Athlone native plays his part in Sunderland football revolution

THE Athlone native responsible for bringing Roy Keane"s Sunderland stars to the town has spoken publicly about the occasion for the first time. Originally from Auburn Terrace, Athlone, Pat Beirne forms part of the nine-strong Drumaville Consortium put together by Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn to take over the club in 2006. A son of the late Sgt Pat Beirne of Athlone Garda Station, Pat Jnr., founded the Irish owned plastics company Mergon in Castlepollard in 1981 and is currently Managing Director of the multinational company which supplies plastic moulding solutions to world class customers in the automotive, business equipment and healthcare sectors. The company"s customers include Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd., the largest car plant in the UK and the most productive in Europe. Mergon also has bases in the United States and Czech Republic. Pat Beirne joins Charlie Chawke, Louis Fitzgerald, Jack Tierney, Paddy Kelly, John Hayes, Patsy Byrne and Niall Quinn on the Drumaville Consortium, which has pumped millions into Sunderland AFC over the past couple of years. A graduate of Athlone IT (then Athlone Regional Technical College) in Polymer Plastics, Pat told the "Westmeath Independent" after last week"s successful occasion in Lissywoollen that he was satisfied with the outcome of Sunderland"s visit to the Midlands. 'I"m delighted everyone enjoyed themselves and the occasion. It was a most wonderful occasion for Athlone and I"m very pleased with how it went,' said Beirne, who prefers to keep a low profile and not court publicity in relation to his involvement with Sunderland. Over 4,000 football supporters flocked to Lissywoollen last Thursday to watch Roy Keane"s Premier League Sunderland defeat Athlone Town 6-0 in a much publicised friendly match. Both players, management and officials of Sunderland have received great praise from the people of Athlone since the match in Lissywoollen, while in the aftermath of the match Roy Keane also had words of thanks for the people of Athlone for their hospitality during Sunderland"s stay in the Midlands. Pat Beirne also attended the pre-match banquet in the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone, at which Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn gave a speech and praised Pat Beirne for his input into bringing Sunderland to Athlone. Quinn said: 'Pat Beirne is absolutely nuts about Athlone Town and his dream was to be part of Drumaville, get Sunderland into the Premier League and bring them to Athlone as a Premier League club.' Niall Quinn also said Sunderland will be more than happy to return to Ireland in the future, although their scheduled pre-season meeting with Shamrock Rovers was postponed due to inclement weather last Saturday. The Drumaville Consortium is a group of seven Irish businessmen and one English businessman led by former footballer Niall Quinn, who were involved in the 2006 takeover of Sunderland AFC. The consortium is named after the village of Drumaville in Donegal.