"People would be laughing now but it's something that would have worked, no doubt about it."
This weekend, and across each one to follow through the Premier League season, thousands will make the journey from all over the island of Ireland to take in a game from England's top flight.
Indeed, despite increased interest in the league from all four corners of the globe, those making the short trip from across the Irish Sea still account for the greatest number of travelling supporters each season.
Such is the fixation with all things Premier League that the 75,000 fans who packed a sold-out Croke Park for last week's friendly between Manchester United and Leeds represented a record crowd for any football match in the Republic of Ireland.
Earlier in the month, ***** nal also drew a huge crowd to the Aviva Stadium for their own friendly with Real Betis.

#across

Manchester United and Leeds United will bring football to Dublin's iconic Croke Park for the first time since 2009 as the arch-rivals square off in a match that is friendly in name only.
United have enjoyed a promising pre-season since their opening slip-up against Wrexham in July, beating Atletico Madrid before holding European champions Paris Saint-Germain to a draw last weekend.
Leeds have also impressed in the build-up to the new Premier League campaign and most notably stunned Liverpool during their tour of the United States, coming from two goals down to win 4-2 in Chicago.
Daniel Farke's will hope to repeat their heroics of four months ago, which saw Leeds win their first league game at Old Trafford since 1981, getting another one over on their cross-Pennines rivals at a venue fitting of their rivalry.
Here's everything you need to know.

#united #leeds #rivals #wrexham

Manchester United is set to face Leeds in their next pre-season friendly match, which will be their last friendly in Ireland on Wednesday at Croke Park.
Date: Wednesday, 12th August.
Kick-off: 7:30pm BST.
Venue: Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland.
Manchester United's squad receives a substantial boost as forward Marcus Rashford returns to Michael Carrick's side in Ireland following an extended post-World Cup break, positioning him for his first appearance since December 2024.

#ireland

Manchester United and Leeds United will bring football to Dublin's iconic Croke Park for the first time since 2009 as the arch-rivals square off in a match that is friendly in name only.
United have enjoyed a promising pre-season since their opening slip-up against Wrexham in July, beating Atletico Madrid before holding European champions Paris Saint-Germain to a draw last weekend.
Leeds have also impressed in the build-up to the new Premier League campaign and most notably stunned Liverpool during their tour of the United States, coming from two goals down to win 4-2 in Chicago.
Daniel Farke's will hope to repeat their heroics of four months ago, which saw Leeds win their first league game at Old Trafford since 1981, getting another one over on their cross-Pennines rivals at a venue fitting of their rivalry.
Here's everything you need to know.

#croke #wrexham

Leeds United travel to Croke Park to face Manchester United in another pre-season fixture on Wednesday evening and we would like to thank every fan that will be making the journey to support the team.
During your trip, please remember that we are all representing not only Leeds United Football Club, but also the city of Leeds, and we ask that you always show respect to other fans, staff and players.
Dangerous behaviours, discriminatory language, tragedy chanting, and inappropriate gestures are not acceptable. You could be breaking the law and face a football ban. The club condemns these kinds of behaviours and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of hate.
Please see below some other pieces of information to take into consideration ahead of travelling.
Plan your journey early:

#leeds

Former Donegal All-Ireland winner James McHugh has died following a car crash in County Cavan.
McHugh, who was in his 60s, played inter-county football for Donegal from 1990 until 1998, also winning two Ulster Championships with the side.
An All-Star in the year his county lifted Sam Maguire for the first time, he scored a point from play in the 0-18 to 0-14 final victory over Dublin at Croke Park.
He was killed following a collision between a car and a van on the N3 at Drummallaght, between Virginia and Cavan town on Monday afternoon. A woman in her 60s, who was a passenger in the car, was seriously injured and was airlifted to hospital.
His Gaelic Athletic ***** ociation (GAA) club said it was devastated by the news.

#mchugh

Maria O'Neill's point with just 15 seconds remaining won the All-Ireland Junior Football Championship for Antrim in a dramatic final against Carlow at Croke Park.
After had got on Carlow on level-terms in the closing stages through Megan Townsend's goal, McCann struck the decisive blow late on for secure a 1-13 to 2-9 win for the Saffrons.
Antrim made a perfect start in Dublin when Theresa Mallon capitalised on a poor pass from goalkeeper Nicole Hanley to net inside two minutes.
The Saffrons extended their advantage thanks to Orlaith Prenter, O'Neill and Aine Tubridy, but Carlow, in their first All-Ireland decider, fought back and trailed by 1-5 to 0-6 at the break.
Cliodhna Ni She's sixth point of the day further reduced Antrim's lead, but the Ulster county responded through Prenter and Bronagh Devlin.

#point #Football

Goals proved decisive as Kerry's quest for back-to-back All-Ireland SFC ***** les remains on course with a 2-18 to 0-20 victory over Dublin in Sunday's semi-final.
In scorching heat at Croke Park, Jack O'Connor's men did enough to get past a stern Dublin, who will reflect on a day where they were close to upsetting the odds, but 12 wides and two goal chances of their own passed up cost them.
It was the first championship meeting between the old rivals since Dublin won the 2023 All- Ireland final and while Ger Brennan's men have enjoyed a relatively productive campaign with wins over Donegal and Galway, the Kingdom remained a step ahead.
While David Clifford was held quiet for long spells, the Fossa man still ended up with 1-6 to his name as Kerry found a way to get him on the ball, but older brother Paudie pulled the strings with five points of his own.
For Dublin, Con O'Callaghan was well contained, but Cormac Costello and Colm Basquel stepped up, but they needed more on the day as Kerry will now face Mayo in the final on Sunday, 26 July.

Wicklow came from 13 points behind to stun Down and claim the Tailteann Cup for the first time with a 1-21 to 2-16 victory at a sunny Croke Park.
Oisin McConville's side, that played Division Four football this year, had enjoyed some fine wins along the way to this decider, but saved their best for last with a remarkable comeback when it seemed Down were set to power home in style.
At half-time, they trailed by a dozen points with Down finding the net through Pat Havern and John McGeough, while a Shane Annett score extended the gap after the break.
Yet Wicklow suddenly came to life as they found a bit of momentum and didn't let go as they whittled down the lead and a goal from captain and man of the match Dean Healy levelled it, while they held their nerve late to finish the job in sensational fashion.
The win guarantees Wicklow's place in next year's All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

We're down to the final four in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and by close of play on Sunday, we will have our final pairing.
It's been a year of change, with a new format introduced in the race for Sam Maguire which has provided plenty of big moments.
Croke Park is the venue this weekend for two games that provide plenty of intrigue.
Louth get set for their first semi-final since 1957 when they take on Mayo on Saturday, while Sunday is much more traditional match-up as champions Kerry face a Dublin side that has built steadily throughout the championship.
The winners will return to GAA headquarters on Sunday, 26 July, so before this weekend's semi-finals, BBC Sport NI takes a look at the main talking points.

Limerick are back in the All-Ireland hurling final for the first time since 2023 as they edged out Clare 1-21 to 1-19 in a thriller at Croke Park.
John Kiely's side saw their five-in-a-row dream dashed at the same stage two years ago, and lost at the quarter-final stage last year, but there was no mistake this time around as they found the answers when Tony Kelly's goal from a 55th-minute penalty left them six back.
Perhaps Clare felt there could have been a greater punishment for Limerick goalkeeper Nickie Quaid, whose last-man challenge on Peter Duggan may have earned black instead of yellow, but Clare failed to add to their tally for the rest of the game.
Faced with adversity, Limerick held their nerve as they have done so in the past, with Aidan O'Connor's 70th minute goal proving the key moment of an absorbing contest.
With league and Munster ****** les already banked in 2026, the Treaty treble remains on course as they put the Banner to the sword, turning the tables from the counties' last meeting at this stage in 2013 when Clare prevailed on their way to that year's ****** le.

Dublin staged a stirring second-half comeback to beat Galway 1-25 to 1-21 in a Croke Park thriller and reach the All-Ireland semi-finals.
Con O'Callaghan hit 1-6 for the Dubs, including a second-half penalty after Liam Silke was black-carded for a foul on Colm Basquel which swung momentum in the closing stages.
Galway appeared on course for victory after John Maher's goal 15 minutes from time put them 1-20 to 0-17 in front.
But Ger Brennan's Dublin - who outlasted Donegal in extra-time last week to reach the last eight - ate into the deficit and finished with a flourish to return to the last four for the first time since 2023.
Dublin will now face defending All-Ireland champions Kerry on the weekend of 11-12 July for a spot in this year's final, while Louth will play Mayo in the other semi-final.

Defending champions Kerry survived a major scare to edge out Tyrone 2-25 to 0-27 and reach the All-Ireland semi-finals after a heart-stopping last-eight encounter at Croke Park.
Substitute Darren McCurry hit 0-10 in the second half to lead a valiant Tyrone fightback, but a late Paudie Clifford point and goal from Armin Heinrich sealed a thrilling victory for Jack O'Connor's side.
David Clifford once again starred as he hit 1-8 and was ably **** isted by Dylan Geaney, who fired over 0-8 in a man-of-the-match display.
Malachy O'Rourke's side - who were without injured forward Darragh Canavan - will be left to rue a real missed opportunity after kicking 11 wides.
The Kingdom, who have now beaten Tyrone in the last three Croke Park championship meetings, join Mayo as the first two teams into the semi-finals which will be played in a fortnight.

Paul Clancy, a two-time All-Ireland winner with Galway, has passed away at the age of 49.
Clancy won the All-Ireland in 1998 and 2001 with Galway, and he also won five Connacht **** les with the Tribesmen.
While Galway lost the 2000 All-Ireland to Kerry after a replay, Clancy's no-look pass to set up Dec Meehan is one of the most iconic goals in a final at Croke Park.
He played his club football with Maigh Cuilinn and won the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship in 2008.
After retiring, he became a coach and chairperson of his club as they won the Connacht Senior Football Championship in 2020.

Tyrone have been drawn to face reigning All-Ireland champions Kerry in the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
Monday's draw also pitted Monaghan, the only other remaining Ulster county, against Louth, with Galway up against Dublin and Cork to take on Mayo.
All four quarter-finals will be played at Croke Park on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June.
Tyrone are aiming to secure their fifth Sam Maguire **** le and their first since their most recent success in 2021.
Ulster runners-up Monaghan progressed to the last-eight stage by overcoming Westmeath 1-28 to 2-19 in round three on Sunday.

With the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship now into straight knockout territory, eight-time All-Ireland winner Philly McMahon feels "consistency is key" in the race for Sam Maguire.
The former Dublin defender will watch his county take on Donegal at Croke Park on Sunday [13:15 BST] with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs, and while they go in as underdogs, they face a side that has endured patch form in the championship.
Following a shock exit from the Ulsster Championship at the hands of Down, Jim McGuinness' men turned on the style in the All-Ireland SFC Round One game away to Kerry, only to be caught again on home turf in the next round by Cork.
The Dubs lost a Leinster final to Westmeath and then fell to Louth - whom they beat in a provincial semi-final - in the opening round of the All-Ireland series before bouncing back with victory over Cavan.
Between the provincial and All-Ireland championships, there are no undefeated teams .

Ireland captain Caelan Doris says he will get the foot injury which forced him to leave the field early in Leinster's emphatic 36-7 United Rugby Championship final win over the Pretoria Bulls "checked out".
The back row retired hurt just seven minutes into the Croke Park encounter, having recovered sufficiently from a knee injury sustained in the team's semi-final victory over the Stormers to take his place in the starting line-up for the decider.
The sight of Doris coming off injured will have caused concern for Ireland coach Andy Farrell with his side's Nations Championship opener against Australia in Sydney just two weeks away.
Ireland also face **** an on 11 July and New Zealand one week later.
Doris was replaced by Ireland team-mate Jack Conan, who went on to score one of his side's five tries as they became the first side to claim back-to-back league **** les, both signed off with successes over the Bulls.

On Friday afternoon at 4pm, inside the Grand Hall at Alexandra Palace, the first of nearly 500 boxers from 14 countries will try and become the 2026 Haringey Box Cup champion. It is the world’s most prestigious tournament of its kind.
There is a magnificence and wild ambition about the Haringey Box Cup and it has been there since it launched in 2008. The numbers grew to a ridiculous 550 boxers at one point, which made it the biggest boxing tournament to ever take place in the UK; far bigger than the Olympics, the European championships, the Commonwealth Games and the world championships.
The Box Cup’s continued relevance has been highlighted once again during the last week or so. The seemingly endless stream of champions and contenders from appearing in the Haringey have popped up repeatedly in boxing news and on fight nights during the last few days.
Last Saturday in Sheffield, Leo Atang, now a professional, won for the seventh time as a heavyweight, the sixth by knockout. In 2024 he was the Male Youth 92+kgs champion – he was bout 17 in Ring B on the Sunday during the finals. His final was brutal and he was only 17 at the time. “It was hard, but I knew I had to win a Haringey ******* le,” he said.
The day before Atang’s latest win, Katie Taylor walked out on the Croke Park pitch to announce her farewell fight at the iconic venue in September. There will be 82,000 people there on the night with some paying €1,500 (£1,296); Taylor won a Haringey ******* le in 2010, and at the Olympics two summers later. It cost just fifteen quid for the quarters, semi-finals and finals when Taylor won. Double Olympic gold medal winners Nicola Adams and Kellie Harrington also won the Box Cup.

Friday’s announcement came as no surprise to anyone, but it was still a thrill to learn that the long-held dream of Ireland’s Katie Taylor would be fulfilled to close out her boxing career at home in Dublin on September 5.
Taylor had long expressed her goal of concluding her career as Ireland’s greatest athlete by defending her ***** les at Croke Park, a historic venue seating 80,000 people and home to the Gaelic Athletic ***** ociation. It will be the first boxing event at Croke Park since Muhammad Ali fought Alvin Lewis of Detroit in 1972.
Taylor’s opponent is her newly minted mandatory challenger for the vacant WBC World Super Lightweight, Flora Pili of France (12-0, 2 KOs). Although many women threw their names into the hat as Taylor’s final opponent, including Stephanie Han, Holly Holm, and Caroline Dubois, this was never meant to be a trial by fire.
It is designed to provide Taylor with a credible opponent, sharp enough to help promote the fight and share the ring, while tipping the scales as much as possible to ensure Taylor earns herself the fairy-tale ending to a storybook career.
The 2012 London Olympics gold medalist and two-division champion Taylor of Bray, Ireland (25-1, 6 KOs) began a four-day promotional tour with Friday’s news conference, then moving on to her hometown of Bray, County Wicklow, and on to Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Belfast in Northern Ireland.

A Belfast boxer who fought Katie Taylor in a pioneering boxing bout nearly 25 years ago, has recalled her memories of the encounter, as the renowned Irish fighter prepares to sign off on a glittering career.
As a 15-year-old amateur in October 2001, Taylor fought Alanna Nihell, then known as Alanna Audley, in the first women's fight sanctioned by the Irish boxing authorities.
Taylor's long-awaited farewell fight at Croke Park in Dublin was confirmed on Friday.
She will face unbeaten French fighter Flora Pili on 5 September for the vacant WBC light-welterweight ***** le, as she bids to become a three-time undisputed champion.
Nihell, from Sandy Row in south Belfast, said that looking back now, her fight with Taylor in 2001 at Dublin's National Stadium was an important milestone for women's boxing.

Katie Taylor said fulfilling her long-held dream of fighting at Croke Park will be the "perfect way" to end her decorated career after it was confirmed she will face Flora Pili at the Dublin venue on 5 September.
Taylor will bid to become a three-time undisputed champion against unbeaten French fighter Pili in what will be the first boxing event at the iconic Gaelic Games venue since Muhammad Ali's victory over Al 'Blue' Lewis in July 1972.
Taylor will defend her WBO, WBA, IBF and Ring Magazine ***** les and attempt to add the vacant WBC belt against mandatory challenge Pili, who boasts a 12-0 record.
The 39-year-old Irishwoman has not boxed since completing a clean sweep of the trilogy against Amanda Serrano in New York's Madison Square Garden last July, which saw her retain her undisputed light-welterweight ***** le.
"This seems like the perfect way to end it (my career) – by becoming undisputed champion again in our national stadium which has such a special place in Irish hearts," said Taylor.