A story to warm the cockles of the heart on a chilly Tuesday morning.

There was outrage among the Republic of Ireland soccer supporters' community yesterday when it emerged that an Austrian couple visiting Dublin for tonight's World Cup Group C qualifying clash in the Aviva stadium had been mugged in the city.

Stefan Madlener, 22 and Valeria Lampert, 21, lost their match tickets, driving licence, bankcards and cash when Valeria's wallet was stolen on Wicklow Street at around 1pm yesterday.

The story was originally posted to Facebook by the Ireland Fans Embassy page.

As word spread, indignation grew, and the story made it to popular fans forum ybig.ie, a poster revealed that while the FAI had stepped in to replace the lost tickets, a whip-round for the price of a pint for the couple was in order.

Pretty soon, over 50 people had donated a few quid, meaning that Stefan and Valeria will leave with happy memories of Dublin, and of the generosity of the Irish, rather than a sour taste in the mouth.

Meanwhile, overwhelmed by the response, the fans who were mugged have agreed to donate any extra money to charities supported by the ybig.ie forum.

(Picture: RTÉ)

“We were made aware of the unfortunate situation the two supporters found themselves in and are hopeful that they will return from Ireland with a positive experience of the country and the football community who came together to help them out,” said an FAI spokesman.

Meanwhile tonight's match kicks off at 7.45pm and we'll be bringing you all the updates here on breakingnews.ie.

COYBIG

(Hat Tip: balls.ie)