Jason Smyth is set to attend a Northern Ireland friendly match ©Getty Images

Five-time Paralympic gold medallist Jason Smyth will attend an international friendly football match between Northern Ireland and Croatia next week after being overlooked for a “Lap of Legends” event last month.

The event was aimed at marking the redevelopment of the Windsor Park, home to the Northern Ireland national football team.

Legally blind sprinter Smyth, who completed a hat-trick of men’s T13 100 metres Paralympic gold medals at Rio 2016, claimed he was not invited as he competes for the Republic of Ireland and not Great Britain, even though he is from Derry in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland's status as a part of the United Kingdom is disputed with its athletes able to represent both sides of the border.

Smyth tweeted: "Only in NI does the colours you wear mean more than what you achieve! Do you think we will ever move on."

Smyth had highlighted that there were four Paralympic gold medallists from Northern Ireland, including his Republic of Ireland colleague Michael McKillop.

The pair were not invited to the event, but skier Kelly Gallagher and swimmer Bethany Firth, who both competed for Britain, were part of the proceedings.

The Irish Football Association apologised for any offence and promised Smyth would be welcomed to Windsor Park in the future, an offer the sprinter now appears to have taken up for the fixture next Tuesday (November 15). 

"The IFA have offered me tickets to go to a game so I'm going to Northern Ireland versus Croatia," he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"The IFA phoned me about the situation.

"They said they realised I had achieved great things as an athlete and added that it was an oversight on their part.

"They also said there were a limited amount of spaces for people to be invited.

"It's been a few weeks since I had the conversation but I'm pretty sure they did apologise, saying they didn't mean to offend me in any way."

The sprinter added that he had not been offended by being overlooked for the event but believe it was a legitimate question to raise, which resulted in the 29-year-old receiving both support and criticism on social media.

As well as his 100m gold at Rio 2016, Smyth had won T13 100m and 200m gold medals at both London 2012 and Beijing 2008.