted that third-party agreements mean it could not sanction games in stadia with capacities over 15,000, that the FAI itself was in negotiations with Barcelona over a visit to the Aviva Stadium, and that the date was not compatible with the Airtricity League fixture timetable.

The negotiations were in a very advanced stage according to legal papers.

Read more in this morning’s Irish Daily Star