Local teams to open 2016 in Ireland

Blessed Trinity and Marist will join Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland, to kick off the 2016 high school football season.

The two Catholic high school teams will not play each other, but will participate in the Global Ireland Football Tournament, which will bring 10 other teams from across the United States to participate. The games will be played Sept. 2, a Friday.

Tech will face Boston College at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium the next day in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, which will be on ESPN2. The Yellow Jackets’ trip across the Atlantic will set up the ninth college football game held in Ireland and the seventh featuring FBS schools. It will be the second college game played at Aviva Stadium.

Blessed Trinity and Marist will be invited to watch the Tech-Boston College game.

Global Football officially selected Blessed Trinity and Marist last week, but the process started about six weeks ago. Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarland received a phone call from Matt Kunz, the son of Falcons great George Kunz and a city councilman in Milton, about the opportunity.

Kunz called McFarland to let him know Global Football was looking for a couple of Georgia teams to play in this year’s Global Ireland Football Tournament. The opportunity seemed a little far-fetched to McFarland at first.

The six games will be scheduled at three separate locations in smaller stadiums that can pack in up to 4,000 people. The three doubleheaders are each expected to start at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Dublin time and will be video-telecasted for the schools to see back home. Dublin is five hours ahead of Atlanta time.

The Bolles School of Jacksonville, Fla., is the only other school that has been confirmed to this point, but Global Football is looking to fill the final nine spots shortly.